DJ

When Dennis Johnson's life was cut short by a heart attack last week, the scribes and pundits all came gushing forth with the predictable response: Dennis Johnson, Mr. Under-appreciated.

He was only under-apprecaited by people who didn't watch him play. It's easy to make that interpretation if you only know him by his stat line. He was never the highest profile player on his teams, and so it comes as something of a shock when you see how much he scored -- especially in the playoffs. You don't average 17.3 points per game in the postseason without being a hell of a player.

What you remember about him if you watched those Celtics teams of the 1980s was how great he was in the clutch. You remember how relentless he could be. You remember him shutting down Magic Johnson in the 1984 Finals. Larry Bird called him the best he'd ever played with. He was the perfect point guard for those Celtics teams. He understood his role on a team with Larry Bird was to make sure Bird had the ball. How many other point guards wouldn't have been able to assimilate into that Celtics lineup and make such a critical contribution?

It's unfortunate that he's not been recognized for his achievements. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. And at some point he'll be inducted. And more people who didn't appreciate his game until after he died will write about how great he was.

Some of us knew it all along.