'You will have a wing of the house for your own,' Parish said.

"Winning in the Forum is always a very important victory," Parish said.

"That's the key, whether he can take the pounding," Parish said.

"They simply did not exist in the framework of those I know," Parish said.

"Every year we seem to just play better as a team," said Parish, the Celtics' center.

But Parish said what the team had to endure in 1986-87 should aid it in 1987-88.

"Kevin took about 20 shots a game," said Parish with a smile.

Parish said that less enemy variety was balanced by changes he considered the most experimental things Bungie had done for years.

"I thought we did a great job of crashing the boards and getting shots," Parish said.

"I make his game so easy for him," Parish recently said of Bird.