How An Unathletic White Guy DOMINATED The Entire NBA

How An Unathletic White Guy DOMINATED The Entire NBA Players Unlimited - Sports 42.7K subscribers Subscribe 185 Share Download Clip Save 15,873 views Jan 28, 2025 Please Drop A Like on this Video & Enjoy the Life Story of LARRY BIRD! Music 1 songs Street Rhapsody DJ Freedem Street Rhapsody Music Transcript Follow along using the transcript. Show transcript Create 9+ Avatar image How An Unathletic White Guy DOMINATED The Entire NBA Players Unlimited - Sports 42.7K subscribers Subscribe 185 Share Download Clip Save 15,873 views Jan 28, 2025 Please Drop A Like on this Video & Enjoy the Life Story of LARRY BIRD! Music 1 songs Street Rhapsody DJ Freedem Street Rhapsody Music Transcript Follow along using the transcript. Show transcript Players Unlimited - Sports 42.7K subscribers Videos About 26 Comments rongmaw lin Add a comment... Pinned by Players Unlimited - Sports @PlayersUnlimitedSports 1 month ago Is Larry Bird The GOAT? 8 Reply 2 replies @stephenreiner1523 8 days ago This was by far the most comprehensive video on Bird and the Celtics I have ever seen since watching YouTube to this day by far. 1 Reply @NagelLisa 10 days ago Larry was athletic, damn it! Have you watched all his highlights on passing, shooting, rebounding, and defense? Are you crazy? That was the leagues excuse for why great athletic men of color were getting clobbered by Larry Bird. You can't be a pro at anything without some athleticism. So don't give me that bullsht. 8 Reply 1 reply @kevinswihart6867 1 month ago Larry let his playing basketball speak for him. A tremendous amount of foes and teammates tell you stories of what Bird did in games and practices that dictated his permanent place in basketball folklore as possibly the greatest team player of all time ! Not bad for being considered as a slow runner and that he couldn't jump. 6 Reply @delanoarts3703 1 month ago I love this documentary so much I'm forcing my kid and his friends to watch it lol 4 Reply @MrAitraining 1 month ago Late 70's to 1985 Larry was very athletic. Defense, dunks, running on the break. After his initial back injury he still killed it but a lot of that quickness was gone. Look up 1980-84 stuff. Larry had a motor! 5 Reply 1 reply @edwardlapierre1620 9 days ago Grew up watching this. Every game was an event. Every game I we were spoiled and had friends to the house to watch this incredible ERA of the NBA NEVER EVER TO BE DUPLICATED. NOWHERE ANYWHERE. JUST CANT WATCH THE GAME WITH SAME EXCITEMENT. Txs Celtics Reply @okgood8529 1 month ago It's ridiculous to suggest that Bird had zero talent. He had incredible hand-eye coordination for a player his size and demonstrated it constantly. 2 Reply @Hhbdr 1 month ago Have ya seen him play? Without athleticism? What a joke! He ran circles around most men. Could pass from any position. 4 Reply @delanoarts3703 1 month ago Awesome documentary the youth need to hear about Larry my kid loves g Him but likes magic just a little bit better kobi being his favorite he is 11 me I'm die hard bird I love bird Jordan takes a close actually very close 2nd amazing documentary I'm looking forward to what you have planned next I'm sure these take months but seriously it's worth it 1 Reply @rickiovine2170 10 days ago Stop with the 0 athleticism nonsense. You cannot be an NBA All-Star without being a great athlete. The game is much too difficult. Too many NBA fans base athleticism on how flashy it looks. I base it on how well they am the game. 3 Reply @TerryT0114 9 days ago That "accidental" elbow to Birds face doesn't look accidental to me. It's at about the 2:05 mark in this video. It looks to me like that dude smacked him on purpose, maybe because Bird had put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from jumping for the rebound? Reply @ABBABEER 8 days ago Respect! Reply @johndardi1334 1 day ago How can anyone call Larry un athletic? Anyone who ever played in the NBA was / is athletic. You can’t be in the NBA and be un athletic. Reply @berniebroneverhillarybro6188 1 month ago He's like the Bradey of Football. Reply @jerodrobinson4040 7 days ago Yeah I'm not sure if You understand what the word "Immortality" Means. Basketball Skill cannot grant You eternal Life... Reply @stlcardsuck 9 hours ago If Bird was not athletic then the guys he made look stupid were cripples!!!! Reply @radar0412 1 month ago Bird should've claimed hardship in 1974 and immediately entered the NBA draft. Reply 1 reply @tonyharbour5317 7 days ago Bird had plenty of athletic ability. He could not have done what he did without it. This is a racist title. Especially before he got hurt. Teams had difficulty with him due to his quick first step, his hand eye coordination, his body agility and his mental awareness. To say he was un athletic is a lie and a stereo typical attempt at gaining views. 1 Reply @ericfelegie6371 1 month ago State of Illinois, not Chicago...otherwise doing well here good video on my hero Reply Transcript 0:00 I knew he was a great shooter but I didn't know how great I knew he was a great passer and rebounder but I didn't 0:06 know how great and I did not know he would play with injuries Larry was the 0:12 most self-motivated player I have ever seen red hour trying to stop Larry is like trying 0:19 to stop the wind Atlanta Hawks forward Tom McMillan A Road scholar and future 0:25 politician looking into Larry Bird's eyes is like looking into the eyes of an assassin 0:30 Atlanta Hawks All-Star forward Dominique Wilkins although it may seem impossible 0:38 immortality can be achieved only a select few can aspire to it only those 0:43 who have a god-given gift to appreciate life in a different way only those who are able to turn the impossible into 0:51 something normal in the World of Sports immortality is really expensive not only 0:57 because of the work that you have to put in to get closer to it hours of training a frustration of failures that can end 1:04 up in dust because of an injury or a lack of confidence but it is also expensive because of the huge 1:10 competition that lies in the way and to achieve immortality it's not enough to dominate a decade you have to transform 1:17 the game forever you have to collaborate in the evolution and you have to push the limits of basketball even further in 1:25 other words you have to become a truly generational player 1:31 Larry Bird is a talent that lives on in the retinas of those who saw him play his influence was so great that since he 1:37 passed through the NBA the league has never been the same partly because of his revolutionary style of play which 1:44 meant the reinvention of the power forward position in the context of the league and partly because of a mentality 1:51 that distinguished him from any other player in history it is not normal that all legends share an opinion about 1:57 another player but when you hear about bird you can smell respect in the air both 2:03 the Legends who met him at the beginning of his career and those who met him at the end they all agreed on one thing 2:10 Larry Bird was the baddest motherucker to ever shoot a basketball his Trash 2:15 Talk stories are absolutely surreal starring bird and some of the best players of his generation who came 2:21 together to change basketball forever Michael Jordan Magic Johnson Isaiah Thomas all the greats dueled with bird 2:30 but very few were able to say that they had surpassed him because the spectacular combination of his dominant 2:36 game with his impenetrable personality made him a myth Larry was the kind of 2:42 player who would shout that he was open when he had one of the best defenders in the NBA in front of him just to mess 2:48 with him he was also the type of player who would tell his Defender that he was going to knock down a game-winning 2:53 three-pointer before he did it and there have been many players who have talked about these experiences his performances 3:01 were not only incredible from a basketball standpoint Larry was capable of producing video game stat lines every 3:08 night but that's something that the best players in history have always been able to accomplish what's even more 3:14 incredible though is that he was able to produce them in impossible context 3:19 everyone remembers that game against the Portland Trailblazers in February 1986 that game in which bird had to 3:26 challenge himself and even had to handicap his style to make basketball a more fair sport that night when bird 3:33 playing with his left hand had a 47.4 rebound 11 assist game to beat the 3:39 Blazers at home and that's just one example of what he was capable of his 3:44 superiority was so absolute during the 1980s that many basketball pents came to the same conclusion basketball history 3:52 could have been completely different than it is today if Larry Bird had not injured his Achilles in 1988 that injury 4:00 was a premonition of the rest of the injuries that would affect him during his career virtually nothing can eclipse 4:06 the legend of Michael Jordan His play and his influence made him the greatest athlete in history but if anyone could 4:13 have it was Larry Bird the player who beat Jordan 60 in playoff games that 4:18 player who dominated from start to finish of his career I mean if his health had been with him nothing would 4:24 have guaranteed MJ's first three peat if bird had not suffered injuries we would 4:29 probably be talking about the greatest player of all time the player who saved the NBA in one of the hardest moments of 4:36 its history in the corner double fake jump good Larry Bird hits it with two 4:42 seconds left now many people think that Larry Bird's enormous Talent is the cause of his personality or in other 4:48 words the fact that he was so good fed back into the fact that he wanted to prove it to everyone and logically this 4:55 is partly true when you think about Larry Bird and basketball you think about a guy who 5:01 made the most of the talent that he had just worked his tail off fought and 5:06 scratched and did whatever he could to make his game better the greatest talents in history are ego Maniacs who 5:13 have always been obsessed with the concept of dominance but the cause of Bird's resistant mentality has a very 5:20 dark past a past that forced him to become an adult when he was only a child 5:25 it was 1956 in West bayen Springs a small town of 5 00 people in Southern 5:30 Indiana more specifically it was December 7th the date on which a child was born who would end up making history 5:37 Larry Bird was a fourth son of Georgia and Joseph Joe bird two parents eager to 5:42 give the gift of Life once again even if the conditions were not ideal and just a mile and a half down the road from West 5:49 bayen Springs was the small town of French Lick a place that only a couple decades earlier was considered a 5:55 high-end summer Resort its Hotel was the pride and joy of the town's population with more than 600 rooms and a capacity 6:03 almost as large as the total population of the Town tens of thousands of millionaires from all over the nation 6:09 were eager to try the thermal basss that were offered at the facility and that not only attracted people with money but 6:16 also athletes in fact it is a town with a great sporting past the Chicago Cubs 6:21 and Chicago White Socks held spring training there from 1943 to 1944 during 6:27 a time when the world was on edge because of world War I and not only that but celebrities such as boxer Joe Lewis 6:33 composer Irving Berlin or even gangster Al Capone enjoyed their vacations in the small Indiana town and interestingly 6:41 Georgia's father Larry's grandfather John Riley Kars witnessed the $100 tip 6:46 hand delivered by Al Capone under the watchful eye of his five escorts and although all that Prosperity was already 6:54 far behind there were still some important visits to frenchlick the last one the neighbors whispered was from the 7:00 governor of California a certain Ronald Reagan but the actual reality of the 7:06 place was completely different the contrast that existed between the social Elite that populated French lick every 7:12 summer and its residence was so enormous that it seemed kind of unreal the town 7:17 was not only void of luxuries for its population and its workers but it was also one of the poorest places in the 7:24 United States its largely white population struggled to make ends meet a a fact that gained even more prominence 7:31 as the family grew larger Larry Bird was the fifth of six children neither 7:36 Georgia nor Joe bird were wealthy in fact Joe bird was just a construction worker and these were hard times in 7:42 America also like most men in Joe's generation he had military experience too he was not only a veteran of the 7:50 Korean War which was one of the most important Wars of the century in which more than 3 million people lost their 7:56 lives he was also present in World War II Joe gave his all for his flag and his 8:02 country for a myriad of reasons but the most important reason was to protect his family and loved ones in September 1944 8:10 12 years before Larry's birth the US Congress had passed the 21 and older military draft which was extended to 18 8:17 after the country was thrust into the conflict following the attack on Pearl Harbor so Joe was drafted into the US 8:23 Navy as he had enlisted in the military following the footsteps of his father who had always been his Idol and who had 8:29 fought in the first world war and by all accounts he was lucky most people say that he didn't even have to go to the 8:35 battlefield and his role was more related to administrative duties but the truth is that in the worst case scenario 8:41 Joe would have been one of the brave soldiers who sacrificed his life to defeat Adolf Hitler in the Normandy 8:47 Landings in 1944 but even though he didn't see any combat Joe bird was the hero of French lck his presence in World 8:55 War II with the purpose to protect his country made him a local icon all his neighbors wanted to hear his 9:02 stories to imagine those terrible but heroic scenarios to celebrate the daring 9:07 of a man who was on everyone's lips that man who had helped defeat Nazism in the 9:12 most important conflict in the history of the world and the social status was also one of the causes of George's 9:18 attraction to Joe who saw in the young man an example of self-improvement and commitment his Charisma his jokes his 9:27 way of being which Larry later adop Ed from him had made him the husband of her 9:32 dreams however the Korean War changed everything Joe bird retired from that 9:37 war with trauma and mental complications that he would never overcome the terrible images of a war for which the 9:45 Marines were not really prepared played over and over in his head blood baths 9:51 traps deaths of friends and acquaintances Joe felt humiliated for not being able to cope with the 9:57 loneliness like he did in World War II he had stopped being that brave Marine after realizing what war was really like 10:05 when he returned to frenchlick Joe not only tried to hide what he had experienced in Korea from everyone he 10:11 also tried to hide it from his own mind and what's even worse his salary it just wasn't enough although Georgia also 10:18 worked as a waitress cook cleaner anything that would help her family it was not enough not enough to ensure the 10:26 survival of such a large household which a few years later would be blessed once again with the birth of Joe's youngest 10:33 son Eddie bird so the whole family was accustomed to precariousness they knew 10:38 exactly what having nothing meant but they were hoping that their children could live a better life than their own 10:44 un fortunately time would reward the birs but not without taking its toll at all like Larry he may just go with his 10:52 strength when I catch you you'll see you [ __ ] you won't be coming back here it 10:58 was the voice of J a groundskeeper at a golf course in Northwood an old acquaintance of the 11:03 bird Brothers in the absence of a baseball field the brothers would sneak onto golf courses to try to hit their 11:10 home runs something that didn't sit well with the groundskeeper who watched as the kids kept messing up the grass with 11:16 they're hitting and running I'll talk to Joe this is the last time now Jason wasn't in the best 11:24 physical shape he was a bit clumsy and that meant he wasn't the biggest problem for Larry Bird he'd never catch him but 11:30 the real problem Larry had to deal with in those situations was his brothers he was the youngest of the first group so 11:37 if he played bad baseball his brothers would take it out on him and they loved to fight and they were the oldest a 11:44 combination that is not usually very pleasant for the younger sibling but which undoubtedly gave him a great 11:50 maturity for his age not it cost him black eyes bruises and a lot of pain but 11:56 his mentality became tough as a rock and by the way he became a very good 12:02 baseball player younger brothers often make the best baseball players children who grow up chasing older siblings play 12:09 up and it's an advantage when they start playing against kids their own age call it George Brett syndrome the Hall of 12:15 Fame third baseman had three ball playing Brothers Larry Bird was a classic case shaunessy wrote Mark and 12:22 Mike made him tough and better than most kids his own age now Larry Bird's childhood was still 12:29 normal by the standards of the country at the time poor of course but normal he lived in a close-knit family and also 12:36 adored his grandmother whom he loved to visit to get away from his overcrowded household but one day his life changed 12:43 forever it was a family visiting day the bird family was going to visit their Uncle who lived in Hobart a town that 12:50 straddles the border between the city of Chicago and the state of Indiana it was a boring visit that only the older 12:56 people enjoyed and the kids and the kids tend to be bored out of their minds and for that reason Larry went for a walk he 13:03 wanted to go get some air hey are you playing we need one more when Larry 13:10 turned toward the voice he didn't find what he expected another kid older than him was staring at him with a basketball 13:16 in his hand the little boy hesitated but finally accepted the offer and minutes later he was having one of the best 13:23 times of his life he scored a shot which surprised the boys but soon after he scored another and somehow he seemed to 13:30 have a gift the boys asked him what team he played on and why he was so good at basketball but Larry had no answer he 13:38 was as impressed as they were he was impressed because he realized that he had found a sport that he would not let 13:43 go for the rest of his life the dopamine hit he got when he knocked down a shot from distance was only compared to the 13:50 dopamine he felt when he hit a home run and that feeling soon became an obsession Larry started getting up extra 13:57 early on school day so he could go practice his shots his gift was also rewarded by a resilient mentality that 14:05 was used to the worst circumstances Larry did his best to identify patterns he began to realize 14:11 how his body worked and how his Tendencies worked he realized how he had to hold the ball to shoot long distance 14:18 he realized that the power of the shot came from the legs and that the mechanics of the upper half of the body 14:23 were always the same invariable in the case of a consistent shooter he realized 14:29 that it was necessary to relax the arms and wrist before shooting he realized the twist needed to spin the ball to get 14:35 those lucky bounces bird realized he had an innate talent for basketball and 14:41 began to show unbelievable development in a short period of time despite the odds and through basketball bird tried 14:49 to enjoy a happy childhood and sport was one of the best ways to achieve it Larry 14:54 spent his childhood as a big fan of the Indiana Pacers but the National ball basketball landscape was very different 15:00 at the time the NBA was not a league as we know it today in fact when Larry Bird 15:05 was born in 1956 the league only had eight teams the Boston Celtics the 15:11 Syracuse Nationals the Philadelphia Warriors the New York Knicks the St Louis Hawks the Minneapolis Lakers the 15:18 Fort Wayne pistons and the Rochester Royals it had only been 7 years since the NBA was created it was younger than 15:25 the NFL NHL and MLB and it was also more vulnerable than the rest of the major 15:31 leagues investors saw a unique business opportunity though with so few teams the 15:36 NBA only reached the largest cities the biggest markets so they knew that in the 15:42 smaller markets there was a good opportunity to make a profit so in 1968 when bird was 12 years old the American 15:49 Basketball Association was born the idea was really good considering the fragility of the young NBA which was 15:56 barely 20 years old at the time this group of investors not only wanted to take basketball to every corner of the 16:02 country they also wanted to change the game completely the creation of the ABA 16:08 brought with it the Advent of many experimental changes that helped basketball progress and the reason was 16:14 simple they had to differentiate themselves from the dominant league if they offered the same product with less 16:19 appeal the aba's days were numbered but fortunately that was not the case that 16:25 blue white and red tri-color ball became the emblem of unique League a ball that 16:30 was harshly criticized for being different from the one used in the NBA the typical orange model and some fans 16:37 said that with such a ball the ABA could not be considered a serious league but far from the truth this experiment 16:44 turned out really well for the new competition of the most important league in the United States and the three 16:49 colors made it possible to observe the spinning of the ball on each shot and to differentiate it more clearly on the 16:55 usual black and white televisions but that was only one of the changes implemented by the ABA the most 17:02 important was undoubtedly the insertion of the three-point line not that it was an invention of the ABA but it was one 17:10 of the first leagues to implement it an addition that would change basketball forever and that the NBA would adopt 17:17 into its rules a decade later logically there were not many three-point Shooters since shooting from long distance was 17:23 not a benefit before the creation of the line but even so this new resource was really attractive for the fans the space 17:31 generated by the three-point line was exploited by the greatest slashers of the time players like Julius Irving who 17:38 helped spread the League's image throughout the United States thanks to his athleticism and impressive slam 17:44 dunks something that was also appealing to the fans who watched as this high-pace league was gaining popularity 17:51 by Leaps and Bounds it was a completely different vibe from the NBA which prioritized much more the defensive side 17:57 of the court all also partly because of the huge dominance that the big man had over the rest of the players in 18:03 defensive basketball for that reason the ABA became a powerful competitor even if 18:09 it wasn't a real threat that could destroy the NBA but it is true that the two leagues clashed in many common 18:16 interests players could not only finish their contract and change teams but they could also change leagues it was not 18:22 something very common but it did happen on some occasions with renowned players the case of Rick Barry is one of the 18:29 most striking after being drafted in the fourth position of the 1965 NBA draft 18:35 the young small forward became the emerging star of the Golden State Warriors averaging 26 points and 11 18:41 rebounds per game he was voted the 1966 rookie of the year but in his sophomore 18:47 year Barry averaged a league high 35.6 points per game immediately becoming one 18:53 of the top five players in the entire NBA however in 1967 he made a decision that hurt the 19:00 league but also himself the Warriors had the option to retain his rights for one year after his contract expires Rick 19:07 thought this would not be a problem since the courts would give him the right to play during the season for the Oakland oats the team that had acquired 19:14 his services in the ABA but he had miscalculated the courts decided that 19:19 the warriors were within their rights to exercise the clause and gave him a choice between playing in the NBA for 19:25 one more year at San Francisco or sitting out at 23 years of age and after 19:31 proving that he was the best emerging star in the entire league Rick Barry made the decision to take a year away 19:37 from basketball just unheard of this event brought changes players were often 19:43 drafted in both leagues and teams were not even sure they were going to sign the player they drafted this was 19:48 terrible for the NBA in addition Barry's decision made players more likely to view the ABA option more favorably and 19:56 fans were more and more interested in this league that had just taken away one of the best players of the moment and 20:02 among them was a young Larry Bird who could finally enjoy Elite games in his hometown thanks to the fact that the 20:08 Indiana Pacers were one of the teams that were part of this new Association Larry loved going to Indiana games which 20:15 were often not televised the cheap prices of the ABA allowed even the poorest families to be able to afford to 20:21 go to the games and so bird became the number one fan of the Indiana Pacers a 20:27 franchise of course that would go on to be of great importance during his long career off the court now there's one 20:33 player Larry idolized Above the Rest Mel Daniels one of the best young talents in 20:38 the ABA who in 1968 was traded to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Jimmy 20:44 Dawson and Ronald klicki all this just after being drafted in the ninth position of the 1967 NBA draft where he 20:52 only played in the season in which he retired yes Daniels was one of these 20:57 cases of players who preferred this new basketball alternative moreover he was one of the best prospects in the world 21:04 during his rookie year in the ABA Daniels played for the Minnesota muskies there he was named ABA Rookie of the 21:10 Year averaging 21 points and 15 rebounds per game including 6.2 offensive 21:16 rebounds per night but when he was traded to the Pacers Mel became the best 21:21 player in the entire league Daniels won two ABA MVPs during the 1968-69 and 77 21:28 one seasons in addition to that he was crowned ABA Champion three times in 1970 21:34 1972 and 1973 he was the best player in the league he also made the Pacers the 21:39 best team in the league and his style had a great influence on that teenager from French Lick who aspired to be like 21:46 him someday I grew up a Pacer fan by watching M Daniels so that's my really 21:52 my first look professional basketball Daniels was a perfect example of toughness and dedication in a league 21:59 where these values were often undervalued he became the best player in the history of a young league and Larry 22:05 watched every action he took on the court Mel Daniels not only changed the present of his generation with his own 22:12 game I think he was the first guy I heard growling on the basketball court 22:17 he grab rebounds and be ah block a shot ah score basket becoming one of the best 22:25 players of the 70s he also changed the future becoming the biggest influence on 22:30 a teenager destined to change the world of basketball forever I mean simply put without Mel Daniels there might never 22:37 have been a Larry Bird without him maybe basketball history would have been completely different but Mel Daniels 22:43 wasn't the only reason Larry Bird's life changed completely it was not a normal night in French Lake you could hear 22:49 gunshots screams of desperation and explosions in the air you could smell burning gunpowder Fighters and bombers 22:57 flew overhead leaving a wave of Destruction and debris in their wake Joe bird in a hurry was trying to dodge 23:03 death he was trying to help all the wounded while running away from those who wanted to finish him off but then 23:08 like every morning he woke up he came back to reality he realized that in reality it was indeed a normal night in 23:15 frenchlick nightmares haunted Joe bird wherever he went every night The Echoes of what had happened in Korea came back 23:22 into his life through his dreams now his conscious mind told him that he had to finally get over it but his sub 23:28 conscious prevented him from doing so and this really affected his life Joy 23:33 was through hell in the war and uh he saw a lot of buddies killed and he was in fox holes and stuff 23:40 you know things like that can drain on a guy's mind and Georgie even said that he'd wake up at night screaming and 23:46 hollering get down get down his mood even his desire to get ahead and the truth is that he was never an exemplary 23:53 husband despite having the best intentions he had his moments of absence both with with the children and with 23:59 Georgia something that was severely accentuated when he returned from the Korean War Joe had lost the spark that 24:06 had characterized him he was one of the most charismatic people in the valley he was a funny person who was always joking 24:12 and teasing others and who was able to brighten up anyone's evening my dad was one of the greatest people in this 24:18 community a lot of people liked him I mean he was just Joe bird everybody knew him however he had changed now Joe was 24:25 determined to fight for his family Above All Else and for that reason he sought dozens of jobs throughout his life shoe 24:32 maker painter truck driver Carpenter he tried it all but the truth is that 24:37 keeping his job was not one of his best virtues many times his impertinence and his out ofpl jokes were the trigger he 24:44 couldn't help being the way he was he was just like that but that's what cost him a lot of regrets and job losses 24:51 which logically triggered a lot of financial problems for the bird family and Georgia just couldn't carry it all 24:58 however there was a time when Joe was happy again at least for a while he found a job at Kimble which was a piano 25:04 Factory and true he wasn't able to hold down jobs but after trying everything Joe bird had plenty of skills in 25:11 practically every single field and at Kimble he could put his talents to use for a while it seemed that Joe was back 25:18 to his old self he was being rewarded for a job that demanded him but also made him proud but eventually he ended 25:24 up losing that job too it seemed like the world was against him him it seemed that life had taken it out on a good man 25:31 who tried to do his best for his own Larry talks about his father with a bad ankle coming home from work taking off 25:37 his work boots and the ankle swells up to you know six times its size but in the next morning he's jamming that boot 25:44 back on and he's going back to work a man who didn't mind inviting the rest paying for the round just to feel 25:50 embraced by the people he loved but all that was a product on many occasions of alcohol in sel's Tavern a family man 25:58 with a lot of problems and Trauma caused by the war found refuge and the drink served to distract him for a moment from 26:05 his worries he was free and in a way he was himself again cheerful clever 26:10 without shame the essence that made him such a popular guy and through alcohol he had the opportunity to relive an era 26:18 that was already part of the past an era that would never return but drinking is 26:23 a double-edged sword he loved his father his father had was a flawed man his father was an alcoh his father was a 26:29 laborer who had skills that were uh that he he could only bring to bear when he was sober enough to work Georgia put up 26:35 with her husband's drunken nights to keep the family unit together she was a strong woman but alcohol brings many 26:42 more long-term problems that you don't realize until it's too late and his next job at a construction company Joe spent 26:49 a lot of time outside practically 5 days a week he didn't see his wife or children and in the evenings he took the 26:55 opportunity to drink he took the opportunity to forget what he didn't want to keep in his mind but the reality 27:01 was that his problems were still there and there was a day when Georgia wondered if it was worth it you know she 27:06 couldn't do it anymore she had to support the family's finances while taking care of the children and doing 27:12 household chores she had absolutely no time for anything and her day-to-day life had become a real struggle really 27:19 the essence of Larry to me is his mother who would get up at 3:30 in the morning and go work at a diner in the morning 27:26 and then come back as the kids were getting ready for school get them off to school and then trudge off to her next 27:32 job and at a time when it was not yet the norm Georgia asked for a divorce and Joe didn't put up a fight in loneliness 27:39 he had found his undoing nightmares became a daily occurrence in the absence of companionship Joe had more time for 27:46 himself something that if you're enduring trauma cannot be the best Ally the nightmares became Visions during the 27:53 day and Joe was no longer sad Joe was severely depressed one day the father of 27:58 the family decided to pay his children a visit he knew it was his last he said goodbye to them for the last time 28:04 children I'm going to get out of your way and that's going to help you all Joe bird they had a lot of financial 28:09 problems and I think Larry's dad at that point thought they were better off without him than with him it was a day 28:15 like any other Joe even stopped by sel's Tavern to say goodbye but he knew he had made a decision there would be no 28:21 turning back from him he was drowning and unpaid bills and the delays were getting bigger and bigger he had no 28:27 money to to survive so in February of 1975 he shot himself in his room the 28:33 police didn't find him for a few hours because the sound of gunfire was a normal occurrence in an area where 28:38 hunting was pretty common but Joe had taken his own life by this point Joe and Georgia were divorced and he was behind 28:46 in his payments to the family the police came by and of course they all knew him so Joe said hey I need a few hours to 28:51 get my Affairs together before you take me away so he called Georgia and he said you guys will be better off without me and I'm going to take my life and he put 28:58 the phone down and and he killed himself he shot himself and many say that since then Larry was never the same his 29:05 personality was a carbon copy of his father's and both possessed many traits that were common but he was no longer 29:11 that happy boy who fought adversity with a smile when he was told that his father Joe had died Larry didn't cry but inside 29:18 he crumbled like he had never crumbled before when Dad passed you know it hurt Larry I mean that was his best friend is 29:27 gone now and but Larry didn't show it a lot Larry's hard to figure out cuz he 29:32 doesn't really show emotions I'm sure he had a lot of pain he just holds it inside he just didn't 29:38 say much you know he just kind of held it within I never I've never heard him speak out about it at all I was mad when 29:47 I heard about it and I was mad after the funeral 29:53 because I thought he sort of cut out on us during a a tough time but you know he 29:59 went he went through a lot in his life he did what he had to do with Joe's 30:05 death the bird family got a death Grant from a former US Navy serviceman a substantial grant that would end their 30:11 financial hardship forever Joe made a decision that pleased no one and his happy life was tinged with this sad 30:18 color forever but in the end he sacrificed himself for his family that was the Comfort he found in death and 30:25 that was what marked Larry Bird that hard hard blow hurt much more than any of his older brothers had thrown at him 30:31 for playing baseball badly that blow to the heart made him a man in that moment 30:37 when he was just a teenager it definitely was a tough year there's no question about that but the one thing that I did was uh make a decision where 30:45 I was going to make my own decisions from that point on and if there was good decisions that's great if there was bad decisions I had to live with them but 30:51 let's go back just a bit because even if he wasn't there during the games Joe already knew of his son's Larry skills 30:58 everybody who saw him play knew and from the moment he realized he could hoop Larry completely turned his attention to 31:05 the orange ball or well that was the time of the tricolor but bird dreamed of playing for the Indiana Pacers and 31:11 representing his hometown someday and to that end he put all his energy into being the best version of himself that 31:18 he could he started practicing every day playing late into the night and in high 31:23 school he finally caught up to the rest he attended Springs Valley High School which was in French Lake and at the 31:29 beginning of his high school years he was not the best player he had been playing for too little time compared to 31:34 his peers and Rivals but during his junior year he had already become one of 31:40 the best players on the team that season he averaged 16 points per game he was 31:45 one of the biggest players Jim Jones had in his employ and he was starting to look like one of the most talented too 31:51 and Larry really became known throughout the region during his senior year that season he averaged 30.6 points 20.6 31:58 rebounds and four assists per game all of frenchlick was talking about this kid who could end up getting a scholarship 32:05 to Indiana University Joe Bird's son seemed destined to make it in the basketball world and not too long after 32:11 that Larry Bird got that dream scholarship to Indiana University to join the basketball team and despite the 32:18 hardships it seemed that life was still smiling down at him the young man used basketball as an escape from his 32:24 problems as a way to cope with the difficult experien that can destabilize any teenager and his efforts were 32:31 rewarded his mother dreamed of Larry going to college one day and when it turned out to be the prestigious Indiana 32:38 University it was basically the best news that the family had received in a long time Larry then moved to 32:44 Bloomington which to him seemed like the biggest city in the world with just over 70,000 inhabitants I mean this was a 32:51 place he was not used to having spent his life between frenchlick and West biten Springs he was used to the closest 32:57 of the country in his hometown he knew everyone had friends and his partner was 33:03 there Janet condra a woman who had been his love from his youth ever since they went to Springs Valley high school 33:09 together in the city he had no one and on top of that basketball wasn't really going too well either the Indiana hoers 33:16 were coached by the legendary bob Knight who had started coaching the team in 1971 and would remain at the helm for 29 33:24 years he was a coach respected by everyone both on the bench and on the court having won an NCAA Championship in 33:31 1960 alongside future Bird's teammate John havich at Ohio State but his 33:36 coach's Legacy meant nothing to bird and they did not get along I don't think that I was U uh either quite uh quite 33:45 smart enough or quite understanding enough of Bird's situation in fact bird 33:51 placed importance on other factors something Ken Benson one of his teammates on the hooers noticed right 33:57 away Ken was a dominant Center who would be taken first overall in the 1977 NBA 34:02 draft after an outstanding college career and someone who also did not get along very well with Larry Bird in the 34:09 book bird wrote In 1989 called Drive the story of my life he talks about how the 34:14 hoer legend tried to keep him from playing a single minute the relationship between bird and his teammates and Coach 34:21 Knight broke down pretty fast in addition the family's financial situation just before Joe's death was 34:27 too sh shaky for him to stay in Bloomington so bird decided it was time to go home and give up on his dream and 34:33 that to Georgia and his coaches did not sit well at all Quote Larry Bird is one 34:39 of my great mistakes I was negligent in realizing what bird needed at that time in his life bob Knight Larry had traded 34:46 basketball and a great education at one of the best universities in the country for garbage collection and classes at 34:53 local Northwood Institute he had returned to a routine completely devoid 34:58 of options he had gone from being one of the best prospects in the country to a minimum wage worker and all for pretty 35:05 much non-sporting reasons that made him move away from a goal that seemed to be getting farther and farther away now but 35:12 the door wasn't closed yet of course before things got better they had to get worse back in frenchlick in early 1975 35:20 working odd jobs and attending Northwood Institute Larry got the call that his father had died and shortly after bir 35:27 began to have problems with Janet a situation that was becoming increasingly untenable they still got married in 1975 35:35 but less than a year later any feelings they had for each other started to melt away and a few months later the couple 35:41 put an end to their marriage Larry realized the harsh reality he didn't want to end up like his father he didn't 35:47 want to end up in obscurity he had to fight for his dreams and that's when he 35:52 made the decision to play for Bob King at Indiana State and his life changed changed forever bird had found his 36:00 passion in basketball again and while all these recent experiences had taken him away from it at this point there 36:06 wasn't much else left in his life now he was already playing with the sycamores when he got divorced but instead of 36:12 letting that sink him basketball allowed him to float and this is where the adventure really began although it was 36:19 theoretically his freshman year his weeks of experience in Indiana caused his first season with the sycamores to 36:26 technically be his sophore more year and since Larry wasn't eligible to be named freshman of the year he decided to go 36:32 directly for the title of Best Player yeah that was Larry Bird and in that season bird averaged 32.8 points 13.3 36:41 rebounds 4.4 assists 2.8 Steals and one block per game he was one of the best 36:47 players in the country he had managed to transfer his absurd High School averages to the college level after practically a 36:54 whole year without playing or training I mean his 54% field goal shooting and 84% 37:01 free throw shooting had made him one of the most efficient players in the NCAA That 37:06 1976-77 season bird was the fourth leading scorer and sixth leading rebounder in all of the United States 37:14 Indiana State achieved a record of 25 wins and three losses thanks to the presence of bird and his coach Bob King 37:21 season in which Larry also had the help of Harry Morgan another forward who would be drafted in 1978 but who would 37:28 not play a single game in the NBA also Carl Nicks who was drafted in the first round of the 1980 draft and ended up 37:35 playing three seasons in the league it was a special group that had a lot of chemistry but even so they did not 37:41 attract much attention because they didn't qualify for the division one tournament however that season Indiana 37:48 State received the invitation to the National invitation tournament but they lost in the first round against Houston 37:54 by a score of 82 to 83 like some of the greatest greats Larry wanted to win an 38:00 NCAA Championship of course but they practically needed to finish the season undefeated in order to receive the 38:07 invitation still he was aware that the sycamores were building something special bird got some big news too his 38:14 Idol Pacers Legend Mel Daniels signed with Indiana state to become the new assistant coach under Bob King after 38:21 going to watch him play during his childhood after being his Idol bird was in the same boat now and being Indiana 38:28 State's best player he would receive one-on-one treatment from one of the people who contributed most to his 38:34 development Larry Bird's junior year was of course just as outstanding on an individual level once again the forward 38:41 was one of the best players in the nation and demonstrated his ability to lead the team day in and day out week 38:48 after week month after month with averages of 30 points 11 rebounds four 38:53 assists and 2.5 steals Larry finished second in scoring in the entire NCAA not 38:59 only that but he was again one of the top three rebounders in the entire country however the Sycamore has had a 39:06 much tougher schedule that season which only allowed them to finish with a record of 23 wins and nine losses as in 39:13 the previous season Indiana state was invited to the National invitation tournament where this time they were 39:18 able to advance from the first round with a 7371 win over Illinois State the 39:23 sycamores secured their spot in the quarterfinals however they lost lost this one to Ruckers by a difference of 39:29 just 1 Point 56 to 57 the same difference by which they lost the previous year to Houston even so bird 39:36 made it clear that his first year at Indiana State was not a fluke the forward went from being that unknown 39:42 Prospect from a small Indiana town to a clear candidate to reach the NBA Scouts 39:48 across the country were beginning to notice who he was however some still didn't have much faith in him now the 39:55 biggest reason bird was getting a attention was because of his allaround game Not only was HE capable of 40:01 producing stat lines reminiscent of college Legends but he was also capable of doing everything else his size was 40:09 perfect for the power forward position in the league his mid-range and long range shooting was becoming more and 40:14 more consistent at a time when the NBA was beginning to rumor that a three-point line would be added and his 40:20 scoring ability from the low post was enormous having a whole arsenal of finishing moves even his defense looked 40:27 like it had a lot of potential despite his athletic limitations but his vision it just didn't make sense without having 40:34 the touches of a guard Larry was able to find advantages everywhere he was able to find those holes and defensive 40:41 systems that automatically turned into points he was the player every team wanted to have even in the best 40:47 basketball league in the world as bird continued to gain attention among Scouts and especially the League's GMS in 1978 40:55 he made the decision to enter the draft but the NBA was a very different institution than it is today even more 41:02 so for rookies in 1977 during Larry Bird's sophomore year at Indiana State 41:07 the NBA and the ABA came together an event that went down in basketball history as the merger the owners of the 41:15 ABA didn't really want to create a product that would become the best basketball league in the world they 41:20 simply wanted to make money when the owners were buying the different franchises during the 1970s they were 41:26 actually making an investment the merger was always an option that was considered just as similar stories had happened 41:33 with some of the other major leagues and the owners knew that in just a few years the value of their franchises would have 41:39 doubled and when the merger occurred they made their wishes come true thus the Indiana Pacers came to the NBA as 41:46 did many other teams and with the merger the competition for prospects had also dissipated teams were no longer drafting 41:53 players they might not get because they were going to get drafted at the same time in another League that was a thing 41:58 of the past but now the League's general managers were faced with a different kind of risk in 1978 the NBA Draft rules 42:06 stated that a player had to finish their 4-year College eligibility before they could enter the draft but because of a 42:13 strange clause in the NBA Draft rules at the time technically a college junior could enter the draft if their 42:20 University class had already graduated which is exactly the situation Larry Bird found himself in for the 19 78 NBA 42:28 draft so because the hick from frenchlick dropped out of Indiana his freshman year he was actually eligible 42:34 for the 1978 NBA draft despite still being a junior in college and despite 42:40 Bird's intent to return to Indiana State for his senior year the Boston Celtics 42:45 led by general manager red hour back took a massive gamble by selecting him with the sixth overall pick at that time 42:52 under NBA Draft rules the Celtics would hold Bird's rights until the 1979 draft 42:58 if they couldn't sign him by then though bird would reenter the draft the following year and any team would have a 43:04 chance to pick him up Bird's agent Bob wolf understood the leverage his client had knowing that bird had all the power 43:11 to either sign or re-enter the draft wolf played hard ball making it unclear whether bird would ever sign with Boston 43:18 and this created enormous uncertainty for the Celtics and their fans and adding another wrinkle to the situation 43:25 a historic franchise swap took place in the summer of 1978 Celtics owner Irv 43:30 Levan a california-based film producer wanted to relocate the Boston Celtics to 43:35 his home state but realizing that the NBA would never allow the Celtics one of the League's Flagship franchises to 43:42 leave Boston Levan struck a deal with John y Brown the owner of the Buffalo Braves which are now the Los Angeles 43:49 Clippers in an unprecedented move Levan and brown essentially swapped franchises 43:55 Levan took control of the Braves who were relocated to San Diego while Brown became the new owner of the Boston 44:01 Celtics and for a brief bizarre moment in the summer of 1978 the legal entity 44:07 that owned the Celtics became the San Diego Clippers meaning Larry Bird's draft rights were technically owned by 44:14 the Clippers I think I mean former NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ granik later admitted that quote in a strictly legal 44:22 sense the Clippers are the successors of the Boston Celtics however after the 44:27 franchise swap was finalized the player rosters and draft rights were traded back and Bird's rights returned to 44:33 Boston okay so despite the chaos Irv Len now the owner of the Clippers chose not 44:38 to pursue bird believing that he might not be able to convince bird to sign with a new team on the west coast Bird's 44:44 future with the Celtics remained uncertain throughout the summer though as his agent continued to push for a 44:50 record-breaking contract finally though in 1979 Birds signed a then 44:55 unprecedented rookie deal worth $3.25 million over 5 years making him 45:01 the highest paid rookie in NBA history of course we now know the gamble absolutely paid off for the Celtics in a 45:08 way that they probably couldn't have predicted but for one hot second the strange Draft rules of the late 1970s 45:14 coupled with an unprecedented franchise swap almost made Larry Bird a San Diego 45:19 Clipper Now by 1979 that Bill Russell dominance was long gone long gone were 45:26 those rings that one of the greatest players in history managed to win with the Boston Celtics an era remembered by 45:33 many fans as the greatest display of dominance that a team could exercise over the rest of the league those Boston 45:40 Celtics really turned basketball into something unfair the franchises fans had 45:45 grown accustomed to winning every year but the reality was very different for the City by 1979 it had been almost 10 45:53 years since Bill Russell had ended his career when he retired in 1969 at the age of 34 that greatness and Prestige of 46:01 the team which at the time was the best in history did not allow them to use the draft to rebuild they needed to keep 46:07 competing at all times to maintain their status and to do that they had the 46:13 perfect GM red hour back had been with the Celtics since 1951 practically since the first season 46:19 of their history first as a coach winning nine titles and since 1967 as 46:24 the general manager and this guy really knew how to get stuff done he says you 46:30 can't smoke cigars on the bench I said what is this an airplane in 46:36 the NBA there is one thing that has not changed over time it is difficult to rebuild a team without using the draft 46:44 good franchise decisions can extend eras but virtually no franchise is able to 46:49 turn a winning roster into a different one without losing Seasons however the 46:54 reality is that those Celtics had been so dominant that perhaps without Russell they would still be able to compete and 47:01 hour back gave it his best shot and of course with far fewer teams now the last first round pick still had pretty good 47:08 value if red got those picks right Boston would never have to go through hard times to return to Glory however in 47:15 their first two seasons without Russell the Celtics failed to qualify for the playoffs a resounding failure red 47:21 realized that he needed to add new blood to the team to combine with the old talent that knew how to win players like 47:27 Sach Sanders Don Nelson or Art Williams had shared part of their career with 47:32 Bill Russell but they were still young enough to play for a few more years and John havich was still ready to lead the 47:38 team in its next project so hour back went out and got Kansas point guard JoJo 47:43 white with the 10th pick in the first round of the 1969 draft he also acquired 47:49 Dave cowens the fourth pick in the 1970 draft the result of Boston's first season of failing to make the playoffs 47:55 after the Bill Russell era and these players had the ability to revitalize the team and the Celtics soon became one 48:02 of the best teams in the entire Eastern Conference again they went on to reach the Conference Finals in five 48:07 consecutive Seasons from 1972 to 1976 and in 1974 they managed to win 48:14 them to reach the finals their Rivals would be the Milwaukee Bucks of a 26-year-old Kareem Abdul Jabar and Bob 48:21 dandri undoubtedly an opponent that would make things difficult for him but Boston won havich was still pretty good 48:28 and with averages of 27 points per game in the playoffs he managed to beat the Bucks in game seven and despite losing 48:35 the best player in their history the Celtics were back to Glory they would repeat this feat two years later when 48:41 they were crowned NBA champions in 1976 hav had given way to the Next 48:46 Generation that red had drafted earlier in the decade JoJo white averaged 23 48:51 points per game in those playoffs a figure similar to the 21 averaged by Dave cow who also added 16 rebounds per 48:59 night it looked like the Celtics had rebuilt in no time and this generation was at least up to the task of competing 49:06 for the championship on a perennial basis but Boston was soon hit with a reality check in 1978 and 79 Boston 49:14 failed to qualify for the playoffs they needed change they needed a player capable of carrying the offense of baton 49:22 a genius capable of making an impact on both ends of the Court while producing for himself and others now many GM still 49:29 didn't trust him but red hour back fell in love with Larry Bird's game pretty early on he knew he was the right fit 49:36 for Boston the legendary general manager knew he was the piece on which the Celtics could build their future the 49:43 problem as we mentioned earlier was that in 1978 Larry Bird had the option to return to Indiana State and finish his 49:49 fourth year of Eligibility and if he returned and the Celtics couldn't sign him before the next year's draft they 49:55 would lose him so draft ing him was a risk that many teams simply did not want to take now the Indiana Pacers had not 50:02 been the best team the previous season in fact they were the owners of that highly prized first pick in the 1978 50:08 draft Bob slick Leonard had it in his power to make the decision to draft The Local Hero with their first pick and he 50:16 really liked Larry Bird he fit him as a cog in the new team that Indiana was trying to build in the NBA but the team 50:22 that managed to dominate the ABA at will had to pay a heft sum of money to enter 50:28 the league after the merger of course it was still an investment right since NBA franchises rise in value pretty quickly 50:35 but the reality is that at a time that the team was losing a lot of money if the Pacers if Bob Leonard drafted bird 50:42 he needed the forward to agree to play in the NBA immediately there could be no option of returning to play his senior 50:49 year with the sycamores and Larry's mom dreamed of her son graduating from college and Larry Bird shared that dream 50:56 he loved playing at Indiana State he had friends there and he knew that all the attention he had generated would put the 51:02 spotlight on the team and most importantly he really wanted to play in an NCAA tournament before he went pro he 51:08 wanted to win an NCAA tournament before he gave up the option to do so Larry was 51:14 completely honest with Leonard with whom he had a pretty good relationship and after a few beers he confessed to him 51:19 that he was going to stay at Indiana State for his senior season Bob understood in fact he didn't even know 51:25 if he could meet the financial needs of a first round draft pick and Leonard saw that he couldn't get the best player in 51:31 the class so soon after he decided to trade the number one pick for the number three pick and Johnny Davis a guard who 51:38 had been an important part of the Portland Trailblazers 1977 Championship winning roster so Indiana was out of the 51:45 running for Larry Bird interestingly though the Blazers were also interested in bird and they seriously considered 51:52 drafting him with the first pick in the 1978 draft but they also decided they weren't going to take any chances either 51:59 somehow bird was unknown to a lot of people not even the League's GMS had seen him play ESPN barely had any 52:06 national coverage for Indiana State so so no one really knew this forward that some people were saying was so 52:12 incredible this Factor weighed heavily on a draft night that would have been a very different story if Larry had played 52:19 at a more prestigious College funny thing is though Bird's dream as a teenager had always been to play at 52:24 Kentucky imagine that scenario so instead of Larry Bird the Portland Trailblazers decided to use the first 52:31 pick of the 1978 draft on Michael Thompson the big man who had just completed the college cycle with 52:37 Minnesota and of course the father of Klay Thompson Michael showed early on that he could make an immediate impact 52:44 in the NBA but a leg injury complicated his rise to the elite the second pick in the draft belonged to the Kansas City 52:50 Kings and they decided to use it on Phil Ford the North Carolina playmaker had shown a knack for running the offense 52:57 and the Kings believed he could translate his skills to the best league in the world however his NBA career 53:03 would only last seven seasons on to the third pick owned by Indiana after the 53:08 trade which was used on Rick Robbie the center had just won the 1978 NCAA 53:14 tournament with Kentucky he and Larry Bird could have been teammates in college if things had worked out for the French licks kid but they had to settle 53:22 for being teammates in the NBA when the Celtics acquired Robbie services 3 years later the New York Knicks and Golden 53:28 State Warriors own the fourth and fifth picks in the draft which they used on Michael Ray Richardson and pervis short 53:35 respectively both had pretty good NBA careers but nothing like what the player chosen just behind them would achieve it 53:41 was a Celtics turn now they were on the clock red hour back had to make one of the most important decisions in 53:47 franchise history and finally the Boston Celtics GM dared to make the decision 53:52 that no other GM in the league dared to make quote why would you draft this kid bird knowing he can't play until next 53:59 season do you know how short a time a year is eventually red confessed to the conversation he had had with the 54:05 legendary Billy Cunningham right after drafting bird no one believed that a team with the status of the Celtics who 54:11 had also missed the playoffs last season would invest a sixth round draft pick in a player who wanted to return to college 54:19 but hour back had more NBA experience than any other manager he had a hunch that this player from smalltown Indiana 54:26 had the ability to change the course of an entire franchise not only that that kid from remote Indiana had the ability 54:33 to change the entire trajectory of World Basketball I knew he was a great shooter 54:39 but I didn't know how great red later said I knew he was a great passer and rebounder but I didn't know how great 54:46 and I did not know he would play with injuries Larry was the most self-motivated player I had ever seen 54:52 now although hour back wanted bird as soon as possible the youngsters decision to play his senior year at Indiana State 54:58 seemed pretty much set in stone Larry didn't care much about the draft for one simple reason he wanted to win an NCAA 55:04 tournament an almost impossible mission by the way for a team that had never been invited to the division one 55:10 tournament in its history but for once they had the best college player in the country or at least with Magic Johnson's 55:17 permission every hero needs a villain every hero needs something that pushes 55:22 him to the next level every player needs that and antagonist who's able to push him to the limit of what he can give and 55:30 in Bird's eyes Irvin Magic Johnson was that villain the Michigan State point 55:35 guard had the whole United States in love with him he was a good scorer he was a good rebounder and he was a good 55:42 Defender too but if there was one thing that made him truly special it was his ability to find the open man his surreal 55:49 ball handling skills too I mean his conception of basketball was completely different from the rest of the players 55:56 and with his 68 frame Magic Johnson looked like a wizard it kind of seemed like what he was doing shouldn't be 56:02 possible and in the always difficult Big 10 Johnson was the reason why the Spartans dominated in the late 7s a 56:09 truly generational talent but Larry Bird was not going to be intimidated by 56:14 anyone let alone a basketball player his difficult past had turned him into a rock the pressure just didn't affect him 56:22 neither did the aura of the opposing player bird was determined to lead the sycamores into history and it didn't 56:29 take long for him to do just that and during this season all eyes were on him unlike in previous years I mean the fact 56:36 that the Boston Celtics had drafted him put him in the spotlight not only Celtics fans but all NBA fans were 56:43 watching the steps of a player surrounded by a mysterious Aura who by the way continued to deliver 56:49 Unforgettable performances but during his three seasons in the NCAA there was one game that stood out above of the 56:56 rest it was on February 25th 1979 Indiana state was undefeated during that 57:02 season with a record of 26 wins and zero losses the key dates of the Season were 57:07 approaching and the sycamores needed to get past Witchita state but what people 57:12 didn't know yet was that in crunch time there was no one better than Larry Bird with a performance of 49 points 19 57:20 rebounds two assists and two steals Larry began to build his legacy the game 57:26 was televised too and many people realized the quality and commitment of the forward who was going to make it to 57:32 the NBA The Following Season shooting 18 of 28 from the field and 13 of 15 from 57:38 the free throw line bird also demonstrated his spectacular efficiency in his college era his form was 57:45 basically perfect his release point was very high and his range was enormous 57:50 traits that were perfectly suited for the introduction of the three-point line that same year red PowerBack watched 57:57 greedily as the sycamores posted a record of 29 wins and zero losses he 58:02 realized he had pulled up the biggest steal in the 1978 draft but this feeling 58:07 would only grow for one simple reason bird had done it his perseverence and commitment to Indiana State earned the 58:14 college its first NCAA tournament invitation in 1979 not even teams like 58:20 Bradley who created a defensive system specifically designed to stop Larry Bird called The Bird Cage age were able to 58:27 avoid defeat Larry was simply the best superstar in the NCAA and it was amazing 58:32 how a team that was not ranked in the Associated Press preseason pools ended up reaching the finals a team that Bob 58:40 King had built from the foundation unfortunately he couldn't finish the building as he suffered a heart attack 58:46 just before the start of the 1978-79 season and decided to leave the job being replaced by Bill Hodges but 58:54 despite the setback the sycamores beat Virginia Tech in the regional quarterfinals Oklahoma in the regional 59:00 semifinals Arkansas in the regional finals and depal in the final four Larry 59:05 was making the impossible the reality once again the next game would be the toughest of all though the only obstacle 59:11 bird had to overcome to achieve his dream was to beat Magic Johnson's Michigan State the hype for the game was 59:18 enormous throughout March 1979 every fan wanted bird and Magic to make it to the 59:25 finals and when March 26th rolled around no one was going to miss this thing in 59:30 fact the matchup between Indiana State and Michigan State played in Salt Lake City was the most watched game in the 59:37 history of American basketball yeah now the Sy Morris came in with a perfect 59:43 record of 33 wins and zero losses and the Spartans they had lost six games but 59:48 that made sense when you compare the over talented Big 10 to the remote Missouri Valley Conference that 59:54 experience showed cuz this was the moment when Indiana State suffered their first and last loss of the season the 1:00:01 Spartans controlled the game from start to finish even with some comfort led by Magic Johnson who had 24 points seven 1:00:07 rebounds and five assists on eight of 15 shooting from the field and 8 of 10 from the free throw line on what was the 1:00:15 biggest night of his young career Birds 19 points 13 rebounds and five steals 1:00:20 were simply not enough Jud Heath coat's defensive system was too powerful for a 1:00:25 team that was a ustom to using a one-man offense but Larry had made history at Indiana State that was undeniable he had 1:00:32 put them in a completely different tier building a true Powerhouse in a lower importance conference and his presence 1:00:39 had forever changed the image of college basketball across the country but he was sadly unable to fulfill his dream and 1:00:46 the failure of not playing his best game on the biggest stage of his career that hurt him it hurt his pride the immutable 1:00:54 personality he had developed veled through the Fateful events of his childhood and youth had become even 1:01:00 stronger above probably any other athlete of his generation even if he could never win an NCAA Championship 1:01:07 bird knew he would have a chance to avenge Magic Johnson he knew they were both destined to prove their greatness 1:01:14 in the NBA his college resume though was virtually unsurpassed in his three 1:01:19 seasons at Indiana State Bird led the sycamores to an 81 and13 record and the 1:01:25 30.3 points he averaged per game during that stretch made him the fifth all-time leading scorer in NCAA history but in 1:01:33 addition to the scoring he showed his enormous versatility averaging 13.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in the 1:01:41 eyes of the public and the rest of the GMS red hour back looked like a genius 1:01:46 not only had he won nine titles as a coach leading what up to that point was the most stacked team in NBA history he 1:01:53 was also doing an incredible job as a office member having been able to transition the Celtics to a new 1:01:59 generation without losing that winning Gene and now at the toughest time in the 1:02:05 franchise's history he had pulled an ace out of his sleeve an inimitable player who had been drafted behind five other 1:02:12 players who in no context would have had a better career than him hour back was so excited to get bird that he tried to 1:02:18 convince him to play during the last month of the season and had he accepted Larry basically would have become the 1:02:24 best player on the cels a team that finished with a record of 29 wins and 53 losses That season but bird didn't want 1:02:31 to leave yet he wanted to finish his degree and have fun during what would be his last months of college life just 1:02:37 before he finally had to face that adult life he had been facing for years the only problem luck was still not quite on 1:02:44 his side we have to remember that the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird had to negotiate the contract during that 1:02:51 summer in these days there was no salary scale that determined how much rookies had had to be paid each player 1:02:57 individually negotiated his contract with the team that drafted him this meant that bird had to be in perfect 1:03:03 health until the contract was signed or his bargaining power would be diminished 1:03:08 but a kid like him he just could not stand still it was the summer of 1979 1:03:14 Larry was playing a softball game with his friends everything was normal he was having fun but in an attempt to dive and 1:03:21 catch a ball his right hand got caught under his body and the hit was pretty hard because when bird looked down at 1:03:28 his hand he feared the worst his right index finger the most important finger for a basketball shooter was completely 1:03:35 shattered he looked down and his finger was completely dislocated and mangled and you know he really was bothering he 1:03:41 had to stop playing right away and Larry's first reaction was to hide the injury from the Boston Celtics basically 1:03:47 because even though he was left-handed his right hand was the one he used for shooting bird even considered playing 1:03:53 the rest of his career with his left left hand given the possibility of the injury not healing completely but 1:04:00 despite the setback the young man from frenchlick put in the hours to make up for it ourbag didn't know about Bird's 1:04:06 injury surely if he had things might have gone differently he's his his finger is in a bad way he has to have 1:04:12 major surgery with Clips put in and pins and everything else and he he never tells the Celtics this has happened on 1:04:18 the one hand Larry wanted to be part of the prestigious Boston Celtics Legacy on the other red knew he couldn't AFF for 1:04:25 to lose the forward in contract negotiations and have his rights become the property of another team both wanted 1:04:32 to make a deal and both knew that Larry's talents were not that of a normal rookie one way or another bird 1:04:39 had the greatest franchise in basketball history at his feet listening to his request to offer him the contract he 1:04:46 wanted and to improve his options Larry hired Bob wolf as his agent one of the 1:04:51 best in the business wolf was a lawyer who had already made millionaires out of of several athletes such as Carl yky 1:04:58 Celtic John havich and Julius Irving an hour back knew he couldn't skimp that's 1:05:04 why he offered bird the highest rookie contract in the history of the sport a request that however wolf found 1:05:10 insufficient somehow and so in the summer of 1979 Bob entered the room of the front office without his client and 1:05:17 handed red hour back a piece of paper with stipulations for Larry's contract among them were several bonus Clauses 1:05:23 including one approaching 50,000 for making the all rookie team Bob came into the office um without Larry on it 1:05:31 had a list of bonuses and the one at the top was that he made that he got a Bonus let's say $50,000 for making the all 1:05:38 rookie team red was naturally pretty disappointed with the request and it was 1:05:43 a Titanic struggle between two experienced Brilliant Minds but red knew 1:05:48 he had to do something quote now let me get this straight we're going to pay the largest rookie contract in the history 1:05:55 of professional sports and for that we don't even get making the all rookie team and red tore up that piece of paper 1:06:02 in front of him no hour back was not a person to be cowed far from it and after 1:06:08 weeks of tough negotiations the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird finally came to an agreement an agreement of $3.5 1:06:15 million for Four Seasons something unheard of for a rookie in any of the major leagues in America after weeks of 1:06:22 some of the most intense negotiations in Celtics history Larry bird is finally in the F the highly touted 6'9 in 1:06:28 All-American forward out of Indiana State signed a multi-year multi-million dollar contract with the green making him the richest rookie in the history of 1:06:35 pro sports our we're back at Dunn it the 1979 80 season would be Larry Bird's 1:06:40 rookie season with the Boston Celtics after being drafted almost two years ago by the Celtics and through two months of 1:06:46 on and off again negotiations at times quite bitter between two old adversaries red arbac and attorney Bob wolf Larry 1:06:53 Bird became a very rich young man this morning the 69 All America from Indiana State signed a 5-year contract worth 1:06:59 more than $3 million and with that he's expected to help turn around the Celtic franchise which has fallen on Hard Times 1:07:06 in recent years I guarantee I'll give 100% every time I come out and if I get a torn TOA or something I won't sit out 1:07:12 I'll play hard as I can every night and I hope I can bring excitement to the fans and I'll never give up the hype for 1:07:19 his arrival in the NBA was huge there really weren't many precedents Larry was 1:07:24 quickly christened the Great White Hope a nickname that by the way he hated and 1:07:30 let's not act as if the NBA of the80s didn't have racial stereotypes it was a league in which the best players had 1:07:36 been African-American for decades after Wilt Chamberlain people were used to White players taking a back seat in the 1:07:42 best league in the world and because of that there were a lot of the population that identified with bird but on the 1:07:48 court he had to earn the respect not only of the entire league but also of his own teammates on the Boston Celtics 1:07:55 it was the team's first practice of the preseason and Larry Bird arrived peacefully to the court but it didn't 1:08:02 take long for him to hear the complaints of some of his teammates who didn't want him on the team one of them was Cedric 1:08:08 Maxwell the center who had been selected 12th overall in the draft two years earlier in 1:08:13 1977 Maxwell was coming off the best statistical season of his career averaging 19 points 10 rebounds and 11 1:08:20 assists per night but that performance could not be transformed into victories for those Celtics who had ended up out 1:08:27 of the playoffs he was a good player even a great player but not a first offensive reference you know and the 1:08:33 point is that when bird showed up he began to hear certain comments related to his nickname oh here comes a great 1:08:39 white savior even Cedric himself told of years later how most NBA players were 1:08:45 racist at the time I think that you would say that most black players at the time were racist they just couldn't 1:08:51 imagine a white player being able to contribute more than them and they tried to intimidate bird the first chance they 1:08:57 got Maxwell and Company not only felt that Larry was completely overrated but they also felt that he wouldn't be able 1:09:04 to help a team that had a terrible record in the NBA this season before but believe me if this had happened a year 1:09:11 later bird would have responded verbally but he chose to respond on the court this time with the ball in his hands and 1:09:18 his Celtics teammates couldn't imagine what Larry was made of his dark past was 1:09:23 huge compared to a problem like not feeling accepted on a basketball team bird loved the competitiveness and years 1:09:30 later he admitted that his teammates attitudes toward him in the beginning motivated him even more now at the time 1:09:37 the Celtics head coach was Bill Fitch after having Dave cowens as coach player 1:09:42 during last season ourbag knew the team needed someone with some real coaching experience so Fitch who had been 1:09:49 coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers for nearly a decade accepted the job on the green bench and the thing is on that 1:09:55 practice Fitch orders certain drills that put bird and Maxwell in a one-on-one situation Cedric thought to 1:10:02 himself he's not that fast he's not that strong it's going to be a layup but on 1:10:07 the first possession Larry knocked down a jumper right in his face exactly the same as on the second from 20 from 25 ft 1:10:15 Maxwell proudly recounts how quote the Great White Hope earned his respect the 1:10:20 first chance he got damn this white guy can play you know what up in the D this guy up I'm going to show him his life 20 1:10:27 ft away bam 25 ft away bam I my mind 1:10:32 just go like damn this white guy can play no Celtics player ever questioned the forward's ability to dominate from 1:10:39 that point on but the reality is that Larry would have had the same attitude with any of the other 21 NBA franchises 1:10:46 in his mind he knew it he knew he had the talent and the mentality to succeed 1:10:51 in the best league in the world and more and more fans started to believe it too after having watched him dominate in 1:10:57 college but on his shoulders he had a huge responsibility the responsibility 1:11:03 of rebuilding the best franchise in history from practically scratch but bird wasn't there to save the Celtics he 1:11:10 was there to save the NBA in 1979 the league was perceived by many fans as a 1:11:16 bunch of selfish drug- taken millionaire players who didn't even really care about basketball many players had 1:11:22 already let it slip that a large percentage of the league was taking cocaine on a regular basis and that 1:11:28 rumor was reaching every corner of the country the ratings were getting worse and worse the 1978 and 79 finals 1:11:36 included teams like Seattle and Washington which lacked the Legacy let's 1:11:41 call it or Mystique that could hold the fans attention to keep eyeballs on the TV perhaps this is why Michigan State 1:11:48 and Indiana State featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was the most watched game in college basketball 1:11:54 history yes maybe definitely the lack of competition that the NBA offered was one 1:11:59 of the biggest reasons fans had long been eager to get hooked on basketball again thanks to a new generation of 1:12:05 stars but the truth is that many had run out of patience Larry Bird along with 1:12:10 magic was a breath of fresh air and Larry O'Brien the commissioner who was in charge of running the NBA at the time 1:12:17 was not blind he knew the pole bird had a generational Talent with an incredible 1:12:22 work ethic that was able to attract more white fans to the league and he sought to exploit this new resource at his 1:12:29 disposal this kid from frenchlick whose play was reminisent of times pass also 1:12:34 seemed to indicate what the basketball of the future would be like and then it finally happened his first NBA game was 1:12:42 against the Houston Rockets a team that had had in its roster the incredible Moses Malone and the legendary Rick 1:12:49 Barry a player who as we saw before was in charge of attracting a lot of attention to the already non-existent 1:12:56 ABA Malone was only 24 years old at the time and had just exploded during the 1:13:01 previous season getting the first MVP of his career with averages of 25 points 1:13:06 and 17 rebounds per night and Barry in the Twilight of his career was playing what would be his last NBA season at the 1:13:14 age of 35 now bird didn't have the best performance of his life with 14 points 1:13:19 10 rebounds and five assists on six of 12 shooting from the field he had a relatively weak game by the standards of 1:13:26 a generational player but still no one had ever seen anything like him Celtics 1:13:31 fans were thrilled with the performance of a power forward because of his vision and his unquestionable range it was 1:13:39 really unusual to see a player of that size handle the game the way he did the Celtics won the game by eight points and 1:13:45 started the season the opposite way they had started the previous season with a 1:13:51 win pass go the car the ball lry burn a 1:13:56 two hand Death full card pass the car on a break and he stopped it 1:14:04 in well this crowd is loving that Boston C have defeated the Houston Rockets fans 1:14:10 only had to wait one more game to see Larry's offensive potential though it was a game against the Cleveland 1:14:15 Cavaliers a team that at the time could not aspire to much more than getting into the playoffs led by Mike Mitchell 1:14:22 campy Russell and Randy Smith Cleveland could do nothing against the youngster from French Lake a 28-point performance 1:14:29 on 12 of 17 shooting from the field four of five from the free throw line seven 1:14:34 rebounds five assists and two steals had read hour back absolutely beaming during 1:14:40 the first month of his NBA career bird averaged 18.8 points 8.4 rebounds 4.4 1:14:48 assists and 1.8 Steals on nearly 50% shooting from the field the Celtics went 1:14:53 on to post a record of seven wins and two losses including two 37o blowout 1:14:59 victories over the Washington Bullets and the New Jersey Nets what no one knew for sure at the time though but maybe 1:15:05 some people suspected was that this was the worst version of Larry Bird you would ever see on a basketball court 1:15:12 Larry's floor was as high as Allstar and his ceiling was as high as the moon a 1:15:17 month after making his NBA debut Larry would enjoy another magical performance 1:15:23 it was his first matchup against the D Detroit Pistons who were a franchise that had been without real playoff 1:15:28 success since the 1950s with Bob McAdoo leading the team they hoped to change the dynamic once and for all that change 1:15:35 however would have to wait with a performance of 23 points 19 rebounds 10 1:15:41 assists three Steals and two blocks bird achieved the first triple double of his career the first of many when he had 1:15:49 barely played more than a dozen games in the NBA the Celtics of course won by four points against a team that would 1:15:55 only win 16 games during that regular season the Rookie of the month award didn't exist yet it would come into 1:16:01 existence in fact only two seasons later but bird would have won every single one of them magic was the only rookie who 1:16:08 seemed to be able to come close to him although always just a little bit behind in the East bird was the absolute king 1:16:16 of all rookies and also 95% of the entire NBA Larry continued to put 1:16:22 together spectacular performances he had 32 points 18 rebounds and five assists 1:16:28 against the Cavaliers in December and his name was beginning to sound like a possibility to play in the All-Star Game 1:16:34 to be held that season at the capital Center in Maryland everyone knew that bird had enormous pull among the white 1:16:41 population but Julius Irving and John Drew occupied the forward spots in the Eastern Conference starting five so 1:16:47 Larry was chosen as a reserve to play in the game on a stage as big as the All-Star game where all the current NBA 1:16:54 legends were on the roster bird seamlessly took to his role he led the East and assist with seven with some of 1:17:01 them being completely unreal and he took the shot that could have given his team the victory just before the end of 1:17:07 regulation he missed it unfortunately and Magic Johnson who had always been chosen to play in the game enjoyed that 1:17:13 magic applauded bird as he walked to the West bench after they won the game and that was the second time that Larry was 1:17:19 unable to shut down Magic on a big stage time however would put everyone in their 1:17:24 play though somehow the All-Star Game gave Larry the confidence he needed to become a superstar after the All-Star 1:17:32 break he became a different Beast he had another game of 32 Points 11 rebounds 1:17:37 and four assists against the contending Philadelphia 76ers in February in what was his first game after the break a few 1:17:44 days later he played his best game of his rookie season on February 13th 1980 1:17:49 against the Phoenix Suns Larry scored 45 points got 13 rebounds and dished out 1:17:55 three assists the first 40-point game of his NBA career by the way Cedric Maxwell 1:18:00 accompanied bird with 25 points on only 12 shots from the field the two were beginning to understand each other and 1:18:07 the Celtics were in their best position in years all thanks to the arrival of this rookie who averaged 25 points 10 1:18:14 rebounds and five assists per game since the All-Star break in addition the forward was averaging 40% on 1:18:21 three-pointers so far this season and considering that the n ba had only just 1:18:26 instituted the aba's three-point line during that same season this was Madness 1:18:31 we didn't have to wait during the second half of his rookie season bird had already proved that he was one of the 1:18:38 best players in all of basketball the Boston Celtics went from 29 wins during the last season without Larry Bird to 61 1:18:46 during The Following season and what was then the biggest turnaround season in NBA history they finished with the best 1:18:52 record in the entire Eastern Conference ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers by the way who had 59 wins and they also had 1:19:00 the best record in the entire NBA the Lakers Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabar had 60 wins one less but it was 1:19:08 amazing how the two rookies had almost immediately become two of the best players in the league the 1979 rookie 1:19:15 class was just insane and so the battle for Rookie of the Year ensued in that 1:19:20 1979 1980 season there were only two possible winners of course bird finished 1:19:26 the season averaging 21.3 points 10.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per night with 1:19:33 47% shooting from the field and 41% in three-pointers while magic averaged 18 1:19:40 points 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists with an efficiency of 53% from the field and 1:19:47 23% in three-pointers and in their head-to-head matchups magic won both games but on an individual level bird 1:19:55 was just simply better in both matchups of the 66 voters who decided the awards 1:20:00 63 voted for the Celtics star an overwhelming result that did not leave 1:20:05 the 68 point guard from Los Angeles very satisfied how would you describe your relationship obviously you beat him in 1:20:11 the NC the finals in 79 but how was your relationship once you got to the NBA because I think the thing was he was 1:20:18 rookie of the year I think you got like one or two votes that's all that's all you I think he I think it was like 32 33 1:20:23 to like one or two no even more than that it was 60 something to like 1:20:29 two I hate to say that too I got to say that on team but Larry was focused on 1:20:35 what was really important and it had only taken him a few months to figure out how to dominate the league and Not 1:20:41 only was his signature game adored by fans since his last season at Indiana State but he had also convinced the 1:20:48 Skeptics who believed he was going to fail in the NBA somehow this seemingly overhyped white kid from French click 1:20:54 had managed to surpass the completely surreal expectations put on him his 1:20:59 enormous contribution had completely transformed a very weak team into 1:21:05 basically the best team in its conference in a heroic act that no star would be able to pull off in the modern 1:21:11 NBA but it was crunch time now now it was time for the playoffs the Celtics 1:21:17 had earned the number one seed with their performance and in the first round they would have to face the Houston 1:21:22 Rockets who at the time were part of the Eastern Conference the same opponent he would face in the playoffs was the first 1:21:29 opponent he faced in the first regular season game of his career and the truth is that Moses Malone was already one of 1:21:35 the brightest stars in the league and Robert Reed exploded as a player precisely in that Series against the 1:21:41 Boston Celtics but the Celtics rookie Shadow was just too long in their first 1:21:47 playoff game the Rockets tried to keep the Celtic star from shooting as much as possible but the Ford was able to score 1:21:53 15 points grab seven rebounds and dish out three assists the Celtics won easily 1:21:59 by 18 points in front of their home crowd and Larry also realized that his playmaking ability was especially useful 1:22:05 in the playoffs where teams did not hesitate to use help defense to stop him or try to stop him and for that reason 1:22:12 bird began to get more of the ball in the second game he recorded a performance of 14 points eight rebounds 1:22:19 and six assists getting the second most assist of the team only behind the point guard tiny Arch ball and the Celtics had 1:22:25 beat Houston again despite Robert Reed's 22 points and 14 rebounds now it was 1:22:31 also no surprise that Boston won both games at the Garden considering they had only lost six games at home that season 1:22:37 but winning away from home in the playoffs now that was going to be a little more complicated Boston traveled 1:22:42 to Houston with the idea of closing out the series or so bird thought perhaps 1:22:48 underestimating the value of the home crowd in the playoffs the Rockets had played poorly away from home during the 1:22:54 Reg season but the summit was always reliable the fans were waiting for Moses 1:22:59 and Company to come home and tie the series however in game three Larry's 18 1:23:05 points seven rebounds and eight assists helped the Celtics beat the Rockets bird 1:23:10 again with the help of archal LED and ran the team's offense so that everyone else could shine and as many as five 1:23:17 Celtics players managed to score at least 13 points it looked like the Celtics system just did not have any 1:23:23 holes but what happened in game four gave them even more confidence this was 1:23:29 Larry's first Unforgettable performance that game four against the Houston Rockets marked a before and after in 1:23:36 Larry Bird's career it wasn't that he wanted to shoot more than in other games it was simply that his ability to find 1:23:42 the open man meant that defenses couldn't help as much as they would have liked so with 13 made shots from the 1:23:48 field out of 20 attempts bird put up a 34o 10 rebound seven assist performance 1:23:54 performance to close out the series in front of a hostile crowd by the way he was a rookie but he had more stripes 1:24:00 than almost any veteran of course that was something everyone already knew that night bird showed that he had the 1:24:05 mentality to take over a playoff game he coolly knocked down eight free throws in front of that hostile crowd and hit his 1:24:12 first career postseason three-pointer his aggressiveness was just different 1:24:17 and he only needed three games to figure out the attitude that was required to win in the playoffs Celtics fans were as 1:24:24 perplexed as they were excited they hadn't had such a dominant player in a long time true the transition period 1:24:30 from Bill Russell had been a comfortable one with the cow crop who went on to win two more championships but Larry Birds 1:24:37 seemed to have even more potential than John hav his second round opponent however that was going to be much 1:24:43 tougher those Philadelphia 76ers were no ordinary team they were littered with 1:24:49 historical players who in most cases were entering their primes their leader was undoubted Le Julius Irving that 1:24:56 legendary highflying forward who had dominated the ABA until the end of his days and who had found in Philadelphia a 1:25:03 home for his NBA career Dr J was one of the flashiest players but he was also 1:25:08 one of the toughest and he certainly knew how to win this time he was joined by Young Daryl Dawkins another 1:25:15 highflying Center who had been picked fifth overall in the 1975 Draft 1:25:20 Philadelphia also had three-time All-Star and Lockdown Defender Bobby Jones four-time All-Star and future 1:25:27 Sixers Coach Doug Collins onetime All-Star Lionel Hollands who was also one of the best defensive players in the 1:25:33 league and a young Maurice Cheeks who during his prime was also one of the best defenders in the NBA not only did 1:25:41 the Sixers have one of the best defensive teams in league history but they also had three future NBA coaches 1:25:47 on the roster they were a team that didn't mind using toughness but they also had plenty of basketball IQ and as 1:25:54 after losing the 1977 finals to the Portland Trailblazers the Sixers were hungry and this was a year to make 1:26:01 amends now the Celtics did have homecourt Advantage but experience was not on their side still bird would try 1:26:09 his best to lead the Celtics to Victory he knew that the outcome of that series depended basically on his performance 1:26:16 that's why in game one Larry only rested for 2 minutes out of a possible 48 in 1:26:22 game four against the Rockets had given him that confidence to become the best player on the flooor with 27 points nine 1:26:28 rebounds five assists and four steals bird had a historic performance in that first game but beyond Maxwell's 1:26:36 contribution and the good game played by David cows Boston could do nothing to contain the duo of Julius Irving and 1:26:42 Daryl Dawkins who combined to score 52 points on 22 of 39 shooting from the 1:26:48 field birded lost his first playoff game at home when he also had a pretty good performance game two however now now 1:26:54 that would be different both Larry and the rest of the team knew that a second loss at home would be virtually 1:26:59 definitive the Sixers were too experienced a team to blow a two lead on a best of seven Series so they had to 1:27:06 win the gardens packed crowd was waiting for that generational rookie to play the best game of his short career and guess 1:27:13 what he did during the entire regular season of his rookie year bird had only attempted 30 or more shots from the 1:27:20 field on two occasions but in that game two against the Sixers he had to put the team on his back and do it again that 1:27:27 night Larry dominated the game scoring 31 points on 15 of 30 shooting from the 1:27:32 field grabbing 12 rebounds his heroic effort in which he demolished the Philadelphia 76ers defense from 1:27:39 mid-range was rewarded and the Celtics had tied the series a game one a piece 1:27:44 but now they had to travel to Philadelphia it wasn't a long trip but what awaited them there was literally 1:27:50 hell Sixers fans have always been one of the most dead iated in the league they 1:27:55 have always been one of the most critical of their players too but the fact is that the fans also always made 1:28:01 sure that the Spectrum was a fortress but in that game three the Sixers outscored the Celtics by only two points 1:28:09 it was a game that was largely dominated by Philadelphia who led 33 to19 in the 1:28:14 third quarter however late in the game things did tighten up this three-pointer by Larry put the Celtics down by two 1:28:21 with just over 30 seconds to play but but to no avail no good were the 22 1:28:26 points 21 rebounds and four assists the forward had along with his career high in the playoffs and three-pointers 1:28:33 Irving and Company looked too strong for the Celtics and bird couldn't do anything in game four either as the 1:28:39 Sixers rolled over Boston despite Larry's 19 points 13 rebounds three 1:28:44 assists and three blocks the Celtics were unable to compete at the end of the game Julius Irving's 30 points and 10 1:28:51 rebounds were enough to bring Philadelphia to Within one game of closing out the series and heading to 1:28:57 the Conference Finals in game five the Celtics got several players involved in the offense archal cowens and Cedric 1:29:04 Maxwell had pretty good performances but Boston had two problems the first is that their star Larry Bird did not have 1:29:12 his best game only getting 12 points and 14 assists on five of 19 shooting from the field the second is that the bench 1:29:19 was barely able to score that night and so the Philadelphia 76ers had a minated 1:29:24 the Boston Celtics from the playoffs Bird's dream of playing in the finals in his rookie year was history of course 1:29:32 this is completely normal no matter how good a rookie is teams need time to settle in and create an identity the 1:29:39 Celtics just didn't have one yet Beyond possessing a player with generational potential who had led the team in his 1:29:45 rookie season but bird was not normal he aspired to more Larry watched as during 1:29:52 those playoffs the LA Lakers not only Advanced to the finals through the Western Conference they beat the Sixers 1:29:58 who had just toppled his Celtics the fact remains that the Lakers had Kareem Abdul Jabar in their roster one of the 1:30:05 greatest players to ever touch a basketball but Larry didn't care about that a player of his talent he wanted so 1:30:11 much more the word satisfied just wasn't in his dictionary but as precocious and driven as he was in every way Magic 1:30:19 Johnson had so far proven to be more successful National magazine has named you the MVP for this series it's it's 1:30:26 just great you know the NBA the whole season was great and uh it's been beautiful now bird knew the Celtics 1:30:33 needed an upgrade to beat the best teams in the league in the playoffs their elimination to the Sixers after being 1:30:38 seated number one did not sit well at all so our back had a lot of work to do 1:30:44 the good news is that after a trade with the Detroit Pistons and a coin flip Boston became the owner of the first 1:30:50 pick in the 1980 draft and again red wanted a very very specific player 1:30:55 Minnesota 610 power forward Kevin mcale had finished his college career and was ready to go to the NBA now ourbag didn't 1:31:03 think it was actually necessary to have a number one pick to get him so he made one of the most lopsided trades in 1:31:09 league history the Celtics traded their first pick and another first round pick in exchange for Robert Parish and the 1:31:16 number three pick with which red would eventually select male Boston's front Court not only immediately became one of 1:31:24 the best in the league it was also incredibly young and with a core like that the excuses were gone the team Bill 1:31:31 Fitch had at his disposal was easily the best in the entire Eastern Conference now bird and Company had to prove it 1:31:38 after his rookie season Larry was no longer the laidback tall white guy who dominated on the court bird was starting 1:31:45 to discover that mentality that he was A Cut Above the Rest I mean what were they going to tell him that could hurt him 1:31:51 after going through what he had been through no one one was ready to have a mental battle with Larry Bird and Larry 1:31:57 began to use words to establish his dominance too he realized he had a gift 1:32:03 in the old art of instigation there was no one better than Larry Bird but the amazing thing is that somehow he always 1:32:10 managed to walk the walk after talking the talk I always tell this this story 1:32:15 about lar bird I remember him he was cursing under his breath and I asked him 1:32:20 Larry what's going on with you he says you guys are being dis respectful to me and I says what are you talking about he 1:32:28 says you guys are putting a white guy on me despite the loaded roster though the season actually didn't start very well 1:32:35 the Celtics started with a record of three wins and three losses in the first six games even losing a home game to the 1:32:42 New York Knicks in which Larry Bird had 25 points and 10 rebounds for some reason the team just wasn't clicking in 1:32:49 addition the Celtics would have to face the Philadelphia 76ers to change the course of of the Season thus far facing 1:32:55 the team that had eliminated them in the last playoffs bird still had memories of that fateful game five he had just 1:33:01 played a few months ago he knew he couldn't let that happen again for that reason the Celtics forward played one of 1:33:08 the best games of his young career on November 1st 1980 bird had 36 points and 1:33:14 21 rebounds against the Sixers on 48% shooting from the field but still they 1:33:20 lost Julius Irving's 45 points were just too much for some it was a sign that 1:33:26 Philadelphia was still ahead of Boston in terms of talent but for others it was part of the learning process the 1:33:33 question is when would this stop happening Bill Fitch took advantage of the opportunity to solve multiple 1:33:39 problems on the team male despite being a rookie began to enjoy more prominence 1:33:44 but it was very difficult to get wins if one of your best players Robert Parish was unable to stay on the court because 1:33:51 of foul trouble Parish had shown a lot of potential in Golden State before arriving in Boston but in the 7879 1:33:57 season just before bird came into the league he averaged four fouls per game 1:34:03 Fitch had to find a way to protect him on defense and he did Robert went from averaging 4.2 fouls per 24 minutes until 1:34:11 that game against the Sixers to averaging 3.7 fouls per 28 minutes for 1:34:16 the rest of the season and that did a lot for them the Celtics who were six and four at that moment lost only five 1:34:23 out of the next 42 including a 25-1 record from December 9th through January 1:34:29 28th they were starting to scare everyone not surprisingly some of Larry Bird's best games of the Season also 1:34:35 came in that stretch oh Larry Bird for the play by and they scored the 1:34:45 goal he was the King on December 13th 1980 bird scored 35 points and grabbed 1:34:52 20 rebounds he also dished out five assists and had three steals in an away 1:34:57 win over the Chicago Bulls a game he dominated from start to finish weeks 1:35:02 later he had a triple double against the Phoenix Suns with 27 points 10 rebounds and 10 assists in addition to five 1:35:09 steals a game in which yes the Celtics managed to win by 19 points bird also 1:35:15 watched as Suns guard Dennis Johnson went off against him too a player that curiously would end up becoming a vital 1:35:22 part of the Celtics support in cast years later games that always had a lot of symbolism are the ones bird played 1:35:28 against the Pacers on January 3rd 1981 during the Celtics brilliant run Boston 1:35:34 hosted Indiana at the Garden bird not only scored 32 points 10 rebounds got 1:35:39 eight assists and five Steals on just 22 shots from the field but he also scored 1:35:44 a jumper with 50 seconds on the clock that served as a dagger to close out the game the Celtics ended up winning by 1:35:51 just one point however no regular regular season game was as important to bird as the one he would have to play on 1:35:57 February 11th 1981 the Celtics were in Englewood to take on the LA Lakers at 1:36:02 The Forum a game that Larry had circled on his calendar for sure he felt the 1:36:07 pain of the NCAA tournament final loss to Magic Johnson as if it happened yesterday and he did not forget Magic's 1:36:14 taunts during last season's All-Star game he also envied how magic had been crowned champion in his rookie season 1:36:22 now any other young player in the league would have understood that Johnson was simply two steps ahead of everyone else 1:36:28 but bird he knew what he was capable of he knew deep down he could prove he was better than magic unfortunately though 1:36:35 that night he couldn't prove anything his 36 points 21 rebounds six assists 1:36:41 five Steals and three blocks were a testament to his superiority but magic didn't play that game in fact he had 1:36:47 been injured for almost 3 months a torn cartilage in his left knee caused him to miss 45 games during the 1980 81 season 1:36:56 and that greatly weakened the Lakers chances still bird knew the Lakers star 1:37:01 would be watching the game and he wanted to send a message that only a player like him would understand I'm coming for 1:37:07 you we're in that leg and I'm hurt so I can't play against the selers 1:37:14 you know I'm killing myself right before they go out on the court Larry comes down he say you know 1:37:19 what don't worry I'mma put a show on for 1:37:26 you that season Larry was again selected to play the All-Star game but again as a reserve where he had a testimonial role 1:37:34 that however didn't really matter to him just like the fact that he was second in the voting for the regular season MVP in 1:37:40 his sophomore year only behind Julius Irving who continued to demonstrate his dominance over Bird by the way the only 1:37:47 thing Larry wanted was to pass over the Sixers and win the NBA finals against whoever was in front of him the Celtics 1:37:54 looked capable as they posted a record of 62 wins and 20 losses during the regular season which also happened to be 1:38:00 the same as Philadelphia this rivalry between the two neighboring cities was becoming more and more notorious and 1:38:07 contentious of course on the other hand it's true that there were certain sectors of fans who began to criticize 1:38:13 Bird's progression bird did not have a quantitative leap statistically during 1:38:18 his sophomore year his numbers pretty much remain similar at least during the regular season but anyone who understood 1:38:24 basketball at all was able to appreciate how his impact was much greater in that second season and his coach came to his 1:38:32 defense quote I'm not sure how you can measure the Improvement of Larry Bird from year to year he does so many things 1:38:39 well he's a little better overall he's a lot better in rebounding others have stepped forth this season but Larry's 1:38:46 value certainly hasn't diminished and he's worth as much as if not more than he was a year ago now it's not like 1:38:52 there are a lot lot of ways for a rookie who finished fourth in the MVP race to progress but somehow Larry found them 1:39:00 and he finished second in the race for the 1980 81 season and it was not a good 1:39:05 situation for the rest of the NBA either cuz his ceiling was still a long way off 1:39:11 now some nights bird was simply the best player in the world but there were other strange ones from time to time where he 1:39:16 looked like a mortal bird learned to take care of the ball much better during his sophomore season though and this is 1:39:22 something that became evident during the second half of the Season where he cut his average turnovers almost in half now 1:39:28 he needed to carry this Improvement into the 1981 playoffs which were about to begin fans started chanting Larry 1:39:40 Larry Larry Bird comes into a standing ovation fate paired Boston with Chicago 1:39:45 in the first round the Bulls were a huge Market team that had not yet found their identity during the 60s and early '70s 1:39:52 they were an average team that managed to qualify for the playoffs but they were not a team good enough to make deep 1:39:58 runs in the postseason in 1981 their roster was in transition after a 1:40:04 disastrous end to the 70s they were led by artist Gilmore a former ABA star who 1:40:09 managed to adapt incredibly well to the NBA Reggie Theus Dave Greenwood and Larry Kennan and the truth is that their 1:40:17 expectations did not include beating the Boston Celtics and Larry got off to a good start in the playoffs too with 23 1:40:23 points 12 rebounds and five assists the Celtics beat the Bulls by 12 points in the first game of the series a similar 1:40:30 result to the second game in which they won by nine points with a mediocre performance by Larry in which he had 12 1:40:37 points 12 rebounds nine assists and four steals but also 10 turnovers the Celtics 1:40:43 were pretty good and bird could afford a stumble like this one from time to time especially early in the playoffs but 1:40:48 against the toughest opponents in the NBA he knew he couldn't afford this kind of performance so in game three he came 1:40:55 out to play posting a spectacular triple double with 24 points 17 rebounds and 10 1:41:01 assists a performance that allowed the Celtics to add their first win away from home and put them up 3-0 in the series 1:41:08 and in the elimination game bird once again shined as the player of his time with 35 points 11 rebounds and five 1:41:16 assists including 13 of 22 shooting from the field bird sent the Chicago Bulls 1:41:21 back home to the point that Chicago management by the way made the decision to rebuild again they needed a 1:41:27 generational Prospect to hold on to and time would absolutely be generous to them it's been a sad situation I respect 1:41:34 it there's been very little camaraderie between the organization and the players through the time that I've been here 1:41:40 this has been one of the problems of for the losing record that wasn't Bird's problem though luckily he was already on 1:41:45 a winning team his problem at the time was none other than the Philadelphia 76ers in those playoffs because they 1:41:52 were the two seed Philadelphia had to play the opening round against the Indiana Pacers which they won 20-0 1:41:59 remember that it was just a best of three Series in the first round at this time but in the conference semi-finals 1:42:05 they had a much tougher opponent Marquez Johnson's Milwaukee Bucks took the Sixers to the seventh game which however 1:42:12 they could not win the Sixers got their ticket to the Conference Finals and their bird was waiting for him eager to 1:42:19 prove that he was ready for the challenge and on top of that the Celtics had homec courted Advantage again Philadelphia had a similar roster to the 1:42:26 previous season this time however in 1981 they had a new weapon Andrew Tony 1:42:31 had been selected with the eighth pick of that draft five spots below male and had become a scoring machine Off the 1:42:38 Bench even starting for stretches of the season but the Celtics were eager to show them that they also had a new 1:42:44 Arsenal new weapons to destroy any defense in that anticipated game one 1:42:50 bird put up a great performance of 33 points 10 rebounds and three assists with only one turnover but the Celtics 1:42:57 lost by one point after four lead changes in the last 27 seconds fate 1:43:03 smiled again on the Philadelphia 76ers and just like in the previous season Boston began the series losing home 1:43:10 court advantage quote it's just one game you got to win four there ain't no homec court advantage in the playoffs now the 1:43:16 defense on Dr J had been effective but Andrew Tony's 26 points Off the Bench 1:43:21 which earned him booze from from the garden were key to their Victory but now it's time for game two and in this game 1:43:28 the defense on Julius Irving was even more suffocating Tony wanted to prove he was an elite player too and the 35 1:43:35 points he scored in game two only made up for the Celtics spectacular first half thrashing of the Sixers quote I 1:43:42 don't think Tony will beat us again in this series okay he got 35 but 35 when 1:43:47 you're down 20 means our defense was working where it should even after such a comfortable Victory though the 1:43:53 journalist dared to ask Larry Bird if it had been an easy game quote easy I 1:43:59 worked harder tonight than ever it's never easy because you're banging pushing scratching for everything you 1:44:06 get this time 34 points from Larry Bird accompanied by 16 rebounds and five 1:44:11 assists were enough to even the series but now they had to travel to Philadelphia to play the next two games 1:44:17 Robert Parish is one of 14 shooting from the field in game three truly cost the Celtics the game birds 22 points 133 1:44:25 rebounds and four assists were just not enough only archal Maxwell and male who 1:44:31 came off the bench as usual stepped up that night the Celtics now had lost nine consecutive games at the Spectrum since 1:44:37 January 20th 1979 and in this game all the Celtics starters had a pretty good game just 1:44:44 like game four of the previous year but once again Philadelphia prevailed winning by just two points and with a 1:44:51 two- game disadvantage now the the Celtics players saw how their options to fight for the championship were slipping 1:44:57 away they had made changes they had improved the team but their efforts were not yet rewarded in the playoffs and 1:45:04 Larry Bird feared the worst quote all I know is that if we can't win in Philadelphia we don't deserve to be 1:45:10 Champions Larry's performance in game five lived up to his statements though but that was the norm for bird that 1:45:17 self-critical attitude is what drove him to keep improving despite being one of the best players in the entire NBA 1:45:24 leading by example Larry had a 32 point 11 rebound five assist three Steel Two 1:45:30 block performance it electrified the packed Garden which was yearning for a comeback they really wanted to return to 1:45:37 the success of the past when the Celtics were the reigning team in the NBA Boston won that night by two points and Larry 1:45:44 Bird made one of the most important baskets of his career now it was back to the Spectrum it was very unlikely that 1:45:50 the Celtics could win there and tie the series I mean it seemed an impossible mission given the circumstances we felt 1:45:57 it really shocked him it really uh tore him apart because now it's 3 to3 and we're com back to the garden and that was just a game whoever had the most 1:46:03 guts and the most determination was going to win that game but led by Larry Bird who had yet another video game stat 1:46:09 line with 25 points 16 rebounds four assists two Steals and two blocks they 1:46:14 managed to win by only two points a game that was really complicated in which bird again scored a clutch shot that 1:46:22 ended up giving the victory to the Celtics and so the Sixers would now travel back to Boston to play the most 1:46:27 important game of the year in the Eastern Conference the game that would serve as a ticket to play in the finals 1:46:33 where the Houston Rockets who had closed their Series in five games against the Kansas City Kings would be waiting for 1:46:39 them probably the best games I ever played in my life it seven game series and every one of them was just full of excitement I Told You So with your own 1:46:47 19881 there was no room for another soul in the Garden that night and when the Celtics announced introduced Larry Bird 1:46:54 the noise in the garden was deafening and you mention Larry Bird he has had ice cold first half but when it comes 1:47:02 down to the crunch he's always there we wouldn't have a game today if it wasn't for Larry BT a roar that in the NBA you 1:47:08 can only hear in one type of game game seven and bird went all out that night 1:47:13 his fight on the glass was intense on every possession because every ball won 1:47:19 every duel won brought him closer to winning the first Collective title of his life he wanted to have that feeling 1:47:25 he needed it his effort his passing his commitment at all times those were the 1:47:31 aspects that kept him from being just a simple score they were the aspects that made him a true leader of a ring 1:47:37 Contender and despite his limited athleticism bird was starting to get notice as a Defender too he had five 1:47:44 steals that night and as always his spectacular touch from mid-range was there too but the reality is that he 1:47:51 looked different that night his eyes were full of Fury they looked like those of an assassin and his instincts were 1:47:58 calling for him to attack the rim again and again and we saw some very strange 1:48:04 plays from Larry's Arsenal including when facing one of the best High Flyers in league history bird attempted a 1:48:10 vintage dunk but when clutch time came everyone knew he wasn't going to miss 1:48:16 once again Larry scored the most important shot of the game on a bank shot from mid-range I mean his clutch 1:48:22 Jean just simply elevated his accuracy at crucial moments that shot off the 1:48:27 backboard was the cause of the Celtics reaching the first finals of the bird era and they hadn't come all this way to 1:48:32 come back empty-handed and now they had the Houston Rockets in front of them one of the toughest opponents they could 1:48:37 face and as in the first game of his career bird faced one of the NBA's most indomitable beasts Moses Malone was an 1:48:45 NBA MVP who was just beginning his prime a true glass cleaner who was capable of 1:48:51 producing points almost unintentionally his athleticism would scare anyone the 1:48:57 man at 610 and only 215 lb was a gladiator on the court and he knew that 1:49:03 all he needed to become an NBA legend was a championship next to him Robert Reed Calvin Murphy Rudy tomanovic and 1:49:11 Mike Dunley a roster that despite not having a second star really perfectly 1:49:17 complimented one of the best players of the moment however Moses was not yet fully aware of who his rival was I mean 1:49:24 bird had already shown everyone that he was a different player gone were the days when they let him shoot or paid 1:49:31 little attention to his presence everyone knew Larry was a spectacular player but he had not yet earned 1:49:37 everyone's respect the stars of The League were hungry for him they wanted to show the Great White Hope that there 1:49:43 was no place for him on a winning roster but now anyone who really knew bird knew 1:49:48 that he was not going to be intimidated by just a basketball player Larry had dreamed of this moment and maybe he 1:49:55 never thought it would come it was only 5 years ago that the Ford was working at a minimum wage job in frenchlick time 1:50:02 was passing pretty quickly but bird never thought the transition to the world's basketball Elite would be so 1:50:08 Swift but life kind of owed him you know life owed him a chance to prove his 1:50:13 greatness and he was trying in some ways to get back to his old self back to being that happy Indiana kid who just 1:50:20 dreamed of representing the Pacers in the NBA Dell Harris had been the Rockets coach since 1:50:26 1979 a winning coach who knew how to make a team perform above expectations 1:50:31 in fact no one trusted Houston to reach the finals everyone knew that Moses Malone was one of the best players in 1:50:37 the world but his Supporting Cast was considered insufficient a team that had 1:50:42 lost the legendary Rick Barry after his retirement in 1980 and was average on 1:50:48 both offense and defense during the regular season the Rockets barely managed a record of 40 wins and 42 1:50:55 losses to qualify for the playoffs but during the postseason they were at their best Houston had competed in the East 1:51:02 for the previous seasons and by switching conferences they became the kings of the West when no one would have 1:51:08 bet on it they beat the Lakers in the first round the Spurs in the conference semi-finals the Kansas City kings in the 1:51:15 Conference Finals in fact those Rockets were the only team in NBA history to qualify for the finals with a losing 1:51:21 record and not only that but in the final week of the regular season they scored a load of clutch shots just to 1:51:27 earn a playoff birth and now they had the underdog role against Larry Bird's 1:51:33 young Boston Celtics now the Rockets had been the 14th best defense in the league 1:51:38 during the regular season a below average defense considering there were only 23 teams but somehow Dell Harris 1:51:45 devised a defensive system that served exclusively to stop Larry Bird and the 1:51:50 truth is that it kind of worked worked the Celtics had to win game one at home they had to defend their home court 1:51:57 advantage against the pesky 40- win team but the Rockets wanted to turn the game into a real battle a gladiator fight in 1:52:05 which the team that played with more intensity would be the Executioner and they knew that in Talent they could not 1:52:11 compete one-on-one with the Boston Celtics so Robert Reed was determined to make things difficult for the Boston 1:52:18 Celtics at night his 27 points eight rebounds three assists and four steals 1:52:23 overshadowed Moses Malone's weak game in the first Finals game in Rockets history but Larry Birds 18 points 21 rebounds 1:52:32 and nine assists with nine of 17 shooting from the field was enough to beat him Bird's dominance on the glass 1:52:38 was simply unimaginable it was incredible to see how despite his lack of athleticism compared to the other 1:52:44 bigs he was able to impose himself with effort and intelligence and not only 1:52:49 that but he also led the game and assists and every Celtic starter top 10 points on that magical night quote so I 1:52:56 began to refine my passing skills and I found that if you got the ball to a teammate who had a clearer shot than you 1:53:03 you'd get rewarded and the more I did it the more other guys did it pretty soon we were playing good basketball guys 1:53:10 were pulling in the same direction this Joy however wouldn't last long Moses 1:53:15 Malone woke up in game two with 31 points and 15 rebounds he led the Rockets to a victory the truth is that 1:53:22 bird was the only Celtics player who came out to play I mean he was the only one who came out with the motivation to 1:53:28 win this game at all costs in that game bird again grabbed 21 rebounds the rest 1:53:34 of the Celtics starters however including Center Robert Parish combined for 11 rebounds for the entire game the 1:53:40 Celtics failure to deliver against an inferior opponent had cost them home court advantage now winning either game 1:53:47 in Houston was no longer an option it was a must if Boston lost both they 1:53:52 would practically lose the finals but something changed after that game two the Celtics came out fully fired up for 1:53:59 game three in which they had to visit the summit you see Larry realized that if only he was able to score Boston 1:54:06 would suffer every night so that night he decided to get his teammates involved offensively in an absolute display of 1:54:13 team play bird scored only eight points but the 13 rebounds 10 assists five 1:54:19 Steals and two blocks he contributed were key in the win by 23 points no less 1:54:25 the Rockets defense was good and against bird they proved it that night but what they didn't know is that the lanky 1:54:32 forward capable of scoring from anywhere had a court Vision Superior to 90% of 1:54:37 the NBA Superior even to many guards the 71 points that the Rockets scored that 1:54:43 night showed the defensive commitment not only of Larry Bird but also of his teammates who had finally stepped up too 1:54:50 but in game four there was a surprise guest Mike dun leevy senior had been important in the rocket season but no 1:54:57 one expected the guard to score 28 points that night his performance coupled with Moses Malone's 24 points 1:55:04 and 22 rebounds and Robert Reid's 19 points 13 rebounds four assists and five 1:55:10 steals helped Houston win their second game of the series bird tried to play a similar game to game three trying to 1:55:17 focus his game on defense and playmaking and letting his teammates carry much of the offensive load but this time it just 1:55:23 didn't work the problem was not just that he lost the problem was that the win had given the Rockets a reason to 1:55:29 believe deep down they started to think they could actually beat the Boston Celtics Moses Malone was actually one of 1:55:36 the first to make this classic mistake a big mistake you do not piss off Larry 1:55:42 Bird something that time would show was not the best choice to make when you're going up against him Malone yes was a 1:55:48 true Superstar but he poked the bear I don't think this the S is really that 1:55:54 great I think they just do a lot of thing to make them great uh you know they uh when the game get down to the 1:55:59 line you know see like all their players play together and come together don't don't make too many mistakes they know what they got to do but uh Bost can be 1:56:07 beat Rick Robbie the Celtics backup center made it clear he said Moses Malone's statements got their blood 1:56:13 boiling Larry Bird was eager to shut the rocket star's mouth as much as he was to 1:56:19 shut Magic Johnson's mouth in game five there was no mercy the garden was once 1:56:24 again packed to the rafters to witness the absolute dominance the Celtics displayed that night Maxwell bird and 1:56:31 Parish combined for 48 points 37 rebounds and 13 assists even Robbie 1:56:37 after confronting Malone had one of his best games of the playoffs with 14 points Boston absolutely destroyed the 1:56:44 rockets by 29 points in a game in which neither the Houston offense nor the 1:56:49 defense could do anything the Celtics were now one win away from becoming NBA champions Larry Bird was one win away 1:56:57 from writing his name forever in the history books to win the NBA championship would be my Ultimate Dream 1:57:03 every year I said i' would like to win the championship and you we're so close right now and and to to accomplish that 1:57:08 feet would just be you know everything that I ever worked for it's a Boyhood dream I'm sure because uh it's something 1:57:14 that that we worked for and dreamed about and we worked on for many years and uh it's just just something that you 1:57:21 want to do sometimes fate can play tricks on us sometimes luck you know just doesn't smile upon you but on the 1:57:28 biggest nights of his young but intense career Larry was not going to let Luck 1:57:33 get the best of him his 27 point 13 rebound five assist performance on 11 of 1:57:39 20 shooting from the field put the Celtics in a position to win and his Dagger from the left corner with less 1:57:46 than 2 minutes on the clock is considered by many fans to be the first clutch three-pointer in finals history 1:57:52 not only bird but Cedric Maxwell and Robert Parish played a very solid game 1:57:58 enough to make Moses Malone's 23.6 rebounds absolutely worthless the 1:58:03 Rockets never had the ability to compete for the game and any remaining hope absolutely disintegrated with that 1:58:10 iconic shot by bird the Boston that won the World 1:58:15 Championship at 1981 and they have become the 14 flag winners for the 1:58:21 Boston G was a Big Thrill it was a tough series Moses was on a tear all year you 1:58:27 win that first championship that's that's very special a few years earlier Rick Barry was that dominant player who 1:58:33 nearly destroyed the NBA with his decision to join the ABA and Barry was the player that everyone was talking 1:58:39 about that player who was in every basketball discussion across the country on May 10th 1981 Rick Barry was now 1:58:46 interviewing the man of the hour you really came back with a super performance how do you feel about having come so close in college and now you're 1:58:53 in the pros you've got the big one oh this is a very big one for us we pressed awful hard this year we stuck together 1:58:58 when go got tough we came through they came back on us they're taking care of Larry here 1:59:04 he's the man who did it Larry Bird had been through a lot to get there a life still short but full of pain and anguish 1:59:11 and suffering from the beatings those older brothers gave him for not playing well to the beatings life gave him with 1:59:17 the death of his father and after two divorces first his parents and then his own after having to leave his beloved 1:59:24 life in frenchlick the Boston Celtics forward never lost his way work and 1:59:30 perseverance were always on his side from the moment he arrived at that first practice where he shut the mouth of his 1:59:37 now brother sedric Maxwell Larry showed an unbeatable attitude to lead a team 1:59:42 that aspired to create a Dynasty on May 10th 1981 after defeating the Houston 1:59:48 Rockets 102 to 91 Larry finally became a legend quote tonight when it came down 1:59:55 to the big game bird was everywhere now early in his career many of the NBA 2:00:00 stars were downright hostile towards bird they were aggressively against the Great White Hope they wanted to be the 2:00:07 ones to prove that he was a fraud that his soft style of play had no place in the league but that anger turned into 2:00:14 fear more looking down on bird no more picking on him and it didn't take long 2:00:19 for the legends to realize that in that supposed ly soft frame inhabited by one 2:00:24 of the NBA's Rising Stars lived one of the toughest guys they had ever come across now they all feared they would be 2:00:31 the next to be humiliated by one of his highlights they feared becoming a laughing stock for not being able to 2:00:37 defend him and as for the Rockets well they hit the reset button when bird and the Celtics beat them in the finals but 2:00:43 the truth is it wouldn't take long for them to return to the elite it was a moment to celebrate for all Boston fans 2:00:50 except one red hour back couldn't celebrate at all because he knew what he had on his hands Larry Bird was 25 2:00:58 Robert Parish was 28 Cedric Maxwell was only 26 and Kevin mccale was only 24 2:01:04 everyone knew that a team that had managed to lead the easte for two straight Seasons with such a young core 2:01:10 had the pieces to build a dynasty yes Larry Legend and the Celtics had already written their names in the history books 2:01:17 but they had the potential to become the best team ever assembled or at least the best since Bill Russell Celtics 2:01:23 dominated the NBA in the 1960s so in the draft red Whitten got a 22-year-old 2:01:28 named Danny a a shooting guard who could score efficiently and was also a great 2:01:34 passer but hour back's mission was to keep all the players happy in Boston the 2:01:39 quarrels between bird and his teammates they were gone they were on the same boat now Cedric wanted Larry to succeed 2:01:46 just as much as he did that's why bird didn't mind when Maxwell was voted Finals MVP after a ser Series in which 2:01:52 the Rockets had played great defense on him but there was no time to look back now the 1981 82 season was about to 2:01:59 begin the Celtics were at a point where they could afford to go on autopilot without much effort they won 13 of the 2:02:05 first 15 games of the regular season the roster was so strong that bird didn't even need to deliver superhuman 2:02:12 performances to win or at least not yet however as 1982 approached Larry began 2:02:18 heating up for the playoffs on December 22nd he posted thir 36 points s rebounds 2:02:23 and seven assists to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers by four points but Larry's spectacular game wasn't his best 2:02:30 anecdote that Christmas it's tradition for defending champs to play on December 25th after all it's one of the biggest 2:02:36 stages of the regular season and the NBA has always tried to build Traditions that year however the Celtics had no 2:02:43 game on the 25th but they did have a game on the 26th in Kansas City against the Kings and to play that game The 2:02:50 Players had to fly to Kansas City on on Christmas Day and Bill Fitch made sure they did now drinking you might be 2:02:56 surprised to find out was not forbidden in the NBA of the 1980s but it was frowned upon players of course would use 2:03:03 any special occasion to indulge the Celtics though were a serious team with a strong culture a responsible franchise 2:03:10 but Cedric Maxwell later recounted how that plane ride to Kansas City was one of the best of his life quote on the 2:03:17 flight remember we were flying commercial back in those days bird male and a couple of other guys got the 2:03:22 flight attendant to gather all the alcohol reserved for first class from there bird turned into a bartender and 2:03:29 mixed everything together creating a concoction they called jungle juice it was potent and guys were feeling it 2:03:35 pretty hard hey it was Christmas his one time enemy had become his drinking buddy and the relationship between bird and 2:03:41 Maxwell was improving as it was with the rest of the team and that night they proved it by going on a huge Bender 2:03:48 before the game but as Cedric said quote hey it was Chris Everyone's entitled to a good party once 2:03:54 in a while right that party seemed to lift Bird's Spirits as he had an extraordinary second half of the Season 2:04:00 his 40 points 16 rebounds seven assists and six steals against the Detroit Pistons was one of the best individual 2:04:07 performances in the league That season but it was only the beginning of a magical month from January 10th through 2:04:12 February 10th 1982 bird averaged 29.1 points 12.1 rebounds 7.4 assists and 2.5 2:04:21 steals per game on 55% shooting from the field and 44% from three-point range and 2:04:27 86% from the free throw line the level of efficiency was just surreal not only 2:04:32 that but bird was also chosen as the MVP of the 1982 allstar game for the first time in his career leading the Eastern 2:04:39 Conference to a two-point Victory with 19 points 12 rebounds and five assists no team could force bird into a bad 2:04:46 night even the entire Western Conference but there was one team that kind of could Magic Johnson's Lakers beat the 2:04:53 Celtics in Englewood by six points in a rare off game for Larry especially considering his recent form still his 2:05:00 bad performance was just one assist shy of a triple double but that season something unusual did happen on February 2:05:07 28 the Milwaukee Bucks played the Boston Celtics and in an unfortunate incident Harvey Catchings accidentally struck 2:05:14 bird with an elbow to the face bird only played 29 minutes that night when he rarely played less than 40 but the thing 2:05:21 is the the Celtics won all five games in which bird was unavailable after this injury when he was ready to return Bill 2:05:27 fit decided to have Larry come off the bench not wanting to disrupt the starting five that had succeeded without 2:05:33 him bird showing his commitment to the team didn't cause any problems and it was a gesture of selflessness that in 2:05:40 today's NBA might have played out very differently quote I like to think I give people their money's worth when they 2:05:46 come to a game even if I don't start that doesn't mean I shouldn't play as hard as if I did then I'd be cheating 2:05:51 the fans my teammates and myself someone once wrote that I'm a blue collar basketball player that I work hard for 2:05:58 my money I like that and he wasn't lying bird was extraordinarily efficient coming off the bench taking advantage of 2:06:04 those 40 minutes against second units bird is the man fall away oh wow the 2:06:12 fact that he wasn't starting didn't matter either as he still logged almost 40 minutes per game the Celtics won the 2:06:18 next 10 games in a row by the time April rolled around Fitch knew the experiments were over though Bird returned to the 2:06:24 starting lineup for the final games of the regular season getting into Peak form for the playoffs and Boston again 2:06:31 posted a record of more than 60 wins for the third consecutive year this year in fact was 63 they had the fourth best 2:06:38 offense in the regular season and the sixth best defense bird finished second in the MVP race for the second 2:06:44 consecutive season and the Celtics were a solid unit with hardly any weaknesses 2:06:49 and this time there was no teaming nether conference that looked capable of beating them when the Boston Celtics 2:06:55 learned that they would have to face the Washington Bullets in the conference semi-finals to which Boston had Direct 2:07:01 access as the top seed all the fans and players thought it was going to be a piece of cake however the team from the 2:07:07 capital city had something in store for Larry Bird a secret weapon that had never been used in the history of the 2:07:13 league we're talking about voodo now the bullets had been the fifth best defense in the league Greg Ballard Jeff Ruland 2:07:20 Kevin gravy Spencer Haywood they weren't bigname players but they knew how to play as a team and furthermore Haywood 2:07:27 was a superstitious person rumor has it that the bullets big man was sprinkling substances around the court and openly 2:07:34 declaring a curse on the Celtics bird later wrote in his book drive the Story of My Life quote that's all Cedric and 2:07:41 ml had to see Max said Voodoo right we're going to go out there and pull their plugs lights out suckers meanwhile 2:07:48 ml is going he may be putting that voodoo on us but we got some stuff to put on them that's called jumpers from 2:07:54 20 and block shots and that's exactly what the bullets got they did throw everything in their Arsenal against the 2:08:00 Celtics and their franchise player but that didn't stop Boston from winning game one by 18 points but the thing is 2:08:07 bird had one of the worst playoff games of his career or at least one of the least showy let's say with 10 points 12 2:08:15 rebounds four assist two Steals and three blocks bird relied on the great contribution of ml Carr who That season 2:08:21 won the starting spot from Chris Ford Carr responded with 21 points which along with 16 points from a promising 2:08:28 Kevin mccale Off the Bench helped defeat the bullets quote I thought they the Celtics would be sluggish to start 2:08:34 because they've been off for a week and they were we felt we had a real good chance to win this game this is really 2:08:40 discouraging because bird and Parish weren't factors and we still couldn't beat them Jean Shu bullet head coach 2:08:47 however in game two the Celtics got a reality check bird played much much better this time posting 26 points and 2:08:53 10 rebounds and having a great game on defense but Frank Johnson and Spencer Haywood combined to score 52 points that 2:09:00 the Celtics just could not compensate for not only that but Johnson hit a three-pointer with just seconds on the 2:09:06 clock to put the bullets ahead by one point and seal the win quote we played a lot of games with these guys where we 2:09:12 played hard for 48 minutes and the results have always been the same this time we played too hard for 47 minutes 2:09:19 and 10 seconds to let it get away again I saw this as a great opportunity to win Boston's surprising loss caused them to 2:09:26 lose homecourt advantage and fear the worst but Boston reacted after paying 2:09:31 his respects to Frank Johnson's game-winning shot as a legendary player does bird knew he would have to go into 2:09:38 one more gear to solve this series quote it takes a lot of guts to shoot from that far out at that time and from where 2:09:44 I was standing it was good all the way Robert parishes 25 points to go along with 14 points 13 rebounds and three 2:09:51 block from bird allowed Boston to absolutely roll over the bullets in one of the team's best defensive games they 2:09:58 held Washington to 32 of 92 shooting from the field a less than 35% shooting 2:10:03 percentage but fidget team would not be satisfied with just winning one game of the two games in Washington they wanted 2:10:09 to finish the series in five games in game four the voodoo continued to work against bird the forward could only 2:10:16 contribute 10 points and eight rebounds while Parish was again the man of the night with 28 points and 15 rebounds 2:10:23 interestingly though Spencer Haywood also scored 28 points but after going to overtime the Celtics showed that they 2:10:29 already had the winning team Gan they had the ability to step up at a crucial moment in a hostile environment but 2:10:36 Washington still wouldn't give up despite trailing the series three games to one the bullets came out with force 2:10:42 in game five the game ended up going to double overtime and this time even the voodoo didn't work Larry Bird had 26 2:10:50 points8 rebounds seven assists and three steals in a game which he got one of the most important steals of his career in 2:10:57 the second overtime which he converted shortly after into a layup Parish was again Imperial with another game of 33 2:11:04 points 13 rebounds and six blocks and Jeff ruland's 33 points and 13 rebounds 2:11:10 Off the Bench were just not good enough for the bullets they would have to try their luck again next year because the 2:11:15 Celtics Advanced to the Conference Finals after closing the series in five games their Rivals to win the Eastern 2:11:21 Conference would be old acquaintances again Julius Irving's Philadelphia 76ers 2:11:27 were in their way the classic Eastern Conference matchup that had proven to be dominated by a two- team oopy however 2:11:34 this series actually started in a very surprising way in game one bird signed one of the best performances of his 2:11:41 career in the playoffs 24 points 15 rebounds and 10 assists accompanied by 2:11:46 another 24 points and 14 rebounds from Robert Parish were enough to to beat the Sixers by Wade for 40 points Dr J only 2:11:55 attempted nine shots from the field all game and Philadelphia shot 32% from the field and the Celtics absolutely broke 2:12:03 the game open in the first half and by the second half it was basically a blowout however this resounding victory 2:12:09 in game one might have actually hurt the Celtics because game itself there's no you thinking about it the game is over 2:12:15 you know they blew us out and and um and tried to embarrass us on top of that so in game two the Philadelphia 76ers 2:12:22 prevailed in Boston every Celtic starter scored at least 13 points and Kevin 2:12:28 mcale scored 20 Off the Bench but the Sixers offense was just better even Irving didn't have to pull the cart as 2:12:35 another old Celtics acquaintance Andrew Tony scored 30 points on just 22 shots 2:12:40 from the field once again Boston had lost home court advantage in one of the first two games of the series but if 2:12:47 there was one thing bird Celtics had it was the ability to win away from home they had already demonstrated on 2:12:53 numerous occasions that they did not feel the pressure like the rest of the teams however and despite Larry's triple 2:12:59 double the Sixers came out on top again in game three scoring was spread across 2:13:04 both teams and no player in the game reached 20 points but in a game that Philadelphia had controlled until almost 2:13:10 the end Boston could not complete the comeback I think we've lost a great player in tiny and the one thing about 2:13:16 it though our team responds well when we lose somebody we just don't give up you know you hate to go out there and play 2:13:22 as hard as you possibly can and lose the Celtics were on the verge of elimination if they were not able to win in game 2:13:28 four tying the series at two before returning to Boston and on May 16th 1982 2:13:33 Philadelphia again would Prevail with even greater superiority Tony was just on fire showing why The Following Season 2:13:41 he would be chosen for the All-Star team that night he scored 39 points on 21 shots from the field while no Celtics 2:13:48 player went over 18 bird was 17 points nine rebounds and five assists couldn't 2:13:53 find his rhythm in that series nor in the playoffs in General Robert Parish was Boston's best player in the 1982 2:14:00 postseason but now the Celtics they needed bird more than ever to be able to mount a comeback in game five bird had 2:14:07 20 points 20 rebounds and eight assists once again accompanied by Robert Parish who went 26- 10 Tony thankfully finally 2:14:15 had an off day and Irving was still having trouble scoring against the always intense Celtics defense that 2:14:21 night he only scored 12 points the Celtics won bringing the series closer to two games to three but the toughest 2:14:28 game for Boston was yet to come the Sixers now would play at home to try to close out the series in six games that 2:14:35 night in May it wasn't a basketball game it was a real Battle Royale up to 50 2:14:40 fouls accumulated between the two teams in one of the toughest games of the decade but birds six of 19 shooting from 2:14:46 the field looked good after a game in which players like Maurice Cheeks had exactly the same percentage or even 2:14:52 worse Andrew Tony who shot one of 11 from the field led by Kevin mcale from the bench who was showing more and more 2:14:59 potential to be a starter the Celtics won by a difference of 13 points 2:15:04 88-75 and Philadelphia's low scoring was the second lowest of all those playoffs 2:15:09 and what was worse it was the second straight season the 76ers had lost a 3-1 Edge to the Celtics quote this one 2:15:16 really hurts it hurts now and it'll hurt for a long time all that is left to hope for now is that we can still pull this 2:15:23 thing out in Boston but that's going to be very tough and we know it it's all uphill Now history was repeating itself 2:15:29 and Bird was confident the outcome would be the same as last year during the first half of game seven both teams 2:15:35 showed their competitive level though in fact at halftime the Sixers only led by three points but in the third quarter 2:15:41 the game was broken Julius Irvings 22nd half points who finished the game with 29 catapulted the Sixers to a 31-22 lead 2:15:49 in the third quarter Parish with 23 points and 14 rebounds and bird with 20 points 11 rebounds and nine assists had 2:15:57 good games but their only help that night was two bench players once again Kevin mcale and the newcomer Danny a and 2:16:04 even so their 37 points between them were of no use with Irving's great second half coupled with Tony's 34 2:16:11 points and six assists Philadelphia won the game and eliminated Boston from the 2:16:16 playoffs we have nothing to be ashamed though there's no reason for for this team to hold their heads down down cuz I 2:16:21 feel like we had a hell of a year this year we're going to be ashamed to any of that U we got a bunch of losers on this team which I know we don't and uh we're 2:16:29 not ashamed we'll put our heads high and just say better team beat us and the garden crowd instead of getting angry 2:16:34 sent a pretty clear message to the Sixers with their chance of beat 2:16:41 La the fans showed their animosity towards the Lakers not even their fiercest rivals in the East received as 2:16:48 much hate as Magic's team and they really wanted to Sixers to win at all now quote professional athletes do not 2:16:54 choke but now at least we have the monkey off our back unfortunately though the Sixers failed in their mission to 2:17:00 beat the Lakers in the finals Magic Johnson got his second championship ring and his second Finals MVP and retook the 2:17:07 lead in his incomparable race with bird since the two stars came into the league 3 years earlier they had shared every 2:17:15 NBA championship and now bird hour back and the Celtics they had to rethink 2:17:20 their situation for one simple reason when the Sixers lost the finals for the 2:17:25 third time in the last six seasons they realized they needed something Dr J was 2:17:31 about to turn 32 and Pat williams' management needed a second star who could live up to his potential so taking 2:17:39 advantage of the dismantling of the Rockets who you might remember hit the reset button because of bird the Sixers 2:17:45 got a generational player yes the team that had reached the finals just a few 2:17:50 week weeks earlier acquired the services of Moses Malone a center who by the way 2:17:56 had just won his second regular season MVP at the age of 26 Malone of course 2:18:02 was an old enemy of birds and now he had joined the team that was his Nemesis 2:18:07 hour back watched enviously as the League's best player left for the team 2:18:12 that had just eliminated them from the playoffs it was an explosive cocktail that made the Celtics very uncomfortable 2:18:19 the players had this impression that no matter what they did it wasn't going to be enough Boston was a very talented 2:18:26 team that had players Off the Bench that would be starters on any other team but against the Sixers they were simply 2:18:33 overmatched one of the best teams in the history of the league had just come together to get revenge on the same 2:18:40 enemy bird wanted to get revenge on the Los Angeles Lakers and the players started to show their discomfort the 2:18:47 first one they took it out on as often happens in these cases was their coach Bill Fitch was a determined man he did 2:18:54 not take [ __ ] and he was always tough on his players and this need not be a bad thing as this toughness carried 2:19:01 over to the court where the Celtics had good physical dominance but the reality is that the players were getting tired 2:19:08 of him tired of his ways I mean they accepted he knew a lot about basketball but he didn't know how to transmit this 2:19:15 knowledge in the right way and adapt it for an Ever evolving league for the Celtics high standards the season got 2:19:22 off to a shaky start their record of 20 wins and seven losses at the end of December seemed to indicate that the 2:19:28 team was in some trouble now that's an incredible record for almost any team but not for one that has been having 60 2:19:36 win Seasons year after year but even though the Celtics weren't at their best 2:19:41 bird was already in another Stratosphere he was past that phase of figuring out the league and he began to feel like the 2:19:47 best basketball player in the world despite the team's difficulties the forward was having a career season but 2:19:55 he not only improved as a basketball player his personality at the moment became the most dominant in the NBA it 2:20:02 was one of the first games of Dominic Wilkins career after being drafted third overall in 1982 he was having a good 2:20:09 rookie season and in his second game against the Celtics he wanted to introduce himself to bird quote one of 2:20:16 the first times I ever played against him I went out for the opening tip and I went to shake his hand he just stood 2:20:22 there and looked at me stone-faced with his hands behind his back I was like whoa then we were getting ready for the 2:20:28 tip and he says to me quote you don't belong in this league holes I couldn't believe it but it happened so fast I 2:20:34 didn't know what to think my first year in the league I remember in the Boston Garden I go shake his hand and he put 2:20:41 both hands behind his back and I said to myself okay well maybe he's just getting into the game bird had heard all kinds 2:20:48 of insults when he came into the league and now he was the one using him against his Rivals he already earned the respect 2:20:55 of almost every NBA player for his play but he also wanted to earn the respect of the Next Generation early on and so 2:21:03 the first play of the game I'm guarding him cuz we play the same position and he says I don't know why they got you guard 2:21:09 me home bird continued to unsettle him in any way he could and somehow 2:21:14 everything he said ended up happening they made a mistake putting you on me holes bird said before hit his only 2:21:21 three-pointer of the game but Wilkins was somewhere between surprised and Furious so much so that a few minutes 2:21:28 later he took advantage of a fast break to posterize Larry under the hoop yes Dominique was that kind of player but 2:21:35 when he was celebrating his dunk bird only had to say one sentence to him I was so mad so I'm coming down left side 2:21:41 and I go up in a fast bre and he comes out I I'm pumping it behind my head and he jumped I said I got him boom he's 2:21:49 sitting down on the ground I'm Point like this he said hey Rook I like what he said I like you you got balls but I'm 2:21:55 still getting 40 on your ass Larry didn't score 40 because the 2:22:01 Celtics didn't need him to but he did score 30 on 16 shots in just 31 minutes 2:22:06 plus you know 15 rebounds five assists and two steals so bird didn't have to score 40 because Fitch took the 2:22:13 opportunity to rest him in the last quarter of a game they won by 25 points and that day Dominic Wilkins really got 2:22:20 to know Larry Bird he knew that when the forward said he was going to do something he could only pray that 2:22:25 miraculously it wouldn't happen but the thing is it kind of always happens 2:22:31 another who noticed was Clyde Drexler That season the guard was just a rookie coming off the bench for those Portland 2:22:37 Trailblazers but if there's one thing he will never forget about in his rookie season it was when he played against 2:22:43 Larry Bird despite being a guard his 67 frame caused him to have to defend the 2:22:48 Celtics star during some of his minutes on the court and years later he acknowledged the conversation he had 2:22:54 with Larry I was guarding in my rookie year he looks at me and he goes you can't stop me and I looked at him I said 2:23:01 gosh boy you're you're so confident he go confident you're you're a rookie you 2:23:06 don't know anything Larry proceeded to score 10 consecutive points Jack Ramsey the Blazers coach had to take Drexler 2:23:13 out of the game and bird couldn't think of anything else to do than to go to the Portland bench and laugh at him the 2:23:19 Phoenix Sons were also victims of this same phenomenon on February 26 2:23:25 1983 they were hosting the Boston Celtics in Arizona and they were certainly doing a good job during the 2:23:31 game they were leading by two points with a few seconds left in the game before Cedric Maxwell Put the ball in 2:23:37 play for the last possession bird had a few words for the sun's bench quote Yeah 2:23:43 I'm just fixing to bust a three on you guys and just go home I'm tired of this and like a prophet who was able to see 2:23:49 the future like a being from another planet like the legend he was becoming 2:23:54 bird kept his promise and he delivered a shot that shattered the Phoenix Sons a game-winning three for the Ages which 2:24:01 was accompanied by and I told you so that remained engraved in all the players who were on that bench bird was 2:24:07 becoming quite the villain of the NBA as the days passed that season it simply seemed that nothing and no one could 2:24:14 stop him proof is the game the Celtics played against Indiana at the Garden bird was facing his home town team the 2:24:21 team that all his friends from frenchlick supported before the legend arrived in the NBA but for Larry his 2:24:27 performance that night was a show of respect 53 points poured down that night 2:24:33 in Indiana like gallons of rain on 30 shots from the field and 11 free throws 2:24:38 Larry had the best scoring night of his career in the midst of a Celtics slump in which they had lost 13 of their last 2:24:46 24 games bird Avenged what had happened the night before yes the Pacers beat 2:24:51 Boston by 29 Points on March 29th and Bird's anger was so incredible that the 2:24:57 Celtics had to go and win by 26 points the next day and it wasn't just offense 2:25:02 that season bird had emerged as one of the best defenders in the NBA with averages of 1.9 Steals and 0.9 blocks 2:25:10 per game bird had finished third in the defensive player of the year voting the Celtics finished the regular season with 2:25:17 a record of 56 wins and 26 losses a record that was a far cry from previous 2:25:22 seasons and that also worsened during the final stages of the regular season the Celtics had just 17 wins and 14 2:25:30 losses after the All-Star break and were coming into the playoffs in a slump and 2:25:35 as if that were not enough that season hour back made a trade to obtain the services of Scott wedman a 16 points per 2:25:43 game career scorer who also had a great defensive ability a reinforcement that made the Celtics roster even more 2:25:49 stacked but wedman would only play 12 minutes per game that season Red's 2:25:54 attempt to save the Celtics season just didn't work the Celtics had to face the Atlanta Hawks of Dominique Wilkins Eddie 2:26:01 Johnson and Dan Roundfield in the first round but luckily they weren't a very strong team they still needed some 2:26:07 maturity to become one of the best rosters in the East and even if Boston wasn't in all that good a shape they 2:26:14 wouldn't have much trouble winning the best of three Series right or at least that was the theory now Boston won game 2:26:19 one with an incredible 26 points 15 rebounds and five assist performance by Larry Bird and he showed Dominique why 2:26:27 when push came to shove he was Unstoppable and the Celtics tried to close the series in game two however the 2:26:34 Hawks put up more of a fight than everyone thought in fact on April 22nd 1983 the Hawks beat the Celtics by two 2:26:42 points at the Omni Coliseum as many as four of their players including Dominique scored at least 18 points that 2:26:49 night no Celtics player seemed focused oh except one the usual one the only 2:26:55 reason Boston still had a chance at a ring despite the team's disappointing situation bird had 15 points 16 rebounds 2:27:02 and nine assists but it wasn't enough so in the definitive game three bird needed 2:27:08 a huge performance to make sure the Hawks did not pull off the upset of the year and he did it once again bordering 2:27:15 on a triple double with 26 points nine rebounds and nine assists bird led to 2:27:20 Celtics to a 19point victory over the Hawks a game they dominated from start 2:27:25 to finish but concerns remain for the next round even more so when Birds started to get sick it was basically the 2:27:32 worst sign for Boston their Superstar who was in the best months of his career had a high fever and his participation 2:27:40 in game one was in doubt now the Sixers fortunately were on the other side of the bracket but to play them the Celtics 2:27:47 would have to beat the Milwaukee Bucks of Sydney monong and Marcus Johnson in addition bird was also having problems 2:27:54 with a dislocated finger that prevented him from shooting regularly and despite that Larry signed a performance of 17 2:28:01 points 10 rebounds four assists and four steals in game one despite the atmosphere in the locker room despite 2:28:07 the injuries bird tried his best to keep the Celtics in the fight for the championship but the Bucks defense which 2:28:14 had the sixth best defensive rating in the regular season made it very difficult for him at the guard the 2:28:20 Celtics lost by 21 points in game one and even worse Larry was going to miss 2:28:25 game two yeah his illness was so bad not even a playoff game was going to get him out of bed so the Celtics without him 2:28:33 went down Danny a had his best game of the season scoring 25 points but the 2:28:38 Bucks Duo was too strong for the Celtics without their leader bird did everything he could to recover for game three he 2:28:45 made it to the game and not only that but he was also the Celtic's best player an incredible game in which he had 21 2:28:51 points 14 rebounds six assists and six steals I mean he did it all but it just 2:28:57 didn't help the Celtics suffered another humiliating defeat in a hostile environment which together with the 48 2:29:04 points scored between Johnson and monrie made it impossible for them to have options Bucks coach Don Nelson was clear 2:29:11 about the right mindset going up in the series we approached it like this was a must-win game we didn't want to go back 2:29:18 to Boston we weren't about to gamble at all that's why I played our key people so many minutes and despite another 2:29:25 strong performance from Larry the bucks came back to win by 14 the prince of the 2:29:30 East had fallen but not to the king but to a new successor no one knew what the 2:29:36 ceiling of these bucks was but if the Celtics ceiling was what they had shown in 1983 the enormous expectations for 2:29:43 them began to be questioned maybe they're not that good maybe Fitch isn't that good of a coach either or maybe 2:29:50 bird despite clearly being the Celtics best player that year and the second best in the league was overrated but if 2:29:57 history has taught us anything is that you do not underestimate Larry Bird quote I've never been this embarrassed 2:30:04 in my entire career and this is going to hurt for a long time because we didn't play to our potential when we were 2:30:10 backed against the wall and challenged we were supposed to come through like the Champions I thought we were and we 2:30:16 didn't we embarrassed ourselves and I'll tell you why we embarrassed ourselves and I'll live with that the rest of my 2:30:23 life now some athletes talk the talk it's always been that way some are only concerned about their own Financial 2:30:30 Security and they make those kind of statements to gain the respect of the fans or Elevate their own personal brand 2:30:36 but bird did not care about that he simply said it like he felt it Boston's 2:30:42 stacked roster was theoretically designed to contend with the Sixers and when push came to shove they couldn't 2:30:48 even beat the Bucks of a young but talented Sydney montree it was time to make changes quote without Harry being 2:30:55 here and with red having said he won't be here for another 5 years and eat Chinese food with me A change is good no 2:31:02 one had to tell him to leave Fitch was the first to realize that his time with the Celtics had come to an end 2:31:08 especially knowing that hour back didn't have much time left at the Helm of the organization either but even though the 2:31:14 coach had been an integral part of Boston's recent history having helped the team become Champions just 2 years 2:31:20 earlier in 1981 the players were relieved but now they needed a 2:31:25 replacement and hour back was thinking of exactly one who knew the franchise well the etime champion with the Celtics 2:31:32 during the 1960s Casey Jones had been an assistant coach since 1978 but he had already had head 2:31:39 coaching experience too in fact his role with the Washington Bullets was extraordinary qualifying them for the 2:31:45 second finals in franchise history in 1975 now he was looking to coach the 2:31:51 team that had led him to glory and the players they liked him he knew the system perfectly and seemed like a 2:31:58 perfect fit so red ended up offering him the job quote it's something I wanted to 2:32:03 do that wasn't the only major change the Celtics made that off season either Boston made a major trade for a player 2:32:10 who would be the key to the future of the franchise tiny archeal had been a competent guard for years for Boston but 2:32:17 they had found an upgrade Phoenix Suns guard Dennis Johnson was on the market that's how arback acquired the services 2:32:24 of a player who would lift the team from top to bottom quote Johnson fills one of 2:32:30 our most important needs we got a strong defensive guard who also averaged 14.2 2:32:35 points a game last season we now have a big guard who could play the big guards like Magic Johnson and Reggie Theus it 2:32:42 had been a busy summer but this move was necessary with Casey Jones on the bench 2:32:47 and Dennis Johnson on the team there was fresh air in Boston and although the Celtics lost on opening night of the 2:32:53 1983 84 season to the Detroit Pistons of Isaiah Thomas and Bill lambir they knew 2:32:59 they had what it took to compete for everything in the midst of the crisis of the previous season bird had been forced 2:33:05 to reconvert his game to increase his prominence this resulted in the worst version of the Celtics having the best 2:33:12 version of their star after the 1983 offseason rebuild however Larry did not 2:33:18 stop playing the way he had learned into Play That season was simply incredible for him what was once practically a 2:33:25 career night for any talented player had now become a habit for Larry Bird he had 2:33:30 a stellar game every week like the 39 points eight rebounds and five assists 2:33:36 he had in his second game against the Pistons the 41 points 14 rebounds and 2:33:41 seven assists he had against drexler's Blazers wor the 23 points 14 rebounds 13 2:33:47 assists and four steals he had against the always tough San Antonio Spurs all those performances came practically 2:33:54 during the first month of the season the Celtics moreover were able to benefit 2:33:59 from this performance too they started the regular season with a 9-1 record but right after that they lost four 2:34:06 consecutive games and alarm Bells began to ring they didn't want a situation like the previous year but they did 2:34:13 rebound since that lost to the Knicks their fifth of the season the Celtics went on a streak of 29 wins and four 2:34:20 losses that extended beyond the All-Star game a game in which by the way Robert Parish started alongside the Boston star 2:34:28 and they didn't stop at the All-Star Game either the Celtics finished with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses very 2:34:34 similar to the first Seasons they had with Larry it was the best record in the entire league that would assure them to 2:34:41 have homecourt Advantage even in a hypothetical finals against the best team in the west but to get there they 2:34:47 would have to overcome three Series in this new playoffs format and their first opponents would be an old acquaintance 2:34:55 the Washington Bullets of the great Jeff Ruland were in their way two years earlier the Celtics had eliminated them 2:35:01 in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and this time they had learned and despite having a young 2:35:07 team the bullets had quality on their roster it was an organization that had been quite successful over the previous 2:35:13 decade and they were trying to build the right foundation to make it to the late 80s add to that auson also had a problem 2:35:21 Danny a was injured he was a secondary player but of increasing importance in 2:35:26 Casey Jones's system but bird once again put the team on his back with 23 points 2:35:32 s rebounds and 12 assists Larry was his team's leading scorer and assistant and 2:35:38 although Washington was close on the scoreboard Boston managed to pull out game one however Boston again struggled 2:35:46 in game two knowing the quality of the Celtics front Court Washington decided to adjust their game plan to stop them 2:35:53 and let the guards shoot quote they just say come H highwater Boston's big people 2:35:58 are not going to beat us not only did they play a solid game on offense but they were excellent on defense for the 2:36:05 last four minutes and 32 seconds Boston only scored one point one measly point 2:36:11 but one point too many right the bullets big man was devastated despite all the 2:36:17 setbacks Boston came back to save the the game with 23 points 12 rebounds and 2:36:22 six assists bird was the only Celtics player along with Gerald Henderson to come out and play that night and his 2:36:29 efforts were not in vain and now Boston needed to rethink some things heading into game three spoilers though they 2:36:36 didn't Bruin scored 33 points grabbed 13 rebounds including six offensive and 2:36:42 dished out five assists in the Bullets win at the capital Center the Washington star was fired up by comments from Kevin 2:36:50 mccale who basically said the bullets couldn't beat the Celtics after the game Ruland replied quote go over and tell 2:36:57 Maxwell and male that we can beat him now bird was the only reason that game went to overtime during his short career 2:37:04 he had been somewhat inconsistent when defense is focused on him I mean sure he was able to distribute but often he 2:37:10 couldn't score at the same level well by now that bird no longer existed he 2:37:16 hardly made any mistakes and he had found a way to punish his defenders in every game 27 points five rebounds six 2:37:24 assists two Steals and four blocks that night and they were absolutely worthless 2:37:29 he was in the prime of his career yet his Supporting Cast they still had some off nights they were human oddly enough 2:37:37 Rick Mahorn scored the most important shot of the night a lucky shot that gave the bullets the win an impossible shot 2:37:43 that made everyone in the capital start to believe they could actually beat the Celtics quote you know in college I had 2:37:49 no range I'd shoot when I'd have the shot I was just trying to beat the clock but don't forget I was squaring up to 2:37:56 the basket pretty good it went swish didn't it Mahorn with 3 seconds on the shot clock and if Mahorn puts the 2:38:03 bullets up but nothing could be further from the truth because the Celtics ran all over Washington in game four 2:38:10 Boston's bench depth was too much for a team that barely had any and they won by 2:38:15 three points in a game they were up by 16 most importantly for the Celtics Robert Parish seemed to regain some of 2:38:22 his confidence that night quote I wanted to have a good game I was excited you might not have known it most people 2:38:28 might not have known it but my teammates knew it in the second round the Celtics would face Bernard King's New York 2:38:34 Knicks King and bird were the two favorites to win the MVP which in those days was awarded much later than it is 2:38:41 today so both Stars had a lot to prove on the hardwood to secure the award New 2:38:46 York had beaten the Pistons in five games in the previous round and came in with high confidence but at the Garden 2:38:52 they just could not do anything in the first two games of the series the Celtics worked as a Swiss watch maybe 2:38:59 this was the reason why they relaxed it seemed almost too easy and as was becoming the norm bird went off first 2:39:06 with 23 points nine rebounds 12 assists three Steals and two blocks and then 2:39:11 with a master class of 37 Points 11 rebounds four assists four Steals and 2:39:17 two blocks Larry dominated both games just like he wanted to now King was also 2:39:23 able to score with Incredible ease he was a star through and through he had led the Knicks in scoring in 61 of the 2:39:30 89 games he had played between the regular season and playoffs and he had eliminated the Pistons with 44 points in 2:39:37 the deciding game in fact in that series he averaged 42.6 points per game but he 2:39:44 only scored 39 points between the first two games against the Celtics Cedric 2:39:49 Maxwell didn't mince words when he talked about what they would do to stop him quote he ain't getting 40 on us 2:39:56 we're going to stop the [ __ ] yeah 80s Trash Talk was different still the 2:40:01 Knicks managed to tie the series at home Bernard King and future Bulls forward Bill cartright combined to score 49 2:40:08 points in game three King by himself scored 43 points in game four and Boston 2:40:14 lost both games at Madison which had been waiting nearly a decade for for its 2:40:19 team to advance from the second round and it looked like this year might be the year but bird made a statement in 2:40:26 game five 26 points nine rebounds one assists and three steals all Celtics 2:40:32 starters scored at least 14 points and Kevin mcale who was chosen That season as the Sixth Man of the Year contributed 2:40:39 another 22 that was exactly the difference in points that Boston achieved over New York in game five then 2:40:46 the Knicks went on to win game six at home a game by the way that was practically a one-on-one duel between 2:40:52 the two MVP favorites Kings scored 44 points on 25 shots from the field and 2:40:57 bird had 35 points 11 rebounds seven assists and three steals but to no avail 2:41:04 so there would be a game seven and the Celtics would need the best version of their Superstar to win it the Knicks MVP 2:41:11 won the games in New York the leagues MVP won the games here Kevin mcale the 2:41:17 Boston Garden chanted in every time bird went to the free throw line MVP 2:41:25 MVP the crowd is chanting MVP for Guess Who all the fans knew that Not only was 2:41:31 the season on the line in game seven but bird was also playing for his MVP trophy 2:41:37 something he didn't care about at the time but inside it drove him to have one 2:41:42 of the best games of his career 39 points 12 rebounds 10 assists and three 2:41:48 steals in the deciding game seven a performance for the history books an 2:41:53 unforgettable game that was engraved in the memory of all those who were present some people say that was the day that 2:41:59 Larry Bird realized he was the best player in the NBA he had been a contender for a little over a year but 2:42:06 that season seemed different with their star at that level it was very difficult 2:42:11 for anyone to stop the Celtics of course Casey Jones's team did a great job on Bernard King too because he was one of 2:42:18 the best scores in league history quote we did about everything possible to stop King but the most effective thing we did 2:42:25 was keep the ball out of his hands we made it very tough for his people to get him the ball we doubled up on their 2:42:31 guards like an omen Kevin mccale said what everyone wanted to hear a phrase that has been remembered a thousand 2:42:38 times when talking about Larry's career with hindsight New York's MVP won it for the Nick's Friday night in New York and 2:42:45 the NBA's MVP won it for us today male called it a few days later bird was 2:42:51 voted the NBA's most valuable player and after finishing three straight seasons in second place Larry finally received 2:42:57 more votes than the League's other superstars with 52 first place votes bird easily surpassed Bernard King's 11 2:43:05 and his eternal enemy Magic Johnson's five that is true the Superstar guard of 2:43:11 the Lakers already had two championships and bird only had one but Larry beat him 2:43:16 in the race for the first MVP of their careers still that wasn't the most important thing at the time because the 2:43:22 Celtics would have to face an old rival Sydney moncrief's Milwaukee Bucks awaited them in the Conference Finals 2:43:28 and everyone on the Boston roster remembered what had happened just a few months earlier however even though it 2:43:34 had only been 12 months bird was a different kind of Beast he was simply 2:43:40 the best player in the entire NBA now as such they demonstrated their superiority 2:43:45 against the Milwaukee Bucks the Celtics had not only been the six best offense in the entire regular season but also 2:43:51 the third best defense and the Bucks choked in a defensive system that was led by bird throughout the series The 2:43:58 French look forward was starting to enter the conversation of the best defender in the league after being 2:44:03 selected to the all defense of second team for three straight seasons and if anyone was going to notice his 2:44:09 Improvement on both ends of the Court it was the bucks with a 24.6 rebound five 2:44:14 assist performance on a night in which he made 15 free throws bird led the Celtics to the first win of the series a 2:44:21 game in which the Celtics won by 23 points and that made Don Nelson realize 2:44:26 the harsh reality Boston looked stronger than ever even for the team that had swept them in the playoffs and game two 2:44:33 of the series was scheduled for May 17th 1984 and when that day came bird wanted 2:44:39 to send a message to the bucks he didn't have to make disrespectful statements to the press something that was very 2:44:45 fashionable and normal in the'80s Larry's statement came during during the 48 minutes that game two lasted a game 2:44:52 that the Celtics came back to win at home by 15 points how they manage to do that well you already know the answer 2:44:59 bird 32 points 13 rebounds seven assists three Steals and a block a statline so 2:45:06 absurd that today it would be the best career playoff game of like 95% of the 2:45:11 league but for bird H it was just routine now the Bucks had performed both on offense and defense against the 2:45:18 Celtics just a year ago and now they were struggling to compete in a single game of the series in game three the 2:45:25 Celtics once again prevailed with the Casual 2886 and four shooting of the player of the moment however in game 2:45:31 four Milwaukee did manage to find some Hope by winning at home and putting the series at three games to one which only 2:45:39 really created false expectations if these were the Celtics of other Seasons maybe they would have had a chance 2:45:45 because 1981 aside Boston had some great lapses at times in the postseason but 2:45:51 this time they didn't have a chance against the NBA MVP bird came back in game four to score 32 points 10 rebounds 2:45:59 eight assists and three steals but Paul pressie the father of future Celtic Phil pressie decided to spoil the night for 2:46:06 the Celtics with 22 points off the bench that ended up giving the victory to the 2:46:11 Bucks and suddenly now we're at two games to three of course Boston didn't take long to finish the job game five 2:46:19 was close but the Celtics won at home by seven points thanks to Bird's 21 points and 13 rebounds everything was working 2:46:26 perfectly the additions of Casey Jones and Dennis Johnson had proven to not only work but had exceeded all 2:46:33 expectations and the Celtics had qualified for the second finals of the bird era I'm supposed to produce them 2:46:39 situations uh sometimes I do and sometimes I don't but uh I want the ball in a crucial situation they were four 2:46:45 wins away from the dream of being crowned NBA champions yet again although 2:46:50 those four wins well they would have to get them against their biggest rival you know we were the favorites and we made 2:46:56 our way they won the East we won the West so it's like uh everybody just get ready sit back and uh let's enjoy it so 2:47:03 at least we got the game in our court and uh our fans will be hyped up and it'll be fun the Los Angeles Lakers 2:47:11 Magic Johnson bird needed nothing more than to hear that name to know how serious the situation was his rivalry 2:47:18 was the Lakers guard had only grown since that duel in division one 5 years ago it was a thorn in Bird's side that 2:47:25 he just couldn't get rid of every loss to Magic was a humiliation nothing was 2:47:31 worse for bird than being outclassed and outplayed by a player he thought he was better than a player who also hogged all 2:47:38 the headlines in sports media Magic Johnson had been able to win two NBA championships and if bird didn't stop 2:47:45 him he was going to win a third Larry was the only one who could manage to enlarge his legacy while dwarfing that 2:47:51 of his greatest rival and not only that those finals were a duel between the two Americas twice CBS talked about how 2:47:59 Boston was the working man's team while the Lakers were described as power 2:48:04 finesse and speed everyone identified with one of the two sides in this seven battle war that was about to begin the 2:48:11 NBA recently emerging from one of the biggest crisis in history watched as its two new stars were able to attract all 2:48:19 the world's attention to the basketball court and what happened after that was simply unreal like something out of a 2:48:25 movie Boston had homecourt Advantage so game one was to be played at the Garden on May 27th 2:48:32 1984 the spectacular train wreck started in style with up to five players scoring 2:48:37 20 points in the first game Larry Bird with 24 Dennis Johnson with 23 and an 2:48:43 increasingly convincing Kevin mcale with 25 from the bench made things really 2:48:48 difficult for the Lakers but the 70 points accumulated by Kareem Abdul Jabar James Worthy and Magic Johnson were 2:48:55 enough to steal the home court advantage after a disastrous first quarter the Celtics were able to claw back and make 2:49:02 it a game at the end of the last quarter but it only served to die on the shore and the truth is that game two could 2:49:09 have been just as disastrous for Boston because the 76 points scored this time 2:49:15 by the Lakers big three put them in a very favorable situation berd again did 2:49:20 everything in his power proving once again why he was the best player in the NBA but for a moment it seemed that all 2:49:26 his effort might be in vain those 27 points and 13 rebounds would have come to nothing if things had happened the 2:49:33 way they looked like they were going to happen the Lakers simply should have won they should have gone back to Los 2:49:39 Angeles with a 20 lead they had the lead the ball and less than 24 seconds left 2:49:44 on the clock but worthy committed the most costly turnover his 2:49:49 career loose ball and a foul against Los Angeles let's see who it's on James 2:49:55 Worthy apparently a turnover that resulted in two points for the Celtics and a win after magic was unable to even 2:50:03 attempt a game-winning shot when they got the ball back quote I had never failed like that in a pressure situation 2:50:09 before in a championship series it seemed like a miracle that the Celtics were still alive and these moments are 2:50:16 really hard on teams that have squandered the league so much of the Boston team was confident that this energy would carry them 2:50:22 through to game three but traveling to Inglewood that had a huge number of disadvantages first and foremost the 2:50:29 atmosphere would be as hostile as one could imagine and the Lakers tore the Celtics apart they ate them alive in an 2:50:37 incredible Collective effort The Californians demonstrated the versatility and depth of an extremely 2:50:43 complete roster but this roster needed an architect a conductor and on this 2:50:48 night magic dressed up as the best playmaker anyone had ever seen the guard posted a triple double with 14 Points 11 2:50:56 rebounds and 21 assists and the Lakers won by 33 points scoring no less than 2:51:03 137 points in a Finals game at the time that was the fifth highest scoring 2:51:08 output by a team in the finals in the history of the playoffs and it's over this has to be 2:51:15 one of the most decisive routes in champ championship game history the Lakers 137 2:51:23 the Celtics 104 edic made Larry Bird's 30 points look like an afterthought and 2:51:28 he struck a major blow to the French Lick kids Pride Larry did not have visions of War like his father Joe but 2:51:35 he did have visions that hurt him just as much what happened in the NCAA tournament in 1978 it was happening 2:51:42 again we got some great flares on this team but we don't have the flares with the the heart sometimes that we need and 2:51:48 today with um you see magic slapping high fives and guys going behind her back and shoo layups on us all day long 2:51:55 it seems like something somebody would try to put stop to it and until we get our hearts where they belong we're in 2:52:02 trouble you know that the famous quot from you after game three when know whether we did it then called guys said 2:52:08 we're playing like a bunch of sissies and stuff why why' you say that playing like a bunch of so and that's kind you 2:52:15 know I didn't do it to to fire the guys up I I just said what that that I thought was true at the time I thought 2:52:21 we played like a bunch of sisters Larry's attitude in game four though was cold he knew what was at stake he knew 2:52:27 that if he lost that game he could never match Magic's Legacy and become the greatest player of his generation that's 2:52:34 why he put on his overalls Larry had 29 Points and 21 rebounds dominating the 2:52:40 boards against one of the most powerful big man Duos of the decade I mean his incredible performance along with Robert 2:52:46 parish's 25 points helped Boston take home the victory but it wasn't his 2:52:51 statline that mattered What mattered was what those numbers meant for Boston as a team there was even a moment in the game 2:52:58 when bird and Abdul Jabar went jaw to jaw quote I will [ __ ] you up white boy 2:53:03 Kareem said to Larry Bird but Larry wasn't afraid of him who was one of the greatest basketball players in history 2:53:10 to intimidate him he didn't even respect him he had no reason to feel threatened but inside he really wanted Kareem to 2:53:17 eat his words so a few minutes later he did just that birds scored the game 2:53:23 winner over magic to tie the series in that day Kareem learned a valuable 2:53:28 lesson even though 99% of the league might cower before him there was a man 2:53:34 who was just different Kareem learned that those Mind Games didn't work on the greatest basketball player in the world 2:53:40 his time his era of looking down and towering over everyone else in the league was history besides red hour back 2:53:47 had a special dish prepared for the banquet that was to be served in game five the atmosphere at the Garden on 2:53:53 that night of June 8th 1984 better fit the literal definition of the word not 2:53:58 because the fans were more involved that night or just more active no the reason 2:54:03 was the temperature of the Arena quote the Lakers had prepared a lot of things 2:54:08 you know ball movement hard fouls what to expect from the referees but they didn't think about the weather the 2:54:15 Celtics knew it was going to be well over 100° with humidity around 2:54:20 95% so they brought in air conditioners and Powerful electric fans for their locker room they supplied each player 2:54:27 with three fresh uniforms they ordered hundreds of pounds of extra ice so their players could grab a chilled towel 2:54:34 anytime there was a break in the action and add to that a malfunction in the Arena's air conditioning caused the 2:54:40 finals game to be played in a literal sauna they said it was 105 all I remember is Kareem ald Jabar 2:54:48 the oxygen tank to his face but if there was anyone who benefited from this situation it was exactly the Celtics 2:54:55 their group of players was coming into their Prime in most cases Parish was the only starter reaching 30 years of age 2:55:02 now Kem Abdul Jabar was already 37 years old the center had to wear an oxygen 2:55:08 mask during a timeout in order to recover to get back on the court quote I suggest that you go to a local steam 2:55:14 bath do a 100 push-ups with all your clothes on then try to run back and forth for 48 minutes the game was in 2:55:21 slow motion it was like we were running in mud and as a result Kareem had won of the worst games of his finals career 2:55:28 even worse than in the 1983 finals where he received harsh criticism for his play 19 points on seven of 25 shooting from 2:55:36 the field that sank the Lakers offense however there was one player who was not affected by the heat in a way kind of 2:55:43 made him stronger Larry Bird had a game for the history books scoring 34 four points and grabbing 17 rebounds on 15 of 2:55:51 20 shooting from the field a near perfect performance that went down in the anals of history is one of the 2:55:57 greatest demonstrations of dominance in the face of adversity I mean Larry Bird may not have been the strongest or the 2:56:04 fastest but his resilience was as indisputable as his performance in a 2:56:09 game played in inhuman conditions his mentality was stronger than that of veterans who had fought in a thousand 2:56:15 battles but the Celtics knew that Kareem was never going to have a game that bad again at least that's what everyone 2:56:21 expected however Abdul Jabar received an IV and was vomiting from migraines just 2:56:28 before game six I mean the stress of the competition was given him even more intense headaches Kareem Abdul Jabar is 2:56:35 suffering from what has been described as his most severe migraine headache ever and in this situation like the 2:56:42 all-time great that he is he showed his ability to overcome and surprise with 30 2:56:48 30 points 10 rebounds and five assists Kareem led the Lakers to victory in game six he was accompanied by an impressive 2:56:55 version of magic to who had 21 points six rebounds and 10 assists and birds 2:57:00 near triple double with 28 points 14 rebounds and eight assists was just not 2:57:05 enough for the Celtics who would return to Boston to try to win the ring in one of the most important games in NBA 2:57:12 history game seven of the finals there is no bigger stage there are no brighter 2:57:18 lights the two favorite words of every basketball player since childhood every kid in the world dreams of being part of 2:57:25 a game like this and Larry Bird was no exception Larry still remembered his Bittersweet childhood and French Lick he 2:57:32 still remembered his experiences in the poor little town in Southern Indiana but now his game was being broadcast around 2:57:40 the entire world the Rivalry between Magic and bird had even reached European 2:57:45 television in fact the 1984 finals the first NBA event to be broadcast on 2:57:50 French television it was way bigger than just basketball but the game itself was 2:57:56 kind of disappointing from the second quarter on the Celtics began to control the game and they widened the Gap even 2:58:02 more in the third but just when it looked like Boston had everything under control the Lakers started to come back 2:58:09 they stormed back like an undead Army that still had War left in them and the Celtics 14-point lead vanished heading 2:58:16 into the final 8 minutes this is when Magic Johnson's career was forever tarnished his decision- making at this 2:58:23 point in the game Left much to be desired and as an offensive playmaker 2:58:28 these mistakes affected the performance of his entire team Celtics fans didn't wait a second after the final buzzer 2:58:34 they flooded the court in the blink of an eye and the Celtics had won again the greatest franchise in NBA history was 2:58:41 building a dynasty around Larry Bird who had achieved glory for the second time in his career bird thought this moment 2:58:48 would never come again he had seen the Celtics in a terrible situation just 12 months earlier but the forward had 2:58:55 evolved his game into an Unstoppable player with averages of 27.4 points 14 2:59:02 rebounds 3.6 assists 2.1 Steals and 1.1 blocks Larry was named the finals MVP 2:59:10 the most prestigious award a player can receive because it always comes with a ring his Legend was already indelible 2:59:17 and now his name would be etched in the history books forever after an unrepeatable season in which he had been 2:59:23 crowned the best player in the world but this was only the beginning human limits 2:59:29 no longer existed for Larry Bird he was a generational player in every sense of 2:59:35 the word a player who was able to do everything on the court for his team to win after five seasons in the league 2:59:41 bird had figured out how the NBA worked he had realized what he needed to do to become a perennial winner and his 2:59:49 non-conformity made him not stop even at that point because Larry had a huge ego 2:59:54 like all historic players that was the driving force behind his need to prove his superiority but he was different in 3:00:01 one respect he had no fear he didn't feel the pressure now what he did feel 3:00:07 was an overwhelming desire to let everyone know that he was the baddest motherucker to ever touch a basketball 3:00:15 hey mop boy go run and find out the scoring record in this building he wasn't just saying that for just saying 3:00:21 it he was saying it because he knew that if he set his mind to it he would be able to do it Danny a explained years 3:00:28 later how bird needed new challenges it also didn't help that the Celtics during the 1984 85 regular season just kind of 3:00:35 forgot what losing felt like in fact Boston went into December with a record of 15 wins and one loss in which only 3:00:43 the Washington Bullets had known how to beat him but that season bird looked different during the first five games of 3:00:49 the regular season he averaged 34 points 11 rebounds seven assists 1.5 Steals and 3:00:56 two blocks per game and his splits 55 60 93 the man could not miss bird got three 3:01:04 games of at least 40 points before the middle of December 42 against the legendary Sixers with whom he had a 3:01:11 pretty good rivalry 40 against the Dallas Mavericks with 80% shooting from the field and 48 against the Atlanta 3:01:18 Hawks of Dominique Wilkins who still didn't know how to stop him but the most impressive thing was not these Peak 3:01:24 performances he was putting up week after week the most impressive thing was that even in his bad games bird was 3:01:31 still a top-notch superstar was this back-to-back performance which helped cement Larry's Legend in that run there 3:01:37 were two days when we know he made life absolutely miserable for two different franchises it was February 17th 1985 3:01:46 Boston had to travel to England would to face the Lakers and Pat Riley knew he had to find a different solution to stop 3:01:52 Larry Bird his solution Kurt rambus yeah I mean it doesn't take a genius to realize that was not going to be the 3:01:59 right solution bird destroyed rambus on every action on every play every time he 3:02:04 touched the ball there seemed to be something that possessed the French Lick forward to do everything he could to 3:02:10 humiliate his opponent and then Pat Riley figured out what the reason was quote hey Pat Riley you know you can't 3:02:16 put another white boy on on me because I'm the coldest white boy in the league you better put a brother on me the rest 3:02:23 of the Lakers bench was in shock they couldn't believe what they had just heard and although Los Angeles took the 3:02:29 win by six points birds still got 33 points and 15 rebounds in a game in 3:02:34 which he dismantled his primary Defender but the reality was it wouldn't be 24 hours before bird would once again 3:02:41 demonstrate his killer mentality when it comes to unrepeatable performances there 3:02:46 is one of birds that surpasses the rest this night on February 18th 1984 the 3:02:53 forward was completing an iconic performance in just 33 minutes of play bird had 30 points 12 rebounds 10 3:03:01 assists and nine steals he was just one steel away from the second quadruple 3:03:07 double in NBA history but with a good lead on the scoreboard Larry just didn't go back out on the hardwood again after 3:03:14 the game all the reporters wanted to know why was it some kind kind of agreement with case Jones was it because 3:03:20 of risk of injury no when the reporters asked bird why he didn't return to the court his answer was simply iconic quote 3:03:28 what for I already did enough to damage them but there was no show of greatness 3:03:34 like the one bird demonstrated a few weeks later the Celtics were visiting the Atlanta Hawks on March 12th 1985 but 3:03:42 surprisingly they weren't playing in Atlanta they had to play in New Orleans for some reason due to just sagging 3:03:48 attendance 12 home Hawks games during the 8485 season were played there the point is that bird was in outstanding 3:03:55 form having averaged 32 points 12 rebounds and seven assists in his last 10 games against Atlanta however he was 3:04:03 even better in fact Larry was enjoying one of the best offensive nights of his career if not the best he was making 3:04:11 every shot from everywhere I mean his magic touch his toughness in the paint 3:04:17 it was all coming off for him and with a big enough lead on the scoreboard the Hawks players began to realize that this 3:04:23 was an impossible win I mean no one could contain Larry Bird so they just 3:04:28 decided to enjoy the show quote left side I'm going to go score three when a 3:04:34 guy is literally coming up to court calling his shots uh and you know bird 3:04:39 talked a lot of trash um and that's in New Orleans that's in New Orleans in that game we're on the free throw line 3:04:46 and he's like he literally says um left side over across the three and you're 3:04:52 listening to him that's that's a tough feeling celebrating Bird yeah it was the best film session every time I when I 3:04:59 see Mike we still laugh it was it was the greatest film session Mike rewound 3:05:04 the celebration 20 times uh and Antoine Carr and Cliff gives each other high 3:05:10 five and our film session was 20 minutes of that everyone who was present at that 3:05:15 game talks about how bird would say how he was going to go score on the next play and then he kept his promise 3:05:22 throughout his career even if he had not been at this level Larry always kept his word there were no exceptions I mean his 3:05:29 Trash Talk worked so well because it always involved humiliation at the end 3:05:34 that's why so many players didn't talk back because if you tried to go word for word with a crazy motherucker you had no 3:05:41 chance of winning at every point at every basket during the last quarter the 3:05:46 Hawks bench players were making making faces in some cases they were even celebrating his baskets it was as 3:05:52 surreal as a situation you can imagine because bird was scoring the most impossible shots anyone could think of 3:05:59 that night Larry put up 60 he went home happy after giving a legendary display 3:06:05 of scoring however some of the Hawks players were fined for their behavior for celebrating the opposing players 3:06:11 baskets as if they were theirs you guys got Antoine Carr and Cliff levingston got fined by Ferell I think and Eddie 3:06:18 Johnson for celebrating celebrating Bird yeah it was the best film session simply 3:06:23 unheard of like Bird's postgame remarks 60 points is a lot don't get me wrong I 3:06:29 made shots against the Hawks that game I can't recall making it any other time it's not easy to do but there was a game 3:06:36 from a little earlier that season where I had a triple double and a bunch of steals in around 30 minutes against the 3:06:41 Jazz that had it all that was what I call a great game if you want to talk about that one with a AES of 28.7 points 3:06:50 10.5 rebounds 6.6 assists 1.6 Steals and 3:06:55 1.2 blocks per game bird received the MVP trophy almost unanimously the NBA's 3:07:02 most valuable player for their second consecutive year on the Boston Celtics Larry Bird Magic Johnson came in second 3:07:09 and the distance separating the two stars could not have been wider in addition bird managed to create a club 3:07:16 that has gained importance over time time the 50490 club a prestigious Club to which 3:07:21 only the most efficient players in the history of the league capable of averaging 50% from the field 40% in 3:07:29 three-pointers and 90% in free throws have been admitted a club that in reality was founded by Larry because no 3:07:36 one before him could do it I didn't really know about it until somebody told me the Celtics posted a record of 63 3:07:43 wins and 19 losses and everyone assumed they would win the NBA again no one in 3:07:48 their right mind was going to say that Boston was capable of losing a seven game series not only that but bird was 3:07:54 eager to prove that was the harsh reality for the rest of the league the first round pits him against the 3:08:00 Cleveland Cavaliers of world be free Roy Henson and Phil hubard a team that had 3:08:06 qualified for the playoffs after starting the season with a record of 12 wins and 30 losses and during game one 3:08:12 somehow those Cavs managed to compete with the Celtics to the point that world 3:08:18 be free had a three-pointer to send the game into overtime but no Larry Bird to no one's surprise stepped up and 3:08:24 absolutely destroyed the dreams of George Carl's team quote I don't believe in moral victories you play this game to 3:08:31 win you don't play this game to play well and lose the truth is Cleveland even held a 121 to 120 lead with about 3:08:39 230 left in the game but at that point bird scored the basket that would take the lead away from the Cavs for good his 3:08:47 four 40th point on another night to write into the history books World be free had the same opportunity again as 3:08:54 if it were Groundhog Day the Cavs player had again a shot to send the game into overtime in game two but birds 30 points 3:09:02 with 52% shooting from the field were enough to make the series 20 Boston a 3:09:07 series that if it had been a little different could have had a reverse result Cleveland was close but at the 3:09:13 same time so so far away the good news for the Cavs though was that bird wouldn't be available for game three his 3:09:20 elbow injury was aggravated and the Celtics knew they were going to have trouble that night without their best 3:09:25 player in a completely hostile environment despite the efforts of Scott wedman the player they traded for during 3:09:31 the disastrous 1983 season Boston lost their first playoff game that season and 3:09:37 Casey Jones knew they couldn't afford to lose bird for one more game they needed him to close out the series against the 3:09:43 team that for the first half of the season was aiming for the number one SE in the lottery so after coming back 3:09:50 Larry just played another Larry Bird's signature game with 34 points 14 rebounds and seven assists bird finished 3:09:57 the job in game four but he wasn't exactly satisfied quote Cleveland played 3:10:03 better than us our talent just got us through he didn't know why but the vibe of the team didn't seem as good as last 3:10:09 season some players had become accustomed to winning by default without thinking without having to concentrate 3:10:17 the combination of having such a deep and experienced roster with having the best basketball player on the planet who 3:10:23 also stood up for his teammates started to feel too comfortable no locker room 3:10:28 problems no ego problems the problem the Celtics had was that there was just a lack of Rivals at Larry's level but if 3:10:35 there was one thing we know is that in the NBA Playoffs names don't help you got to go out and win games Boston would 3:10:43 have to face in the second round a team that was on an upward trajectory the Detroit Pistons of Bill lambir and 3:10:50 Isaiah Thomas were waiting for Boston to play in the Eastern Conference semi-finals a very tough team on defense 3:10:57 used to slowing down the stars of their rival teams but Larry Bird was not just 3:11:02 a star and the Pistons figured that out pretty quick normally when they sunk the 3:11:07 opposing star they sunk the whole team that's what their game was based on but soon they realized that the Celtics 3:11:13 didn't work that way bird had a quiet game by his stand in game one with 21 3:11:19 points nine rebounds and five assists but the Celtics won by 34 points already 3:11:25 ready starter Kevin mcel along with bird and Parish completed the best front Court in the league some said it was the 3:11:32 best front Court in NBA history and between the three of them they combined to score 74 points that Detroit could 3:11:39 not work with male himself had the best game of his young career that regular season against Detroit in a game which 3:11:46 he scored 50 56 points Chuck Daly the Pistons coach was clear on what their 3:11:51 game plan was going to be quote Boston is going to pound us inside I'm afraid I was right when you get into the playoffs 3:11:58 you have to be ready we were out of sync we had to play our game and we didn't do that but Isaiah Thomas was even more 3:12:05 upset than his coach because bird had poked him in his left eye during one play quote I don't think it was a poke I 3:12:13 think he was seriously trying to take my eye out bird came into game two with the intention of destroying the Pistons and 3:12:20 he did with 42 points 10 rebounds and six assists but this time Detroit didn't 3:12:25 play so bad this time they weren't doubled in the rebounding stats they played with more nerve with more grit 3:12:32 but they had a generational player in front of them the Pistons lost again at the Garden This Time by seven points and 3:12:38 would have to go back to Detroit with the idea of winning both games if they wanted to keep any chance of winning 3:12:43 this series Boston without being at 100% of their capabilities for reasons nobody 3:12:49 could quite understand was still sweeping them but the story changed in Detroit despite the Boston Celtics 3:12:55 starting five combining to score 104 points Thomas and lamb beer had a 3:13:01 remarkable night in game three forced 23 turnovers from the Celtics and got a win 3:13:06 and then even though the Celtics had an 11-point lead during the final quarter in game four which would have been 3:13:12 virtually decisive in closing out the series the Pistons outplayed them again in crunch time and Dy had gotten what he 3:13:19 wanted a victory to survive one more day now bird knew he had to play better than 3:13:24 that to win games it wasn't good enough to be very good he needed to be the best player on the court and with the lesson 3:13:30 learned the forward prepared for a game five that the Celtics would play at the Garden a new game to serve to 3:13:36 demonstrate his dominance against one of the teams that aspired to take his throne with 43 points 13 rebounds and 3:13:44 five assists bird left no doubt a legendary performance that along with Dennis Johnson's 30 points on just 16 3:13:51 shots was enough to beat Detroit both teams had won their home games and lost their away games but in that situation 3:13:59 there was one team with the advantage the 63 wins in the regular season gave Boston homec advantage in every series 3:14:06 fans felt that the Golden Era of the Celtics was at its peak now that's why the atmosphere at the Garden during that 3:14:12 game six was just unbeatable and although Larry had a strange per performance in which he only scored 17 3:14:19 points mcale parish and Dennis Johnson had a good offensive night yes Isaiah 3:14:24 Thomas scored 37 points in game six but the Pistons weren't even close on the scoreboard in fact the Celtics were 3:14:31 leading at Halftime by 11 points Boston had eliminated Detroit but their next 3:14:37 opponent was going to be even tougher their Conference Finals opponents were the Sixers but this time they had a new 3:14:44 weapon the Sixers not only had Julius Irving Moses Malone Mo Cheeks Andre Tony 3:14:50 and Bobby Jones Off the Bench they now had one of the best young players in the 3:14:55 NBA that previous summer 1984 the Sixers has selected Charles Barkley with the 3:15:01 fifth pick in the draft and with the depth they had now they could afford not to use him as a starter but in game one 3:15:08 Boston showed its dominance a game in which bird had 23 points nine rebounds seven assists and four steals with 56% 3:15:16 shooting from the field the Sixers were this time the ones who were realizing that bird was a different monster than 3:15:22 the one they had faced during the previous years and just as importantly he continued to dominate throughout the 3:15:28 rest of the series not only bird either the Celtics stepped up against Philadelphia as a team and he had the 3:15:34 help of male and Dennis Johnson in scoring he had the help of Robert Parish on the glass in fact with a performance 3:15:41 of 24 points eight rebounds seven assists two Steals and three blocks bird 3:15:46 Le the Celtics to victory in game two they didn't even have to suffer too much as the 32 to 18 run that Boston had in 3:15:54 the third quarter was more than enough to seal the victory a roster like Philadelphia's capable of shredding any 3:16:00 team's defense was simply unable to penetrate Boston they were simply too strong and the Sixers despite being the 3:16:07 fourth best offense of the season in 1985 had been unable to score 100 points on the Celtics in the playoffs neither 3:16:14 happened in game three despite playing at the Spectrum the Sixers scored 994 points this time bird added 26 points 3:16:22 seven rebounds five assists and four Steals and despite Barkley and perennial playoff Riser Andrew Tony combining for 3:16:29 49 points more than half of their teams they couldn't get anything going quote 3:16:35 we're helping each other we really made all the big plays down the stretch we hit the big shots and came up with the 3:16:41 lose balls at opportune times our defense just took them out of the game and we didn't do it individually but as 3:16:47 a team we're helping each other and that has been the major factor in this series bird was thrilled with the Celtics 3:16:53 performance in the playoffs so much so that all he could think about was lifting the Larry O'Brien for the third 3:16:59 time in his career but the Sixers were not a teen that was going to give up easily in fact in game four they came 3:17:06 out with a different energy in the first quarter they nearly doubled Boston's scoring outscoring them 31 to6 and they 3:17:13 managed to keep it up for almost the entire game and they didn't need a big game from any of their starters other 3:17:19 than Andrew Tony who added 26 points basically because Billy Cunningham realized the power of the forward he had 3:17:26 drafted in his first career playoff start Charles Barkley added 15 points 3:17:31 and 20 rebounds and the Sixers went on to win now game five had to be played at 3:17:36 the Garden and bird and Company were ready to dispatch the Sixers once and for all they were eager to prove their 3:17:43 dominance in the east by winning the conference in two cons consecutive Seasons but the Rivalry they had created 3:17:49 with Philadelphia it was something out of this world I think it's one of the best rivalries in sports you know you go 3:17:55 out there and you compete and uh you know you got to play so well to win it I think in terms of two clubs and 3:18:01 professional sports and professional uh team sports uh really wanting one 3:18:06 another and going after one another's throats this is definitely the ultimate you know you got probably more respect for the 76 than any other team in the 3:18:13 league period game five was a real train wreck multiple Stars shot poorly in a 3:18:18 game that was dominated by defense and Bird was not playing his best game in the playoffs Boston was playing for the 3:18:25 season and Larry was off but when things started to heat up bird was always going 3:18:30 to be able to come up with something unexpected the Sixers had the ball to tie or win the game and go back to 3:18:36 Philadelphia for game six and in these situations Andrew Tony was the go-to guy 3:18:42 Danny a himself said that he quote feared Tony more than Michael Jordan you know that Bulls kid who was starting to 3:18:48 make noise but was incapable of winning and then bird did The Impossible the 3:18:53 Sixers couldn't even get a shot off for the simple reason that Larry Birds sprinted all the way down the court 3:19:00 after a Miss to pin Tony in the left corner as Tony was hesitating on what to do while Billy Cunningham was hesitating 3:19:07 whether to call time or not the tension increased and deciding to let Tony take 3:19:12 advantage of his speed against Larry Bird no timeout was called a decision he would forever regret because bird 3:19:20 quickly snaked his left hand in touched the ball just enough for Tony to lose it a turnover that froze the Sixers player 3:19:27 as Larry gained possession to end the game and that was it the Sixers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics who 3:19:34 were crowned the kings of the East for yet another season and now to absolutely no one's surprise their opponents in the 3:19:41 finals would offer competition on par with a team like the Celtics again as 3:19:46 would have it they crossed paths Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were once again 3:19:52 on the front pages of sports magazines around the world because their rivalry was going to have yet another chapter 3:19:59 bird wanted to show him that he was the best in the world and Magic wanted to take revenge for what had happened last 3:20:05 season even more so when every media Outlet in the country was focusing on Larry's incredible career season which 3:20:12 was having Unforgettable performances over and over again despite being in the 3:20:18 home of showtime in one of the biggest markets in the league and with one of the most legendary teams magic was kind 3:20:25 of in the background and a player with his ego he was never going to let that happen or at least that was the plan the 3:20:32 truth is that they weren't able to do anything about it at least not in game one a performance that went down in 3:20:38 history is one of the greatest displays of dominance a team has ever made in the finals well actually it was the second 3:20:45 greatest anyway welcome welcome to the Memorial Day Massacre a game that was 3:20:50 never close quote we figured if we could get it down to around 18 near the end of the third quarter we would have a chance 3:20:57 when did I think it was over well when they got up by 30 or something at the end of the third that's pretty tough 3:21:03 bird didn't even have to play his dream game in fact he was all about finding open looks for his teammates that night 3:21:10 as evidenced by his nine assists which helped players like Scott wedman score 26 points on a 11 of 11 shooting from 3:21:18 the field and four of four three-pointers in fact the Celtics shot 3:21:23 61% from the field and 78% on three-pointers at night with 3:21:29 seven made out of nine and the Lakers although they had a good offensive game scoring 114 points succumbed on defense 3:21:37 to the power of the Celtics who scored 148 points which is to this day 3:21:43 in 2024 the highest score by a team in n ba finals history the Lakers and Magic 3:21:49 Johnson they just could not let this happen again ever quote you can't look 3:21:54 at 1985 without looking at 1984 we all thought we should have won it was the 3:21:59 ultimate motivator it wasn't just Kareem who took a beating from the Celtics if that wasn't enough red hour back had 3:22:06 downplayed Kareem's influence after game one quote that was motivation to have 3:22:11 your Chief rival say you're no longer worth the trouble of guarding you know I had to do something something about that 3:22:17 to double check myself to make sure that wasn't the facts so the Lakers Center got himself ready for game two a game 3:22:24 that despite being played at the Garden was going to be completely different from game one it wasn't looking bad for 3:22:30 Kareem as the Lakers were leading by 18 points at halftime so bird had to do everything he could in the second half 3:22:36 to reduce that lead and he did just that with 30 points 12 rebounds three assists 3:22:42 two Steals and two blocks bird put on a great performance on a huge stage but 3:22:47 that night Kareem returned to his Prime with 30 points 17 rebounds and eight 3:22:53 assists and 15 of 26 shooting from the field the 37-year-old Legend showed he 3:22:59 still had plenty of basketball left in him and the Lakers tied the series at one win just before returning to 3:23:06 California now Kevin mccale had already become a star between him and bird they scored 51 points in that all important 3:23:13 game three but the Lakers had too much G pass in the tank Boston simply could not 3:23:19 keep up with the pace of a game in which they only competed really in the first quarter in fact Lakers had Avenged the 3:23:26 beating they had received in game one and Magic Johnson who had 17 points and 16 assists was the architect of the 3:23:33 victory Boston had now lost the first of their three games at The Forum and some Celtics fans suspected that they might 3:23:40 not see their team play at home again until the following season and that looked like it was going to be the harsh 3:23:45 reality I mean the Celtics needed bird to win game four but the forward actually wasn't too active in fact Larry 3:23:52 had only 12 points at the end of the third quarter in a game that the Lakers led by two points Casey Jones knew he 3:23:58 had to find a way to get his star back in the game but when you're talking about a player with a mentality like 3:24:04 birds you know he's just got to do it on his own so with 14 incredible points in 3:24:09 the final quarter bird put the win on a platter for the Celtics he was possessed 3:24:14 he was a player on a mission and he didn't care who was in front of him but it wasn't number 33 however who scored 3:24:22 the most important basket of the game that was Dennis Johnson who knocked down a game-winning 21t jumper that switched 3:24:29 the net As Time expired a look by the way that he got once again thanks to 3:24:34 bird getting double teamed in the last seconds of the game but with 26 points 11 rebounds five assists and three 3:24:41 steals Larry proved he was the best player on the court Boston had to win in 3:24:46 game five now to regain the home court Factor but they didn't despite the collective effort the short rotation of 3:24:53 Casey Jones in which he only used seven players was insufficient bird Dennis 3:24:59 male and Parish combined for 92 of the 11 points to Celtics scored Larry also 3:25:05 added seven rebounds and seven assists but the trio of Kareem magic and worthy 3:25:10 gave them no chance in fact magic had one of the best games of his career in the finals getting 26 points six 3:25:17 rebounds and seven assists and between the three of them they scored no more and no less than 95 points out of the 3:25:25 120 that the Lakers got the Celtics were on the ropes and Larry Bird needed a 3:25:30 masterful performance to force a game seven that would allow them to keep the dream alive in addition in game six they 3:25:37 also had that all important Sixth Man the ever loyal Celtics fans of course 3:25:43 bird did everything possible his performance of 28 points and 10 assists proved it he also had the help of Kevin 3:25:50 mccale who scored another 32 points with good efficiency and it was a completely 3:25:55 close game where there were up to 20 ties including the 5555 scor at halftime 3:26:01 but to everyone's surprise the Celtics were unable to win led by Kareem Abdul 3:26:06 Jabar the Lakers won their ninth title in their history also the third in the last six seasons since Magic Johnson 3:26:13 joined the team at least for Bird's consolation it was Kareem Abdul Jabar who took the MVP trophy after scoring a 3:26:19 total of 121 points in the series Larry Bird had once again lost to his biggest 3:26:25 rival and his desire to prove his superiority only grew further and became 3:26:31 as great as the level of play he had been offering during the last few seasons Boston didn't have to make many 3:26:36 changes it had been a year since red hour back had left his position in Celtics management and his genius was no 3:26:43 longer in service to the fans but before R left he basically built a team that was ready to win championships and now 3:26:50 Jan vul just had to complete a bench that would be made up of players who were eager to be part of one of the best 3:26:56 teams of the moment thus came Jerry sitching and Bill Walton now sitching was coming off two very good Seasons 3:27:02 with the Indiana Pacers and had been traded to Boston in exchange for a second round pick allowing Dennis 3:27:08 Johnson to have a guaranteed backup on the other hand Bill Walton arrived on a bit of a downswing after having been NBA 3:27:16 M VP 7 years before but his contribution would be vital in his first season in 3:27:21 Boston where he would end up winning the Sixth Man of the Year award however something had changed Larry just wasn't 3:27:28 the same not in terms of Talent OR in personality but in terms of physical health bird was a country kid and he 3:27:36 spent his off Seasons at his mother's house and for entertainment like the active man he was Larry loved to work on 3:27:42 his farm that summer he had a goal to create a driveway that would reach all the way to his mother's door so shovel 3:27:49 in hand bird went to work like an NBA player shouldn't be and the worst thing that could happen happened Larry injured 3:27:57 his back Larry decides to do it himself this is Larry Bird the Superstar out there breaking his back literally 3:28:04 shoveling gravel and that that was the beginning of a process and that was the 3:28:09 beginning of an entire ordeal in such big men back injuries can be a real 3:28:15 problem not not just in the short term but in the long term as well and birds suffered these problems for the rest of 3:28:21 his career in fact the main problem was that Larry would always play through the pain still in 1985 bird only had two 3:28:30 goals to once again be the best player in the league and lead the Boston Celtics to winning the championship at 3:28:36 the end of the season and boy did he prove it in the first game of the 1985 86 regular season the Celtics had to 3:28:43 travel to New Jersey to face the Nets and Larry gave a master class on how to play a game where you can't make shots 3:28:50 yes he went five for 15 from the field but he also made 10 out of 10 free throws from 21 points 12 rebounds 10 3:28:58 assists and eight Steals and for the second time in his career bird just missed out on a quadruple double and 3:29:04 although the Celtics did lose the first game that wasn't really a problem they won 17 of the next 18 games they played 3:29:12 one of them was pretty special for Larry against the Detroit pist that seemed to be getting better and better bird 3:29:18 managed to score 47 points in addition to grabbing 12 rebounds that innocent 3:29:24 kid from French lck had finished the process of becoming a real menace to everyone he played against and during 3:29:30 the regular season of 8586 we had several examples of it Larry came into the month of February with a 3:29:37 bang after averaging 26 points 10 rebounds 6.5 assists and three steals 3:29:43 per game with 44% three-pointers in January that month was key in his fight 3:29:48 for the MVP a month in which by the way Boston only lost one game by four points 3:29:54 but before continuing to demonstrate his dominance on the court he had to take a break it was time for the All-Star 3:30:00 weekend and fans were anxious to see this new contest that the NBA was going to start offering in 1986 the 3:30:08 Three-Point Contest and in it the best Shooters in the entire league would duel to see who was the best of the best bird 3:30:15 logic was selected to participate in fact the Celtics forward was just three 3:30:20 three-pointers away from becoming the player with the most three-pointer scored in NBA history something he would 3:30:26 achieve in March of that same year a month after the contest Harry bird is now the alltime leader in three-point 3:30:33 field goals in the NBA but that night bird showed the entire league that the 3:30:38 ability to score three-pointers was not something exclusive to guards with a score of 22 points in the final Larry 3:30:46 won the first Three-Point Contest in league history he became the king of an aspect of the game that would gain 3:30:51 prominence over the years and decades to become the most important factor of today's style of play with that 3:30:58 performance bird proved that he was a player way ahead of his time however 6 days later the Ford had an even more 3:31:04 legendary performance than the one he achieved at the all-star weekend it was February 14th 1986 and Larry needed new 3:31:13 challenges during the regular season the Celtics had had long since overcome their chemistry and locker room problems 3:31:19 and the team could afford to play the regular season on basically autopilot partly because they had the best player 3:31:25 on the planet on their roster but the thing is that night bird decided to handicap himself the Celtics were 3:31:32 visiting the Portland Trailblazers and Larry had woken up wanting to show some versatility quote I'm going to play this 3:31:38 one left-handed at least through three quarters an iconic moment of Bird's career it seemed impossible but the best 3:31:46 player in the league decided to play the game playing only with his offhand not only did he deliver one of the best 3:31:52 scoring performances of his career but he also had one of the most complete games with 47 points 14 rebounds and 11 3:32:00 assists there was nothing the defense could do to stop him but the numbers were just a glimpse of what bird was 3:32:07 capable of that night because bird with his Poise managed to score a game tying 3:32:12 shot at the end of the second half and a game-winning shot in overtime to give the Celtics the victory something just 3:32:19 simply unheard of it seemed like he wasn't even taking basketball seriously at that point if a player was capable of 3:32:25 such a performance playing with a handicap what would he be capable of doing at full strength that night Larry 3:32:31 Bird put on a display of dominance that in my opinion no player has ever been able to repeat no one has ever had the 3:32:38 courage or the talent to pull something like this off the reporters wanted to know the reason Larry played using 3:32:44 mainly his offhand I mean what was his wrist hurting or was he hiding some kind of injury no and his answer was as 3:32:51 iconic as his personality was quote I'm saving my right hand for the Lakers a 3:32:56 lot of people would have spent their money to see that game live because it is something that probably will never 3:33:02 ever happen again in addition this performance seemed to encourage bird who finished the season in spectacular 3:33:09 fashion since that game against the Blazers the forward averaged 27.5 points 3:33:15 10 rebound BS and 7.4 assists with 48% and three-pointers including 3:33:21 performances like a 50-point game and a one-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks a 43-point game against the Cleveland 3:33:28 Cavaliers and another 40-point game against the New Jersey Nets I mean Larry Bird could not have been in better shape 3:33:35 heading into the playoffs not coincidentally the Celtics achieved an absolutely incredible record thanks to 3:33:41 Larry's end of the season a record of 67 wins and 15 Los losses was the best 3:33:46 record in the NBA far ahead of the second best which once again belonged to Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers and 3:33:53 for the third consecutive time bird was named NBA MVP with averages of 25.8 3:34:00 points 9.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists Larry achieved what no other player 3:34:06 would ever achieve again because the Celtics star is still to this day the last player to win three consecutive 3:34:12 MVPs now despite combining that excellent performance with a Supporting Cast to match the Celtics were actually 3:34:19 a little unlucky with their first round opponent in the 1984 draft the Chicago Bulls drafted a shooting guard from 3:34:25 North Carolina you might know him a player who in his rookie season had averaged 28 points six rebounds and six 3:34:33 assists to finish sixth in the MVP race his aesthetic his plasticity his 3:34:39 technique in every move was something completely unreal it seemed that this 3:34:44 player had the unique quality qualities to become a legend in the NBA I mean Michael Jordan was simply different but 3:34:51 in 1986 in what had been his sophore season the Bulls guard had not had much 3:34:56 luck in only the third game of the regular season MJ broke his left foot in 3:35:01 a game against the Golden State Warriors and after missing 64 games because of the injury Jordan was not in the best 3:35:08 shape for the playoffs still that injury had caused Chicago to have a much worse record than they would have had with 3:35:14 their best player on the court and that eighth seed they got certainly looked a little suspect the Bulls were clearly a 3:35:21 better team than that still bird knew he was a better player than Jordan even more so if the guard had not been in 3:35:27 shape for the matchup against the Celtics in the first round Larry knew that MJ had yet to prove anything in the 3:35:33 NBA Beyond being an elite scorer and the French Lick forwards background was much 3:35:39 deeper and richer and yes bird turned out to be right he was a much better 3:35:44 player than Jordan at that time but despite that he was undervaluing Michael's skills in game one the Celtics 3:35:51 impenetrable defense helped them win by 19 points in his first playoff game against Michael Jordan bird put up a 30o 3:35:59 six rebound eight assist and three steeled performance a performance that surely helped him be the best player of 3:36:05 the game or at least that was the plan because Jordan even though he was not yet at the height of his powers achieved 3:36:12 an iconic performance of 49 points with 50% shooting from the field a game that 3:36:18 forced Larry to realize the true Talent of Michael Jordan I mean every time he had the ball he could only look at the 3:36:24 hoop an aggressive score like no one had ever seen and Larry had already faced 3:36:30 the best score in NBA history Kareem Abdul Jabar on multiple occasions but as I said Michael was just different but 3:36:38 that was just the beginning in game two bird got to see firsthand how Jordan delivered what was probably the most 3:36:44 iconic playoff performance of his career with no answer the Bulls went after their franchise player relentlessly play 3:36:52 after play a poorly selected shot by Michael was still at that moment better 3:36:57 than a well selected shot by any other player and despite the Celtics suffocating defense MJ put up 63 points 3:37:04 on the scoreboard number 23 was completely on fire but it didn't matter because Chicago's one-man offense 3:37:10 couldn't do anything against the core of a team that already knew it was going to be champions again and let's make it 3:37:17 clear to everyone although Jordan had scored 112 points in two games Larry Bird was the best player on the court 3:37:23 with 36 points 12 rebounds and eight assists the forward gave a master class 3:37:29 on how to lead a team not only scoring but in all aspects of the game yes 3:37:34 Jordan was an absolute Beast pound-for-pound the best scorer probably anyone had ever seen but he wasn't a 3:37:40 leader yet and the Celtics won 135 to 131 and not even a super hero effect 3:37:46 could stop them still Birds saw something special in Michael and he let everyone know it after the game quote I 3:37:52 would never have called him the greatest player I'd ever seen if I didn't mean it it's just God disguised as Michael 3:37:58 Jordan he is the most exciting most awesome player in the game I didn't think anyone was capable of doing what 3:38:04 Michael has done to us the past two games and this was strange bird did not usually praise opponents there was 3:38:11 nothing weirder than Larry talking nice about a Ral we're talking about the most 3:38:16 Unstoppable trash talker in the league a player who wouldn't stop trying to get in your head until he had overpowered 3:38:22 you but somehow bird kind of felt that by playing against MJ he was looking in the mirror maybe before any other player 3:38:29 Larry realized that Michael was destined to be a generational player but the Bulls lost game three again this time at 3:38:36 home and with a poor performance from a burned out Michael Jordan Larry also had a quiet game in which he scored 19 3:38:43 points grabbed 12 rebounds and and dished out eight assists but that was enough because once again his leadership 3:38:50 served to show MJ that he still had a lot to learn and so the Celtics swept the Bulls in just three games the good 3:38:56 news was that Boston had faced a serious opponent in that first round of the playoffs and now they were ready to face 3:39:02 anyone and it would be the Atlanta Hawks who would be their opponents in the second round Dominique Wilkins still 3:39:08 remembered how bird treated him in the first games they met in his career and now he had become a top tier Superstar 3:39:14 who had a averaged 30 points A Night That season however the star power of the best version of Jordan hadn't worked 3:39:21 what made the Hawks think Dominique would the Hawks were no match for the Celtics in game one and the 12-point 3:39:27 difference on the scoreboard does not do justice to the superiority the Celtics showed Beyond bird and the Imperial 3:39:34 Kevin mccale who had become a revelation That season Boston didn't need much more to take the game game two was a similar 3:39:41 situation in which the Celtics went to halftime with a 14-point lead this time Larry Bird played a completely stellar 3:39:47 game a performance that only the best player in the world could perform in a playoff game with 36 points eight 3:39:53 rebounds and seven assists bird had an extremely efficient performance and dominated from start to finish but the 3:40:00 Celtics were not satisfied they had to travel to Atlanta to play game three and game four and hope to continue their 3:40:07 undefeated run in the 1986 playoffs bird wanted to close the series in four games 3:40:13 and again in game three he demonstrated ated this desire another Imperial performance in which he led the Celtics 3:40:19 in scoring and assists Larry was the epicenter of the offense of the best team in the world with the permission of 3:40:26 the Los Angeles Lakers and with 28 points nine rebounds and 12 assists 3:40:31 Larry once again made Dominic wilkins's KN a living hell because despite the 38 3:40:37 points in good efficiency of the Hawks forward his team just couldn't take home Victory although it is true that this 3:40:43 time they did come close and then finally the Hawks achieved their long awaited victory in game four of the 3:40:49 series a game that did not have a huge significance really as no team had ever come back from a 3-oh deficit in a 3:40:56 playoff series in NBA history in fact in 2024 no one has managed it yet but at 3:41:02 least for once the duel between Dominique and bird resulted in a victory for the Atlanta Hawks and of course 3:41:07 neither Larry nor Casey Jones were satisfied with what had happened maybe that was the reason why in game five the 3:41:14 Celtics completely destroyed the Hawks the best player was the same as always 3:41:19 Larry Bird with a stat line of 3610 and five brought all the Atlanta fans and 3:41:24 players back to reality in addition to this his team was Sublime on defense 3:41:29 forell who was coaching the Hawks at the time talked about how Larry and his team's defense looked like something out 3:41:35 of a fantasy quote I was hoping we had 40 time outs left but unfortunately we 3:41:41 only had two Atlanta scored six points in the third quarter and Boston 36 after 3:41:48 going into halftime with an 11-point lead the Celtics shattered any glimmer of hope for a team that still had some 3:41:54 growing to do if they wanted to compete one-on-one with the best basketball player in the world quote I didn't 3:42:00 realize they scored so few points in the third period but I can see why every time they shot we either blocked the 3:42:06 shot rebounded or stole the ball once we did that we just ran and kept running 3:42:11 the bad luck the Celtics had in the first round having to go through through a hungry Michael Jordan was offset by 3:42:18 the good luck they had in the Conference Finals because Sydney monre another Eternal rival of Larry Bird who also 3:42:24 knew what it was like to sweep the Celtics in the playoffs had suffered a stress related injury in the first round 3:42:30 of 1986 and he would not be available to face Boston in the most important games 3:42:35 of the season and even though the legendary guard had rallied to participate in game two his physical 3:42:42 condition was far from ideal there wasn't much to do bird averaged 25.3 3:42:47 points 9.5 rebounds eight assists and 1.8 steals per game with 50% in 3:42:53 three-pointers with almost five attempts per night in a series in which Milwaukee could not dream of winning any game and 3:43:01 buck fans pretty much realized it when their team lost game one of the series by 32 points Larry went on to dominate 3:43:08 the series from start to finish in so many ways and in the only game in which Milwaukee came remotely close to winning 3:43:15 the forward had 19 points 16 rebounds and 13 assists again demonstrating his 3:43:22 leadership and incredible versatility in addition to that in game four he made five three-pointers out of six attempts 3:43:29 which was something you didn't really see given the short history of the three-point line thus far quote now that 3:43:35 was extremely difficult to watch the hardest part by far is sitting on the bench hoping you could play and 3:43:42 wondering whether you could help especially when it was a blowout game like that and the Celtics had done it 3:43:47 again they had qualified for the NBA finals for the third consecutive season Casey Jones's tenure at the Helm of the 3:43:53 franchise had unlocked the best version of Larry Bird and his resume as a coach of the Celtics seemed unblemished but 3:44:01 Boston hoped that this time the outcome of the finals would be different Larry still had that thorn in his side from 3:44:07 his loss to the LA Lakers in Magic Johnson in 1985 however it would not be the Lakers 3:44:13 who managed to win the West after a 4-1 Victory it was the Rockets who would face the Celtics in the 1986 NBA Finals 3:44:20 Larry had long since sparked the rebuilding of the Rockets when they were still in the Western Conference but Ray 3:44:26 Patterson's team had rebuilt its foundation in record time in large part because of the arrival of a generational 3:44:33 Talent who was the Talk of the Town for the next decade Hakeem alajawan had arrived to turn Houston into one of the 3:44:40 best teams in the NBA in addition other players like Ralph Samson and leis Lloyd 3:44:45 were a perfect compliment to an iconic team despite playing with a center like hakee the Rockets were a dangerous team 3:44:52 in transition an offensive Powerhouse that scared defenses all over the league 3:44:57 except one because the Boston Celtics had been the best defense and the third best offense in the NBA during that 3:45:04 regular season and the Celtics showed why they were the favorites from game one despite hakee playing a spectacular 3:45:10 game demonstrating his level of maturity for a kid only 23 years old the Celtics 3:45:15 rolled over Houston the Rockets average defense tried to restrict bird as much 3:45:21 as possible but they forgot that he was one of the best Playmakers in the history of the league Larry dished out 3:45:27 13 assists in that game in which he also contributed 21 points eight rebounds and 3:45:32 four steals it was a similar story to what happened in game two in which Boston completely destroyed Houston the 3:45:39 Rockets simply had no answer to Larry another Elite game both on defense and off offense in which the forwards scored 3:45:46 31 points eight rebounds seven assists and four steals with splits of 6360 and 3:45:53 100 a dream game on a stage like the finals for any star in the league but 3:45:58 not for the best player of his generation for Larry it was just another day at the office although the Rockets 3:46:04 didn't want to give up though it seemed like an impossible mission but in game three they had a little hope Birds 3:46:10 signed another historic performance doing it all on the hardwood 25 points 15 rebounds 11 assists four steals I 3:46:17 mean filling the stat sheet at this point was just easy for Larry but that night in a tight game at the summit 3:46:23 Houston took the victory by two points so Boston had to prove their dominance in game four in another tight game in 3:46:31 which Larry came within one rebound of a triple double Boston managed to Prevail by a three-point lead the front Court of 3:46:38 Parish male and Bird was simply too strong they dominated the glass they were unselfish they moved the ball all 3:46:45 they were extremely efficient and they were tough on defense not even one of the best defensive games of hakee Alan's 3:46:53 career which included four Steals and four blocks could stop an offense that had just too much chemistry and talent 3:47:00 but the 23-2 format of the finals meant that game five would also be played in Houston and this turned out to be Bird's 3:47:07 only weak performance in the series as he let a Kevin mccale who was completely on fire lead Boston that night but if 3:47:14 bird has a bad game despite his incredible Supporting Cast the Celtics couldn't pull out a win add to that a 3:47:21 surreal performance by elaan who had 32 points 14 rebounds and eight blocks he 3:47:27 absolutely closed the paint down no Boston player had an easy bucket that night however the Celtics knew they 3:47:34 would be playing at home to close out the series and with a triple double of 29 Points 11 rebounds and 12 assists 3:47:42 bird became the first player in history to come close to averaging a triple double in finals history Boston won game 3:47:49 six in front of their home crowd comfortably and Larry was voted Finals MVP for the second time in his career 3:47:55 with averages of 24 points 9.7 rebounds and 9.5 assists Legend has it that bird 3:48:02 was not exactly ecstatic with the victory rather he was satisfied for the simple reason that he wanted to meet the 3:48:08 Lakers in the finals yes Houston was a good team but they were no Los Angeles Lakers quote I was disappointed somewhat 3:48:16 that Houston beat the Lakers I really wanted a piece of the Lakers in ' 86 That season however Bird Rose to 3:48:22 prominence he emerged as an all-time great in 81 he was not yet the player he 3:48:27 could become and many Magic fans said that the 1984 ring had been a fluke but in ' 86 bird repeated that feat and 3:48:35 nothing no one could say that he didn't deserve it absolutely no player in the league was better than Larry Bird not 3:48:42 Jordan not magic not hake te not Dominque not English absolutely every 3:48:48 player in the league regardless of age respected bird as a potential candidate to become the best of all time his 3:48:55 self-esteem was through the roof bird had completed his transformation and he had always had his father's teaser trait 3:49:01 as well as his War veterans bravery but at this point he had become a beast a beast capable of taking down any player 3:49:09 in his path Larry didn't have much left to prove in the league he could only enlarge his Legend even more with with 3:49:15 more championships more MVPs but he decided to transcend in another way 3:49:20 Larry decided that the best way to be remembered would be through the stories his Rivals would tell about him his 3:49:26 Trash Talk increased along with his dominance everybody but talking and 3:49:31 telling him about it he he just shook his head at me he said man it's going to be nice every time he was about to make 3:49:38 a move he told him what he was going to do he say Scott Scott you not getting that why you even jumping and I just 3:49:44 remember him turning around saying you little piece don't ever put no white dude on me 3:49:50 because that is disrespectful he never stop talking trash never how could you 3:49:55 not fear a player who told you what he was going to do before he did it how could you not fear a player whose feelings couldn't be hurt by your 3:50:02 insults after everything he had been through the poverty his divorce the death of his father his failure in 3:50:08 Indiana there was nothing you could say to him but the NBA did have a problem a real problem Larry bird was still hungry 3:50:16 in the 1986 87 season the Celtics didn't have to make any major changes their 3:50:21 core remained mostly intact during the post ring off season yet somehow Larry's 3:50:27 offensive weight would increase during the season Boston was an incredible team with an unbeatable Supporting Cast yet 3:50:34 for some reason they didn't start off as strong this season in fact in the first 25 games of the 1986 season they had a 3:50:41 record of 16 wins and nine losses an excellent ENT record for any team but 3:50:46 for the one that was accustomed to 60 win Seasons year after year yeah not so much now his 38. 11 rebound 8 assist 3:50:54 performance against the Indiana Pacers was still one to remember as were the 6040 bombs bird dropped that season in 3:51:01 fact his superiority was so great that several renowned NBA writers began to talk about the forward being a clear 3:51:08 candidate for the best player of all time Mike Cary was one of the first to use this argument in 1987 when published 3:51:15 an article that discussed the option in just 8 years in the NBA bird had rebuilt the Celtics fans could finally say that 3:51:22 their team was the best team in the league and the successful but long gone Bill Russell Arrow was finally missed 3:51:28 but now it was a thing of the past Larry was the Celtics representative in the modern NBA quote before bird came along 3:51:35 I used to think that no one would ever come close to Bill Russell he was a force at Center the best player of his 3:51:41 era he had everything you'd want the skills the desire the unselfishness but now having watched Larry for the past 3:51:48 seven years I think Bird's got the edge because he's the complete player I mean there's nothing his game lacks he's the 3:51:55 definition of the word perfectionist in his mind every shot should go in every pass should be on target there is no 3:52:01 margin for error at least not for him and red wasn't the only one who had already shown respect for Bird by 1987 3:52:08 Larry Bird was the absolute Master at all of this he was so phenomenal he would demand the ball at the end of the 3:52:14 game yeah and then he would go and tell the other team what the play was but 3:52:19 ultimately ultimately in basketball in music in life it comes down to decision- 3:52:26 making you spend your whole life Bill mastering the fundamentals and the game 3:52:32 is on the line you have to be able to make that on the spot decision and that comes from training in practice cuz the 3:52:40 games they become memorized exhibitions of Brilliance out there and that's why Larry Bird was phenomenal and I had the 3:52:47 privilege of being in the Boston Garden I mean Larry's the first to have mastered every skill there is to learn 3:52:53 what I admire about him is that he worked hard to get to his level and he'll continue to work hard to improve 3:52:58 I'm almost convinced that someday we're going to witness the perfect game from him someday everything will go right for 3:53:04 him there isn't any other player I've seen that I could possibly say that about Larry has the Muhammad Ali kind of 3:53:09 approach he gets to you and your mind before the fight begins he can psych you out with a couple of words or maybe even 3:53:16 a look the beauty of Larry Bird is he can back up anything he says he can do but in the face of all this praise 3:53:22 Bird's response was clear quote the truth is Bill was a better basketball player than I am and I ain't afraid to 3:53:28 admit it the way he dominated the game what can you say people don't know all that it takes to win a championship and 3:53:34 when you think of Bill Russell winning 11 championships in 13 years it's amazing it's something that will never 3:53:40 be done again maybe his secret was his deep respect for past Legends I mean bird understood that he was just the 3:53:47 next in the chain the next generational player who had led the league for a specific time but he had the potential 3:53:53 for much more than that and at times he didn't seem to care either however there was one thing bird was clear about that 3:54:00 respect did not exist for his contemporaries if you were unlucky enough to play in his era he was going 3:54:06 to come after you no rest without any respect because proving to you that he was the best was his number one priority 3:54:13 and the Bulls knew this better than anyone it was March 27th 1987 Larry Bird 3:54:19 was the player of the moment having an incredible season having been crowned again as the champion of the Three-Point 3:54:25 Contest for the second time in a row and contending once again for the MVP it would be his fourth in a row by the way 3:54:31 and the Bulls knew they were up against a true monster and then to make things even worse Doug Collins the Chicago head 3:54:38 coach went and offended Larry Bird now he didn't say anything to him didn't give him a dirty look no hint of 3:54:45 anything the reason he offended the best player in the world was because before the game he told Ben pette that he would 3:54:51 start the game against the Celtics and not only that he would be tasked with guarding Larry Bird now you might be 3:54:58 asking okay so what well there was something that number 33 just could not stand and that was a white player 3:55:05 defending him I mean he already knew that no one could stop him but the chances reduced to basically zero when a 3:55:12 white player was guarding him and it wouldn't take him long to let every coach know quote hey put a brother on me 3:55:17 what are you doing and that was the softest thing any head coach would hear during the game if he made the decision 3:55:23 to assign a white player to bird Doug Collins on this day got a little harsher talking to than that it was still the 3:55:29 first quarter but Chicago just couldn't stop bird and it didn't take long for the Bulls head coach to hear the reason 3:55:35 quote Ben poette are youing kidding me Ben poette played 8 minutes that night 3:55:41 he only stepped on the court in the first quarter Larry bird finished the game with 41 points seven rebounds and 3:55:47 seven assists the shooting splits of 59 100 and 100 against the Bulls of magic 3:55:54 Jordan who scored only 22 points the Celtics won by Five Points yes it's safe 3:55:59 to say Doug Collins learned a valuable lesson that day carried by bird who averaged 29.5 points 9.6 rebounds 8.4 3:56:08 assist per game on 55% shooting from the field 38% from three-point range and 90% 3:56:15 from the free throw line after the All-Star break the Celtics once again had the best record in the East with 59 3:56:21 wins and 23 losses they were ahead of Dominique wilkins's Hawks who had 57 3:56:27 wins and 23 losses because the Lakers of Magic Johnson James Worthy Byron Scott 3:56:32 and 39-year-old Kareem Abdul Jabar got 65 Boston had demonstrated its dominance 3:56:38 in every regular season but this time in Los Angeles The Vibes were different it was the a era of Showtime you know and 3:56:45 it was the era of showtime at its peak impossible passes transition play everything was like an orchestra 3:56:52 directed by the best conductor in the world Magic Johnson was the person who moved the puppets he was the creator of 3:56:58 the most spectacular offense anyone had ever seen But to get to play them the Celtics needed to win their conference 3:57:05 and again their first round opponent was an old acquaintance this time Michael Jordan was injury-free though the guard 3:57:11 had played all 82 games that season and had become such a phenomenon that many 3:57:16 people started to claim he was the greatest player in the world even better than Larry Bird and the Bulls thought 3:57:22 that this time they were ready for the challenge no Mike had not yet proven his ability to elevate Chicago to Contender 3:57:30 status his Supporting Cast was simply not enough but that season number 23 had averaged 37 points per game on 48% 3:57:38 shooting from the field a scoring average that no player had achieved in the NBA since Wilt Chamberlain in the 3:57:44 1962 season it also allowed Jordan to finish second in the MVP race despite 3:57:50 finishing the season with a record of 40 wins and 42 losses but MJ was a Phenom 3:57:55 like very few had ever seen in the history of the NBA but that only increased Larry's desire to destroy him 3:58:01 on the court the man crowned as the best basketball player in the world was not going to let a 23-year-old kid teach him 3:58:07 a lesson and game one was truly bizarre in 46 minutes of play bird only 3:58:13 attempted seven shots from the field but for the simple reason that his offensive contribution was centered on playmaking 3:58:20 Larry Bird had 17 points nine rebounds and 13 assists scoring four of his seven 3:58:26 attempts and MJ played a great night even after suffering a sprained middle finger in the practice before the game 3:58:32 scoring 35 points but the Celtics once again were just Superior still reporters 3:58:38 wanted to know what had happened to Larry to shoot so little at The Rim quote I had only five shots in the first 3:58:43 half and we were ahead by 19 points so why change your game plan in the second half they began to double and triple on 3:58:50 me I tried passing off more but we were doing a lot of standing around and that hurt us I guarantee you I'll take more 3:58:56 shots in the next game maybe that many in the opening quarter but bird as always would keep his promise in game 3:59:02 two this time he scored 29 Points which along with another seven rebounds and eight assists allowed him to be the 3:59:08 Celtics best player in the win Michael again went off to scoring 42 points in 3:59:13 45 minutes of play but the Bulls just failed to really compete for the game after being down by eight at halftime 3:59:20 and then almost the same thing happened in game three in which ber got 32 points 14 rebounds and six assists to put 3:59:27 Jordan's Bulls to the sword 15 of those 32 points by the way came in the last 3:59:32 quarter although Boston won by 11 points at some point in the game they were behind on the scoreboard partly due to 3:59:38 the loss of the very important Kevin mcale but Larry's game was so incredible that game MJ's effort was just 3:59:45 insufficient it was Boston's 16th consecutive victory over the Chicago Bulls this would be the last meeting 3:59:52 between Boston and Chicago in the playoffs during Bird's career they never met again and Larry's sixo playoff 3:59:58 record against MJ went down in history I mean we all know what happened next Jordan became not only the best player 4:00:04 of his generation but the greatest of all time his influence and greatness transcended basketball and made him one 4:00:11 of the most famous athletes in the history of the sport every kid wanted to be like Mike because he seemed better 4:00:17 than everyone else however Jordan had one rival he could not beat Larry Bird was that mythological being that a 4:00:24 demigod couldn't even be but in 1987 the Celtics forward wasn't thinking about that he could only think about the next 4:00:30 team he would have to face which was none other than the Milwaukee Bucks again and despite the health problems 4:00:37 Sydney montree had in the playoffs against Boston the year before this year he was available and his Supporting Cast 4:00:43 looked better better than ever Terry Cummings Jack Sigma John Lucas Ricky Pierce and Paul pressie were players who 4:00:50 complemented their star perfectly and of course the brilliant mind of Don Nelson was at the Helm of the team who had won 4:00:57 five rings as a Boston Celtics player but now hated them because he always lost to them now the series against 4:01:03 Milwaukee was remembered not only for the enormous talent that both teams had but also for the violence and 4:01:09 aggressiveness that could be seen in the series Milwaukee was just fed up with with Larry Bird they were sick and tired 4:01:15 of his generational Talent knocking them out of the playoffs twice in the Conference Finals in the last 3 years 4:01:22 and this time if the Celtics wanted to beat them they would face a lot more opposition but Larry Bird Man Larry 4:01:29 really came to play in game one bird put up a performance of 40 points 11 rebounds seven assists and four steals a 4:01:37 game that Kevin mccale who was already the second best player of the Celtics could still not play due to injury so 4:01:43 Larry had to put the entire team on his back even more so than he was used to monrie on the other hand had an off game 4:01:50 after scoring only three of his 11 shots from the field and the Celtics took a comfortable 13-point lead that they 4:01:56 practically held after the first quarter game two however was not as easy also at the Garden the Celtics were going to 4:02:02 face the bucks with the confidence of knowing that even without male they had proven to be better and with only 24 4:02:08 hours between the two games their success the night before was still fresh in their minds Larry shined again with a 4:02:15 30-point 10 rebound five assist performance but the help of Danny a who scored 30 points on 11 of 14 shooting 4:02:22 from the field was vital to Boston's late home win but now they had to travel till Milwaukee to continue showing their 4:02:29 dominance in game three a game that will undoubtedly be remembered for its toughness John Lucas scored 30 points 4:02:36 for the bucks who managed to win by two points even with Kevin mccale back however in the worst game of the series 4:02:43 for Larry who only had 18 points eight rebounds and eight assists something much more shocking happened with 24 4:02:49 seconds left in the game Kevin McKale fouled out in what was his first game back and then he started exchanging 4:02:56 words with a Milwaukee Bucks fan but that was just the beginning Kevin went up and grabbed him by the neck tie 4:03:02 before security had to swoop in and break it up quote it's a shame that people think that they PID 25 bucks and 4:03:08 can use that kind of language and sit back there and just curse and swear you're almost defenseless if someone did 4:03:14 that to somebody on the street they'd beat the crap out of him Larry was simply hurt that they had lost despite 4:03:20 forcing himself to play but luckily male wasn't suspended and he was ready to go 4:03:25 again for game four a game that ended in a thriller but also ended with the 4:03:30 Boston Celtics winning on the road Larry Bird just went off that night scoring his second 40-point game in the series 4:03:38 with 42 points seven rebounds and eight assists with splits of 576 and 87 the 4:03:45 Bucks defense couldn't come close to stopping an efficiency that looked like something out of a video game after two 4:03:51 overtime Boston prevailed to make it 3-1 in the series Milwaukee now had to win 4:03:56 game five at the Garden to survive a mission that was practically impossible 4:04:01 but thanks to a stellar Sydney monrie they did it bird once again displayed his offensive Arsenal scoring 26 points 4:04:08 and dishing out 12 assists but the Bucks offense except for Terry Cummings was imper IAL that night scoring 129 points 4:04:16 with no overtime and now the Bucks would play game six at home eager to force a 4:04:22 game seven that could allow them to finally eliminate their nemesis from the last few seasons in addition to that the 4:04:28 Celtics had lost Robert Parish to an injury although bird mcale Dennis Johnson and Danny a all scored at least 4:04:34 21 points the lack of depth of a roster depleted by injuries could not pull the 4:04:40 game out even more so considering that monrie had finally warmed up up in the series after some disappointing 4:04:46 performances in the first few games Milwaukee had done the impossible they were down three games to one in the 4:04:52 series and had come back to even it up and although winning at the Garden again seemed like a pretty big lift the 4:04:58 momentum was in their favor it was the biggest scenario possible a game seven that would decide which team would 4:05:05 advance to the Eastern Conference Finals an extremely tough game in which mcale 4:05:10 and Parish who this time was able to play combined for 20 21 offensive rebounds undoubtedly the key to the 4:05:17 Celtics Victory but they wouldn't have been able to achieve their goal without Larry bir let's be honest who with a 4:05:23 game of 31 points 10 rebounds eight assists two Steals and two blocks LED 4:05:28 Boston to the promised land it was the fourth time in a row that they qualified for the Conference Finals and their 4:05:34 Rivals would be none other than the Detroit Pistons now Larry already knew what it was like to beat the Pistons he 4:05:40 had done it in 1985 the year in which they reached the finals and then lost to the Lakers but Detroit had improved 4:05:47 their roster a lot in the last two seasons the bad boys were a team that was threatening to overtake the Celtics 4:05:54 and finally stop their Relentless dominance in the east and their defense was ready to make things very difficult 4:06:00 for Larry Bird and that was the reason why bird had a poor game one in terms of efficiency the forwards scored 18 points 4:06:07 on seven of 22 shooting from the field along with six turnovers due to the 4:06:13 intense of a team whose defensive mentality was Unreal but it didn't matter because Larry found other ways to 4:06:19 contribute he got 16 rebounds and 11 assists which allowed the Celtics to 4:06:24 pull out a win then in game two bird showed the Pistons defense that he had no Rivals with 31 points nine rebounds 4:06:32 and 12 assists Larry absolutely dominated the game from start to finish 4:06:37 and despite Isaiah Thomas' 36 points and 10 assists the Celtics outplayed the 4:06:42 Pistons and game to it looked like this year was going to be the same as every year but not so fast the Piston players 4:06:49 had learned a lot and their fighting Spirit prevented them from just giving up and so the Pistons destroyed the 4:06:55 Celtics at the Pontiac silver dome in game three Adrien Dantley put on a spectacular performance in which he 4:07:02 scored 25 points on 16 shots and Thomas Dumars and lambier followed with quality 4:07:08 performances too not only that but Bill did what every player wanted to do take 4:07:13 bird out of the game in the fourth quarter when the outcome seemed no longer in doubt a bench clearing brawl 4:07:20 broke out leading to the ejection of Larry Bird and Bill lambir the fight left bird with a deep scratch on his 4:07:26 neck Larry was absolutely fuming quote that kind of stuff doesn't intimidate me 4:07:32 it gets to the point where you have to protect yourself what I did out there was not good for the game but I've got 4:07:37 to do what I've got to do everybody's got their opinion of what happened just watch the film I think I was in the 4:07:43 right and now Boston really wanted to react and get a win in game four but instead Detroit on the night of May 24th 4:07:50 1987 had one of the best offensive games in NBA history not only did they beat 4:07:55 the Celtics by 26 points but they also scored 145 points Thomas Dantley lamb 4:08:03 beer and Vinnie Johnson combined to score 99 points between them while completely shutting down the Celtics 4:08:09 offense in which bird could barely get a look Boston had now hit a wall they had never thought they would encounter in 4:08:16 their own conference and they really needed to bounce back during game five the future didn't look so good with 17 4:08:23 seconds left the Celtics were down a point and of course they gave the ball to the best player in the world from the 4:08:28 left wing bird attempted a drive to the basket with the goal of finishing at The Rim or drawing a foul to put the Celtics 4:08:35 ahead but a rookie from Detroit who was playing the end of the game one Dennis Rodman blocked bird in his attempt to 4:08:42 score not only that but the ball bounced off Larry before going out of bounds the Garden Fell almost silent they needed a 4:08:49 miracle good thing they had Larry Bird on their team the smartest player on the court did the unimaginable with 5 4:08:56 seconds left on the clock Larry stole the inbound pass and managed to find Dennis Johnson cut into the hoop a 4:09:02 legendary play a display of determination from a player who couldn't accept his mistake if bird had not 4:09:08 stolen that ball the Celtics would have had to play an elimination game away from home against a team that had the 4:09:14 measure of them and had just beaten them in the last three games but that was not the case that steal went down in history 4:09:21 as one of the most important moments of Larry Bird's career not only that but Larry put up 35 points got 12 rebounds 4:09:28 and nine assists years later Dennis Rodman talked about some of the things Birds said to him in that series both 4:09:35 players hated each other from the day they met and it wasn't too hard for any rookie to dislike Larry Bird considering 4:09:41 number 33 never shut his mouth while playing quote so I'm guarding him and every time I turn my head he's over 4:09:47 there at the three-point line saying I'm over here Rook I have to go run over there like a dumbass and try to contest 4:09:53 that three the job for the Celtics though wasn't done yet Detroit was 4:09:58 always a tough crowd Mel knew that firsthand after the incident so to win game six they were going to need the 4:10:05 best version of bird the good news that's exactly what they got after scoring 36 the night before bird came 4:10:12 back to score 35 points on 70% shooting the bad news it wasn't enough despite 4:10:18 the incredible performance of bird and also male the Pistons got another win 4:10:24 thanks to a spectacular game from Vinnie Johnson Off the Bench the Pistons were getting more and more Furious and in 4:10:31 game six they showed their will to win Detroit wanted to become the best team in the East and now they were 48 minutes 4:10:38 away from doing it the two favorite words of any NBA player game seven a game that is not for the weak at heart 4:10:45 and the Garden in big games hosted a fan base that would only be happy with a ring bird not only had to play a great 4:10:52 game to keep the Celtics chances alive but even then victory was not guaranteed that was the level of these Pistons the 4:10:58 truth is that the game was actually a duel between Larry and Joe Dumars the Detroit guard scored 35 points in one of 4:11:05 the most important games of his career if not the most important but Larry was playing for his legacy that night he had 4:11:12 a reput to uphold and he proved it from the first minute in a vital game to maintain his Legend bird signed a 4:11:19 performance of 37 points nine rebounds and nine assists with splits of 54 50 4:11:25 and 100% a performance so superb that the Pistons players just ended up 4:11:31 completely Furious their anger a projection of the simple fact that they had done everything they could to no 4:11:37 avail a team that could have beaten anyone except number 33 and they made 4:11:42 their frustrations clear in the press that was actually the beginning of a nice Feud quote he's not God he ain't 4:11:49 the best player in the NBA not to me he's white that's the reason he gets the MVP award nobody gives Magic Johnson 4:11:56 credit he deserved it last year too I don't care go ahead and tell him you'll put in the paper 4:12:02 anyway Larry a very very good basketball player I think he's an exceptional 4:12:09 talent but I'd have to agree with robman if he was black he'd be just another good guy the 4:12:17 frustration was palpable but bird didn't answer through reporters he knew the response to those statements would come 4:12:24 but it would be more personalized you know it would be on the hardwood it would be in the middle of a play where 4:12:29 only they could hear what he was going to tell them but now it was time to focus on the finals the Celtics opponent 4:12:35 the best possible available Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers now this time around things were a little bit 4:12:42 different the Celtic were used to having the best record in the NBA with seasons 4:12:47 in which they always exceeded 60 wins which also always assured them homecourt advantage in the finals but not this 4:12:54 year James Worthy had taken another step forward and the showtime Lakers were in their Prime and during those finals the 4:13:01 Boston Celtics would have to start playing away from home add to that over the last 12 months the Celtics had lost 4:13:07 four straight games at The Forum including regular season and playoffs and not only that that the Lakers had 4:13:13 reached the finals losing only one game to the Golden State Warriors in the conference semi-finals they came in with 4:13:19 a record of 12 wins and one lonely loss in game one they showed the enormous 4:13:25 confidence they had in themselves Kareem was already 39 years old and his performance was starting to decline 4:13:32 slightly but the Lakers had James Worthy and Byron Scott to pick up the slack and 4:13:37 of course Magic Johnson who finally in 1987 had won his first regular season 4:13:43 MVP Boston not only had to face what at the time was the best team in the league but also their Supporting Cast was not 4:13:50 at its best and that's why despite Bird's 32 points s rebounds and six assists in an amazingly efficient game 4:13:57 one the Lakers overcame the Boston Celtics in which they won by 13 points 4:14:03 it was a similar story that would play out in game two where the Celtics defense once again looked irrelevant 4:14:09 compared to the offensive power of Showtime five Lakers players scored at least 20 points including Magic Johnson 4:14:15 who also had 20 assists this by the way was only the second game in finals 4:14:20 history in which a player reached that number of assists the first time it happened magic himself in the 1984 4:14:26 finals which they lost to the Celtics now the 1987 finals format was 232 so 4:14:33 the Celtics after going down zero games to two not only had to win their next three home games they would also have to 4:14:39 steal one of the two games in Los Angeles to win a ring which at this point seemed pretty difficult but Boston 4:14:46 had Larry Bird and the French Lick kid once again had one of his usual performances posting 30 points 12 4:14:53 rebounds and four assists but there were several Celtics players who were key to this Victory Dennis Johnson who scored 4:15:00 26 Greg kite who despite not being part of the team's real rotation provided the 4:15:05 spark Off the Bench and Kevin mccale who locked down James Worthy who only had 13 4:15:10 points and three rebounds the Celtics survived one more day thanks to this huge Collective effort and in game four 4:15:17 Boston would again need the contribution of several players besides Larry that night bird did not play his best game I 4:15:24 mean he had 21 points 10 rebounds and seven assists but those numbers were not enough for a player of his talent and 4:15:31 Legacy and although the rest of the Celtics players played a pretty good game Bird's nightmare came true that 4:15:36 night with a hook shot that grazed the fingers of both male and Parish Magic Johnson scored a basket that put the 4:15:43 Lakers in front with 2 seconds left in the game 107 to 106 and bird had a 4:15:48 chance to score in the last second and just missed with the series at 3-1 the Celtics star was devastated but this 4:15:55 wasn't a time for regrets or despair the Celtics had to keep on fighting if they wanted their fourth championship in the 4:16:02 bird era quote if they want to celebrate let's not let them do it on the parket with an incredible starting five 4:16:08 performance the Celtics punched their ticket back to Los Angeles all Five Boston starters scored at least 21 4:16:15 points and not even the showtime Lakers could do anything to stop this offensive machine that was doing everything right 4:16:21 that night with a 3-2 series score now Boston had to win both games away from home something that seemed impossible 4:16:29 and it was the Lakers didn't wait nor did they feel any pressure June 14th 4:16:34 1987 in Inglewood the Celtic Stout defense just could not compensate for 4:16:39 the offensive slump they encountered in that hostile environment Kareem and Magic Johnson led the Lakers 4:16:45 to a victory that marked another setback in the career of one of the best players of the moment bird had a historic season 4:16:53 probably even the best of his career but it had been all for nothing because his eternal rival had built the best offense 4:17:00 in the history of the city of Los Angeles but it was also during that season that both players realized a 4:17:05 great truth Larry and Magic were much more alike than they realized and they realized it thanks to converse the two 4:17:12 stars were Arch enemies on and off the court and they both knew it they didn't even shake hands at the end of the games 4:17:18 because they simply hated each other's guts but the sneaker brand which sponsored them both came up with a 4:17:24 revolutionary idea in 1987 Converse wanted to make an ad in the house that 4:17:29 Larry Bird had given to his mother in which the two stars would appear that property which had a basketball court in 4:17:36 the backyard was the perfect setting in the early beginning we hated each other you know we had to because they beat us 4:17:42 neither guy was sold on the idea especially bird who had just lost to Magic in the finals a few weeks earlier 4:17:48 but the brand insisted that it happened and when the good weather arrived so did the day of filming now as you can 4:17:54 imagine this situation was pretty uncomfortable silence filled the air and the two stars practically avoided eye 4:18:01 contact the entire time but realizing that they would have to be together for several hours Larry and Magic almost 10 4:18:08 years after meeting for the first time began to speak to each other we sat down next to each other I was your something 4:18:15 oh it's going good how was yours it's going great said man this a nice spread 4:18:21 you got and he's ask me is this where you play I said yeah let's play here if it's 4:18:26 not windy if it's raining or windy I go to the gym but this is where I do all my work I see that tractor you work on the 4:18:33 on the tractor said man I work on this tractor every day Larry Bird work on a tractor he said 4:18:40 yeah and bird and Magic began walking around together around the backyard the film crew watched as the tent situation 4:18:47 became more and more pleasant their conversation was even beginning to show some signs of laughter and even giggling 4:18:54 and that's when the crew said it was time for a lunch break and his magic went to his trailer bird called out to 4:18:59 him then they said okay break it's lunch break time I was going to my trailer he said 4:19:06 no my mother has prepared lunch for us up at the house and the two went over there together to have lunch magic said 4:19:13 Bird's mother was a sweetheart that she reminded him of his own his mother was so nice making sure I had enough to eat 4:19:21 I just saw my mother and the two most polarizing players of the decade continued to talk about things that only 4:19:28 the two of them could talk about we went up to the house and we sat down there and we talked and my mom my brothers 4:19:34 thought the world of him that's when they realized they were practically equals I mean away from the spotlight away from the screaming fans who wanted 4:19:41 to see blood every time they met on the court magic and bird were two great human beings in Magic's own words I was 4:19:48 just so happy to finally be iring with him and it was true bird only knew magic 4:19:53 he only knew that competitive version of the one player who was getting in the way of his legacy but that day he met 4:19:59 the human being behind it and Larry loved him bird realized that the Lakers guard was just a great person and on a 4:20:05 random afternoon in the summer of 1987 one of the most legendary feuds in sports history became the beginning of a 4:20:12 great Friendship Magic Johnson had now become one of the few players bird actually respected but that respect 4:20:19 didn't exist for the other 99% of the players in the league so all Larry wanted was to redeem himself for what 4:20:26 had happened a few months earlier he badly wanted to win the 1988 Championship no matter what and it 4:20:32 didn't take long for him to prove how bad in the second game of that 1987 1988 4:20:37 season Larry had another one of his bird moments the Celtics were visiting Washington a team that would finish in 4:20:43 the bottom half of the East but that night they gave it their all to beat Boston it was a real Thriller and Bird 4:20:49 was having what would be one of his best games of the Season Larry not only had 47 points eight rebounds and seven 4:20:56 assists on 66% shooting he also starred in the moment of the game there was 4:21:01 something that didn't sit well with him though when he was about to shoot the shot to win the game his coach Casey 4:21:07 Jones decided to call a timeout to prepare the play quote Larry made the last basket but I had called a timeout 4:21:14 he came to the bench kind of upset and said after the timeout I'm going to go shoot from the same spot and I'm going to put it in again and it was because he 4:21:21 had already told the Washington players that he was going to make the last basket and he was going to take the ball 4:21:27 it's not hard to imagine what happened next bird came back to fulfill his promise and the Celtics won the game 4:21:33 after overtime Larry played 53 minutes out of a possible 53 that night even 4:21:38 with his back hurting more and more every day just 4 days later the Celtics face the Indiana Pacers a team that had 4:21:45 always held a special place in Larry's heart but that night they were simply his rival and a team that too was going 4:21:52 through a rough patch but just a few months earlier the Pacers made a decision that would change the future of 4:21:57 the franchise with the 11th pick in the first round of the 1987 draft Indiana 4:22:02 drafted Reggie Miller and it is well known that Reggie was an unfiltered type of player he was a lot like Larry he was 4:22:09 able to unsettle anyone just by using his words words and then he was good enough to follow through on what he said 4:22:15 but in the ocean that was the NBA there was always going to be a bigger fish and in the'80s there was no bigger fish than 4:22:22 Larry Bird the Celtics were winning comfortably all game long and Reggie wanted his share of the Limelight in his 4:22:29 mind he was different he had been able to get on everyone's nerves in high school and college and he thought he 4:22:35 could do the same with Larry Bird so before bird hit some free throws he decided to tell Larry what he thought of 4:22:40 him Bird's response well wasn't pleasant quote Rook I'm the best can shooter in 4:22:46 the league in the league understand and you're up here trying to tell me can something Reggie Miller didn't say 4:22:52 another word to him the entire game because he learned a valuable lesson don't poke the bear a lesson Spike Lee 4:22:59 would also learn years later but that night Reggie made the mistake of turning on the best player in the world and bird 4:23:05 did not forgive the Celtics won by 14 points and bird put up 42 20 rebounds 4:23:12 five assists three Steals and two blocks with 63 100 and 100 splits but Larry 4:23:18 still had some unfinished business to settle before the end of that regular season yes birds still remembered Dennis 4:23:24 Rodman's Infamous statements after eliminating them during last year's playoffs in that regular season Larry 4:23:30 made it a point to torch the Pistons player every chance he got and as always whatever Larry set his mind to it was 4:23:37 going to come true January 13th 1988 the Celtics would host the Pistons at the 4:23:43 Garden and like always bird showed what he was capable of but that night he didn't just score he set up his 4:23:49 teammates to be the best versions of themselves with 13 assists and 28 points the forward did whatever he wanted in 4:23:56 that matchup against the direct rival but the worst part of this was not his ability to do whatever he wanted with 4:24:02 Rodman on virtually every play of the game and it was not the fact that the Celtics won the game by 38 points 4:24:08 everyone could see that the most humiliating stuff was what the camera didn't catch quote I would be all over 4:24:14 him trying to deny him the ball and all Larry was doing was yelling at his teammates I'm open hurry up before they 4:24:21 notice nobody's guarding me quote coach you better get this guy out and send in somebody who's going to D me up because 4:24:27 it's too easy when I'm wide open like this get someone on me or I'm going to go for 60 what Larry did that night 4:24:35 could be considered bullying and Rodman who despite being in his sophomore year was already one of the best defenders in 4:24:41 the NBA learned who bird really was just in case he still had any doubts and from 4:24:47 then on he never said anything bad about him in public ever again well until 30 4:24:52 years later during that regular season though bird had one of his most iconic moments of his entire career Larry had 4:24:59 already been twice champion of the Three-Point Contest in the first two editions that have been held in 1986 and 4:25:04 1987 but bird wanted to basically monopolize the contest and become the first and last winner while he was still 4:25:11 active in 1988 the story would be no different I walked in the locker room and the guys were sitting there you know 4:25:17 they're nervous now you you got to understand a lot of these guys came off the bed right then all of a sudden 4:25:24 they're going to go out there in front of 20,000 people 40 sets of eyes on them shooting the basketball right that's got 4:25:31 to be intimidating for me I like that because I knew the pressure was on them more than me uh I mean I just looked 4:25:37 there I was really just teasing I looked around and everybody was looking at me I go who's coming in second 4:25:43 and nobody said a word I thought maybe thought I was joking but maybe they thought I was serious but it's really a joke well then I had to go out and win 4:25:51 rumor has that the other participants in the contests including Dale Ellis were not amused by the comment quote all the 4:25:58 guys in the locker room I thought had a chance to win that contest but Larry walks in and says which one of you guys 4:26:03 is playing for second I didn't quite like it I didn't like what he said so I wanted to really embarrass him but of 4:26:09 course what happened that night was historic Larry had to score the last shot to win or else he would lose his 4:26:16 unbeaten record in a contest that was tailor made for him after the last shot while the ball was still in the air bird 4:26:22 began to celebrate once again he had fulfilled his promise it was a historic moment that made Larry a household name 4:26:29 among even the most casual fans no one doubted his legacy now if Magic Johnson 4:26:34 had learned to respect his game and his personality everyone could but one thing was certain the Celtics were losing some 4:26:40 steam the 60 win seasons were a thing of the past as the core of the team was getting older Larry was 31 mcale was 30 4:26:48 a was 28 and two key pieces of the team Dennis Johnson Robert Parish were 4:26:53 reaching the Twilight of their careers being 33 and 34 years old respectively so the Celtics knew that to win the ring 4:27:00 they would have to deliver a legendary performance and Boston's firstr opponents this time were not old 4:27:07 acquaintances the mecca of basketball New York City yeah sure for some fans is 4:27:12 Indiana but for a lot of people it's New York New Yorkers consider themselves The Architects of a sport in which they had 4:27:18 long been unsuccessful but in 1988 the story was different because the New York 4:27:24 Knicks finally had found a player to build on Patrick Ying was a center that all the fans had dreamed of a player who 4:27:31 not only became Rookie of the Year in 1986 but also all NBA second team and 4:27:36 all defensive second team in 1988 a two-way player who had made a historic impact in a very short time and now the 4:27:44 Celtics had to prove they were capable of stopping him but even though the Celtics front Court was aging it still 4:27:50 had tremendous defensive capabilities Patrick euwing scored only 16 points that night a figure that was little more 4:27:56 than half of Bird's 29 who also got five rebounds and eight assists Boston made 4:28:02 the Knicks crash headlong into reality with a 20po difference Victory the Knicks got destroyed in game one a 4:28:09 similar situation to game two in which Boston beat beat New York again at home in a game which this time bird doubled 4:28:16 the nickar score not that Ying played a terrible game he had 18 points 10 rebounds five assists six Steals and 4:28:23 three blocks the center was also a menace on defense but the Celtics were even more Unstoppable shooting 63% from 4:28:30 the field 50% on three-pointers and a spectacular 11 of 11 on free throws bird 4:28:36 scored 36 points that night to put the Celtics one game away from reaching the conference semi-finals quote there is no 4:28:43 one thing that will stop Boston they are too experienced a team to stop with any one thing if you try to beat them in a 4:28:50 half court or pressing game they're going to kill you I think you have to keep changing defenses against them and 4:28:55 try to confuse them however the Knicks were not going to give up that easily Larry played well again in game three 4:29:02 although his efficiency wasn't the best but to the 20 points he scored that night we also must add the eight 4:29:08 rebounds 12 assists and five steals however the D of Patrick euwing and 4:29:13 Johnny Newman combined to score 65 points with almost 60% shooting from the field that night Boston's defense 4:29:21 succumbed in a Madison Square Garden who were thirsty to see their team compete 4:29:26 but you know how the saying goes He who laughs last laughs best with another performance of 28 points six rebounds 4:29:33 and six assists and with 501100 splits Larry closed the series in 4:29:39 Madison a heroic performance away from home that showed the so-called basketball Mecca fans why they couldn't 4:29:45 beat an iconic player in the Moment of Truth the playoffs the Knicks had not yet suffered from Larry Bird because 4:29:52 they had not had the opportunity yet but as soon as they did Larry showed who was the best player of his Generation Now 4:29:59 Boston had to face an old enemy in the second round Dominique wilkins's Atlanta Hawks thought they were ready to make a 4:30:05 Deep Run in the playoffs the Celtics though started the series in style with a game one win by nine points and bird 4:30:12 only got one minute of rest that night but for good reason with his performance of 38 points five rebounds eight assist 4:30:20 and three Steals on 6060 83 splits he was too busy to go to the bench that 4:30:25 night the Hawks had no choice but to figure out how to beat Larry because the guy who was still the best player in the 4:30:31 world decided he wasn't going to give him a minute of rest so for that reason the team led by Mike Ferell decided to 4:30:37 make a special defense for Larry Bird his touches dropped drastically in game two in which he was only able to score 4:30:44 16 points on 14 shots from the field but the gravity and attention bird generated 4:30:50 allowed Kevin mccale and Dennis Johnson to shine on that may night in 1988 the 4:30:56 Celtics won by 11 points thanks to great defense that held the Hawks to 42% shooting from the field and 20% on 4:31:03 three-pointers and Boston increased its series lead to 20 the job seemed done 4:31:09 but it was time to travel to Atlanta to prove it the Hawks of course didn't want to give up and fella once again 4:31:16 redesigned his defensive systems to stop Larry Bird and sure enough it worked 4:31:21 because Larry had a bad game I mean efficiency wise still he managed to get 22 points nine rebounds eight assists 4:31:28 three Steals and two blocks but the Celtics shot less than 39% from the field while the duo of Kevin Willis and 4:31:35 Dominique Wilkins combined to score 48 Points Atlanta didn't get Boston a 4:31:40 chance that night but bird was learning to find the holes in a defensive system whose sole mission was to stop him so in 4:31:47 game four he showed what he had learned that night birds scored 30 points with great efficiency which on any other 4:31:53 night would have been enough to win but the Hawks had one of the best players in the league on their roster Dominic 4:31:59 Wilkins was no longer the kid Bird trash talked in his rookie year he was now 28 4:32:04 years old and had just finished sixth in the 1988 MVP race and to prove his 4:32:10 abilities Wilkins led the to a victory in game four as well against his 40 4:32:15 points the Celtics defense could do nothing Boston had squandered its two lead really fast the alarm Bells started 4:32:23 going off in game five bird got another near triple double which for him was just another day at the office 22 points 4:32:30 nine rebounds eight assists however as I said before his Supporting Cast was no 4:32:35 longer as strong as it once was Willis Wilkins and Doc Rivers pulled off one of the upsets of the Year by winning game 4:32:42 five at Boston Garden by eight points and after winning the last quarter 43 to 4:32:47 27 the Celtics were now in a pretty tough spot after squandering a lead not only in the game but in the series and 4:32:54 now they were forced to win away from home to survive but their fans could breathe easy because they did it bird 4:33:01 with 23 and 11 mcale with 26-10 and Danny a with a spectacular game in which 4:33:06 he scored 22 points and got 14 assists lowered the expectations of the Hawks who played with a two-man offense that 4:33:13 night of the teams 100 points 67 or 2/3 were scored by rivers and Wilkins alone 4:33:19 but it just wasn't enough the series would be decided in Boston in game seven Kevin mcale was repeating the same 4:33:25 statement during the whole series quote Larry Bird just won't let you lose Boston knew that on special occasions 4:33:32 the forward was going to shine although in that game seven weirdly it wasn't happening Larry was having a quiet game 4:33:39 in fact until the last 10 minutes of the last quarter bird had only scored six shots from the field that's unheard of 4:33:46 but it was right at the moment when he scored a clutch 16t turnaround jumper that gave him back all the confidence he 4:33:52 needed it was also then when the best version of Larry came to the four he couldn't stop scoring again and again 4:34:00 and again but for every basket bird scored Wilkins or some other Hawk would match it quote it was like two 4:34:06 gunfighters standing blink to Blink seeing which one would draw first and which one would drop first Dominique 4:34:12 would make one and then Larry would make one and so it went the one shot of Larry's that really stands out was when 4:34:17 he popped up in the middle of two guys like a weel I thought he was going to get blocked but he just popped up and 4:34:22 went down it was like one of those crank toys and Larry that night received praise from a man who had done his best 4:34:28 to see him fail Brendan Sur one of Mike frell's defensive assistants who had set up the Hawks defense to stop bird had 4:34:36 this to say after the game quote he reads screens better than any player in the game today and that makes makes him 4:34:42 virtually Unstoppable neck and Cliff played him as well as anyone could it wasn't as though he was scoring with no 4:34:48 one around him he was making tough shots always with somebody's hand in his face and what makes it tougher is when you 4:34:55 double and triple team him he finds the open man so well the Celtics survived the first three quarters thanks to male 4:35:01 and won the last quarter thanks to bird and they achieved their goal to make it to the Conference Finals alive however 4:35:08 they are waiting for them were the Detroit Pistons a team with which there were many open wounds Rodman Isaiah and 4:35:16 Company wanted to avenge what had happened a year earlier in Detroit was always a challenge for Larry the team 4:35:22 had already invented the Jordan rules to stop MJ and now they wanted to do the same to Larry that's why in that series 4:35:29 bird had a hard time scoring much more than he had ever had before that was probably the toughest playoff series of 4:35:35 his career actually there were a lot of eyes on him and Chuck Daly did not hesitate to send multiple bodies every 4:35:42 time he had the ball but unlike in the past this time Larry's teammates were not quite up to the task bird tried 4:35:49 everything he could to make up for his lack of scoring in game one he had 20 points nine rebounds eight assists two 4:35:55 Steals and two blocks but the Pistons had put together a team that was capable of beating anyone and stole game one 4:36:01 from the garden by eight points however in game two Larry and Company managed to win in overtime in that Thriller by the 4:36:09 way bird had 18 points 12 rebounds eight assists two Steals and two blocks but if it had been that hard to pull out a win 4:36:15 playing at home God only knew how hard it would be to win in a city that hated the Celtics and especially hated Larry 4:36:22 Bird and so the first game in Detroit was not the best for Boston they lost by 4:36:27 Four Points despite another near triple double from bird with 18 12 and 8 but 4:36:33 Detroit's defense was Simply Sublime that night Boston scored only 94 points 4:36:39 although that would be kind of the tone for the rest of the series Boston did manage to win game four in 4:36:44 one of the lowest scoring games of the whole season in which the final score was 79 to 78 and in the first quarter 4:36:51 both teams combined to score 26 points total and the Celtics bench could only score one point in the 48 minutes but 4:36:59 with birds 20 who was Boston's leading scorer of course they got out of the jam so game five was vital now if Boston won 4:37:06 at home they would be inches from another finals appearance and Larry knew this one was going to be be an absolute 4:37:12 battle and so he put on his overalls and went to work the game went to overtime 4:37:17 despite the combined score of the two teams not even reaching 200 points but bird had a masterful performance scoring 4:37:24 27 points grabbing 17 rebounds dishing four assists and getting five steals 4:37:30 however Isaiah Thomas scored 35 and the Pistons won game five and then after 4:37:35 this in game six Larry just did not have the game he needed to the Celtics Spirits were low and that was evid by 4:37:41 their 37% shooting from the field but his efficiency just wasn't up to standard neither was Danny anges who 4:37:48 went one for 11 shooting after going zero for six the night before and all these factors together led to Boston's 4:37:55 defeat it was going to be Detroit going to the finals this year a team that would start building their Dynasty now 4:38:01 after Boston's fall from the throne but Larry he wasn't satisfied with what happened obviously to the point that his 4:38:08 friendship with Magic Johnson had made him indirectly support the Lakers who had won the Western Conference in the 4:38:14 finals quote if the Pistons are allowed to hold grab and push and hold James Worthy like they held me it'll be the 4:38:20 Pistons advantage on the other hand if the Lakers get out and run I can't see it being much of a series however Larry 4:38:27 would have to watch those games from home as he prepared for the upcoming season a season that would be one to 4:38:33 forget at the beginning of the 1988 89 season the Celtics knew they were fighting the passing of time they're 4:38:39 raised to win a ring again was against the clock because all the players who had dominated during the green Dynasty 4:38:46 era were reaching the Twilight of their careers so Jan vul the GM who had succeeded hour back in 1985 began trying 4:38:53 to find younger talent that would allow the Celtics to enter a transition phase and one of the rookies he trusted with 4:38:59 the 24th pick in the 1988 draft was Brian Shaw not that the California guard 4:39:04 was going to be a franchise altering player but he did enjoy a long NBA career however in one of his first 4:39:10 practices he received a lesson he would remember for the rest of his life it was only logical but being from California 4:39:16 Shaw had always hated the Celtics he had spent his teenage years watching magic shine and he believed in Showtime Theory 4:39:24 as much as anyone I was like man they letting this white boy who who can't jump who's not athletic killed him like 4:39:32 that he ain't that damn good this was common among rookies and in a way it was kind of funny no NBA player would ever 4:39:38 think of Larry that way because they had experienced what it was like to play him they knew he was him that coupled with 4:39:45 the fact that cameras didn't really pick up all the trash talk Made Simple rookies think bird wasn't that good so 4:39:51 Larry as he had done throughout the years went to work educating the Youth of the NBA and I remember one of the 4:39:57 first practices um he told me and Reggie Lewis he said I want to play you guys one on two up to up to seven right and 4:40:04 so like come on man he's like the only catch is I get the ball first so me and 4:40:10 Reggie looking at each other we like yeah all right man whatever so the next thing you know it's 6 nothing yeah right 4:40:16 we ain't even touched the ball yet it took Brian Shaw 3 minutes to understand something he hadn't been able to 4:40:22 understand his whole life during high school during his college days and then suddenly Shaw realized that bird was Cut 4:40:29 From a Different Cloth and he also realized that with him no matter what happened you could never count the 4:40:34 Celtics out so finally the regular season begins but something isn't quite right I mean Larry's being his usual 4:40:40 self every night he's scoring rebounding assisting and showing his defensive versatility as he led Boston to become 4:40:47 their best but for some reason the Celtics just could not get going maybe the reason was simpler than everyone 4:40:53 thought though during that off season eight-time NBA champion as a player and two-time NBA champion as a coach Casey 4:41:00 Jones had left and he had been replaced by Jimmy Rogers a coach who had only 4:41:05 head coaching experience at North Dakota however he did know the culture as he had served as an assistant coach with 4:41:11 the Celtics since Larry Bird's rookie year but the Celtics began the season with a 1 in4 record something unheard of 4:41:19 for a franchise that had always dominated the conference although that was the least of their problems it was 4:41:25 November 15th 1988 Boston traveled to Miami for the first time in its history 4:41:30 to face the new team that the NBA had included after its expansion of course with the only goal of stopping that 4:41:37 terrible streak of four consecutive losses that had not been seen in almost all of Bird's career but in the second 4:41:43 half Larry received a pass in transition that allowed him to score an easy layup a completely normal basket that he had 4:41:50 scored hundreds of times over the last 10 years but when he landed bird felt a 4:41:55 unique sensation even he didn't know what had actually happened to him it wasn't a push or a hard hit or anything 4:42:01 but the gradual deterioration of his Achilles tendons caused a devastating injury when he least expected it and now 4:42:08 Larry he was used to playing with pain injured just because of his enormous ambition to win but that night he felt 4:42:14 he just couldn't do it bird needed surgery on both Achilles tendons that 4:42:20 easy layup he got in his first game against the Miami Heat was his last of the season and without him the Celtics 4:42:26 became a completely mediocre team despite having male Parish Dennis Johnson Reggie Lewis who was the 4:42:33 positive surprise of the Season Boston only managed to survive above 50% in 4:42:38 wins they finished the season 42 and 4 which forced them to face a Detroit Pistons team that went on to sweep them 4:42:45 in the first round doctors believed that bird would be out only for 3 months but his recovery was much slower and they 4:42:52 were hoping for a miracle they were hoping he would be able to play in the 1989 playoffs but that was a miracle 4:42:58 that just didn't happen the injury took much longer to heal because of Larry's own mistreatment of his body continually 4:43:05 exceeding a very high pain threshold bird had suffered dozens of injuries during his career some of them serious 4:43:11 not to mention the injury he sustained after the draft which changed his career and his whole shooting style forever but 4:43:17 despite all that Larry had only missed 27 games in nine Seasons during that 4:43:22 1988 89 season though he missed 79 the Celtics were now in a pretty big dilemma 4:43:28 the clock was still ticking against him Parish was 36 Dennis Johnson was 35 4:43:34 Kevin mccale was 32 and Larry Bird was 33 and returning from the most serious 4:43:39 injury of his career but man man agement wanted his last NBA stint to be as successful as possible for the franchise 4:43:46 that had always trusted him so Jan vul decided to run it back bird had finally enjoyed a long rest even if it had been 4:43:53 involuntary but people still didn't trust that he was going to be back to his best to his credit he gets up and 4:43:58 fights through it and goes out there and plays but he is not a healthy person right now I've never met an athlete that 4:44:06 would play with pain the way he does and the an athlete that's so highly 4:44:11 self-motivated as Larry Bird medicine and surgery were not as advanced as they are today back in 1990 and many athletes 4:44:18 who suffered serious injuries at that age just lost their Competitive Edge and their place in the league but if there 4:44:24 was anyone capable of fighting through adversity it was Larry Bird and of course it didn't take him long to dispel 4:44:31 all the doubts in his first game back bird put up 32 points eight rebounds and 4:44:36 four assists in a performance with 59% shooting from the field in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks the next game in 4:44:43 back-to-back wins Larry had 279 and six against Michael Jordan's Bulls yes you 4:44:49 could say he was back to his usual self but most impressive was his performance against the Atlanta Hawks a week after 4:44:56 beating the already best player in the NBA in that game against Dominic Wilkins bird scored 50 points grabbed 13 4:45:04 rebounds and dished out seven assists with splits of 76 192 with 19 of 25 from the field and 11 4:45:12 of 12 from the free throw line Larry had won of the best games of his career just five games after returning to the court 4:45:18 and from that moment on no one ever doubted his abilities again not even a double Achilles injury had been able to 4:45:24 stop him at the age of 33 but few games during that regular season were more 4:45:29 memorable than the one he played against the Seattle superponics in December of 1989 the sonics had two great players in 4:45:36 Dale Ellis and Xavier McDaniel but they also had this rookie who was one of the greatest athletic prodigies anyone had 4:45:43 ever seen sha Kemp a Brash young player who in his first season in the league 4:45:48 made one of the biggest mistakes of his life but he could rest easy it was a mistake many other players had made 4:45:54 before him first of all we got the Boston that night ex he had this he had 4:45:59 some knee he had some knee pain I was like it's a hell of a time for you to come up with a knee pain yeah I ain't going tonight you got 4:46:07 want to see yeah look at the boy Sean K Larry B I'm like so you know I look in 4:46:12 the mirror I'm like well [ __ ] I'm about to get this [ __ ] fits out here tonight so I was before the game I was 4:46:18 over there rubbing my hands looking at him like I'm about to get your ass man and then bird as always let Kemp know 4:46:24 what he thought on the court I mean it didn't take him 10 seconds to get an answer Larry just turned his head to him 4:46:30 not paying much attention and said before the game he told me he was like he he just shook his head at me he said 4:46:35 man this going to be a [ __ ] up night for you and the results spoke for the M the 4:46:41 Celtics won by 12 points sha Kemp had five points one rebound and zero assists 4:46:47 and Larry Bird on the other hand had 40 points 11 rebounds and 10 assists on 63% 4:46:54 shooting from the field I mean that night he could not miss the Rivalry was even stronger because Kemp was also from 4:47:00 Indiana and Xavier McDaniel the team's second best player years later gave his version of what happened that night 4:47:06 quote during the game Sean Kemp was guarding Larry and I mean Larry was just [ __ ] [ __ ] Bernie calls a timeout I'm 4:47:13 like hey what the that [ __ ] says man he was telling me I'm the best [ __ ] player from Indiana and then 4:47:20 shot a three in my face but Shawn wasn't the only one who really got to know Bird That season Phoenix Suns power forward 4:47:27 Tom Chambers also had the opportunity but it was different from Kemp's situation because Chambers was not a 4:47:34 rookie he was a veteran who already knew you don't poke the bear but Larry on many occasions didn't really need a 4:47:40 trigger he didn't need to be trash talked to have an answer on most occasions he was the one who started 4:47:45 talking to you playing the Phoenix songs and there their main man was Tom 4:47:50 Chambers and Chambers was ding was guarding Larry and so in the jump ball 4:47:56 Circle Larry walked through myself and 4:48:01 and uh Chambers and then came back and told Chambers I know you guarding me and 4:48:08 I want you to know something there's only one man that can guard me and that's God now think about that for a second a 4:48:16 year after the injury bird was his usual self but the Celtics were not the 60- 4:48:21 win seasons were not coming back they were a thing of the past and Boston had to compete against a number of emerging 4:48:27 teams that dreamed of beating them some like Detroit were already better at the time others like the Bulls were already 4:48:34 at their level thanks to a Michael Jordan who seemed to be getting better every year but others like New York had 4:48:40 the ambition to get on that Contender status they saw themselves as closer than ever and beating Boston was the 4:48:46 best feeling for any of the other 12 teams in the East after posting a record of 52 wins and 30 losses Boston finished 4:48:53 in fourth place in the Eastern Conference behind Detroit Chicago and Philadelphia and it was Patrick Ying's 4:49:00 Knicks who would face them in the first round a series that Boston had a real chance to win and in which they would 4:49:06 also have homecourt Advantage bird was coming off averaging 24 .3 points 9.5 4:49:12 rebounds and 7.5 assists during the regular season with an efficiency that 4:49:17 as always was well above the league average and he felt ready for the challenge bird did absolutely everything 4:49:24 in that game one scoring 24 points grabbing 18 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists one of the best triple doubles 4:49:31 of his career in the playoffs where he also had a very good game in terms of efficiency and the Celtics won game one 4:49:37 without any problem but in game two bird just wasn't hitting his shots the Knicks defense was very focused on him of 4:49:44 course and he didn't feel comfortable scoring in any phase of the game so he did what he did best take advantage of 4:49:50 his Brilliance and gravity so that his teammates could score bird finished the game with 15 points and 16 assists his 4:49:58 record in the playoffs by the way a Mark that he had never reached and would never reach again but most importantly 4:50:03 despite his 15 points the Celtics won the game by 29 Points not because their 4:50:09 defense was excellent the Nick scored 128 points but Boston's offense was just 4:50:15 spectacular 157 points in one night not even the Lakers showtime at its best 4:50:21 could have done something like that the Celtics had the series in their grasp but now they had to travel back to New 4:50:26 York in game three Patrick Ying just reacted he got 33 points 19 rebounds 4:50:32 taking 34 shots from the field to lead the Knicks no matter what and he did New 4:50:38 York won that game in which Larry had 31 points eight rebounds and eight assists with more than a decent efficiency but 4:50:44 in a game that was fiercely contested for 48 minutes the pressure of Madison Square Garden fans helped the home team 4:50:51 take the victory game four would be different though right it wasn't because Boston was facing a generational player 4:50:58 Patrick Ying had another one of his incredible defensive games one of those performances that will go down in 4:51:03 history getting seven Steals and two blocks but that was not even the most outstanding thing he did that night the 4:51:10 Nick Center scored 44 points got 13 rebounds and five assists in one of the 4:51:16 best playoff performances of his career in which he also scored 75% of his shots from the field and despite Larry's 21 4:51:23 points eight rebounds and five assists absolutely nobody could dream of beating Patrick Ying that night in fact the 4:51:30 Knicks won by 27 points quote we didn't want it to come down to this but we had to play on Sunday anyway so we'll see 4:51:37 what happens game five of the first round due to the playoff format of the era would decide who would advance to 4:51:44 the second round of the East bird was in the Twilight of his career but that Sunday he had too much at stake and he 4:51:51 did have a performance befitting of a player of his quality 31 points nine rebounds five assists but Patrick Ying 4:51:58 did his best bird impersonation that night 31 points eight rebounds and 10 assists to which he added four blocks 4:52:06 not even the Boston Garden crowd could affect the Knick's incredible efficiency from the the field with a 71- 60 score 4:52:13 in the second half New York buried the Celtics Dynasty right then and there Boston with only Danny a out had been 4:52:20 eliminated in the first round of the 1990 playoffs Larry was not feeling too 4:52:25 good at this point he was a winner he had always been and he had always wanted to prove that but at this point in his 4:52:31 career he realized something very important all these teams that had always dreamed of beating Boston whether 4:52:37 it was the Pistons the Bulls or the Knicks were fighting for something Larry had already achieved bird had nothing 4:52:44 more to prove in the NBA his entire career had been a Showcase of the potential of that kid from French lck 4:52:50 Indiana of whom no one had any expectations I mean 12 years earlier bird was working for minimum wage but in 4:52:57 1990 he was already Larry Legend and maybe that also affected his recovery I 4:53:03 mean bird had always played through injuries but his Achilles had been hurting him badly and he had missed 4:53:08 almost an entire regular season because of it and the condition of his back since that unfortunate incident in the 4:53:14 summer of 1985 had also been getting worse and worse and it got to the point where he just couldn't take it anymore 4:53:21 Larry had to miss a few weeks of that regular season I would see him on TV laying down and and then they told me 4:53:28 that he had to lay down on planes different things like that and during that time he did not take proper care of 4:53:34 himself quote I was so bored I'd sit around the house drive my wife crazy and 4:53:39 eat and eat and in the 2 and 1/2 weeks I was off I ate 10 gallons of ice cream and seven wedding cakes why then I ate 4:53:46 wedding cakes cuz you knew they were going to be good I mean who would fck up a wedding cake bird couldn't stand to be 4:53:52 unavailable even more so when the team was performing above expectations and the Celtics had a record of 29 wins and 4:53:58 five losses when Larry had to miss virtually every game in January 1991 and 4:54:04 even though his health and his NBA minutes were declining the Celtics somehow kept going Larry not only 4:54:10 averaged 38 minutes and 60 games he played during that regular season the most minutes per night of the entire 4:54:16 team but he was still their leading scorer when he was healthy he was still the go-to man and even though his 4:54:22 averages were down from his prime birds still got 19.4 points 8.5 rebounds and 4:54:28 7.2 assists during that season that also included two performances of 45 and 43 4:54:35 points against the Charlotte Hornets and Denver Nuggets and all of that helped Boston finish with a record of 56 wins 4:54:41 and 26 losses and even if they weren't as scary as before even if they weren't 4:54:47 that immovable force in the East that dominated year after year the Celtics were still a dangerous team if you cross 4:54:54 pass with them in the playoffs and Larry was healthy and this was for the simple reason that they had more experience 4:55:00 than anyone else the Celtics first round opponent in the 1991 playoffs represented a lot to Larry despite 4:55:07 having shared a conference with him his entire career bird had not had the opportunity to face the Indiana Pacers 4:55:14 in the playoffs Larry still remembered cheering for Indiana when they were still in the ABA and he was a kid when 4:55:20 Mel Daniels was his favorite player you know before he became his coach that's why the matchup with the Pacers was 4:55:25 really special with his health hanging by a thread bird came back to do his best and he proved it from game one when 4:55:33 he had 21 points 12 rebounds and 12 assists and the Pacers on the other side 4:55:38 were now being led by that insult kid Reggie Miller who some time before had tried to trash Larry Bird but Larry's 4:55:45 triple double served to overcome them in the first battle however Indiana reacted in game two also in Boston this time the 4:55:53 Pacers could enjoy a stratospheric performance of another real flamethrower Chuck pson not only scored 39 points he 4:56:00 did it without shooting a single free throw in fact the Auburn forward scored a staggering seven three-pointers in a 4:56:07 single playoff game bird who had 18 points six rebounds and 10 assists could only watch what was at the time one of 4:56:14 the best performances from long range in the history of the playoffs now Boston had to win game three away from home and 4:56:21 even though bird didn't have his best game they managed it they won by seven points thanks to a pretty good team 4:56:26 effort but winning two in a row at Market square Arena would be very difficult and when Chuck Pon and Reggie 4:56:32 Miller got to work scoring 57 points between them that mission became impossible bird did manage to score 18 4:56:40 grab six rebounds and dish out eight assists but it was evident that he was no longer the same Larry Bird his back 4:56:46 was killing him little by little and he barely had the juice left to perform at his best although the forward had always 4:56:53 had the talent his body would no longer allow him to be the same player from 88 4:56:59 to ' 92 it was painful to watch it was painful to cover Larry is quite orry 4:57:04 when he's not feeling well which means he was hry for those next 4 years he 4:57:09 could manage the pain in a way that very few people can do but for one night the 4:57:15 night of May 5th 1991 the night of the final game five in the series against 4:57:20 the Indiana Pacers that night Larry Bird was simply on fire somehow he looked 4:57:25 like he was in the middle of his prime shooting 12 of 17 from the field Larry put up a performance of 32 points nine 4:57:32 rebounds and seven assists a performance that the Celtics needed to win by the slimmest of margins in the deciding game 4:57:39 Bost beat Indiana by three points despite 32 points from Chuck persons who 4:57:45 hit another five three-pointers and the Celtics clinched a spot in the conference semi-finals however everyone 4:57:51 knew that the team that was awaiting them there would be basically impossible to beat the Detroit Pistons were already 4:57:57 at another level and besides Bird's huge effort against the Pacers did not allow him to play in game one of the series 4:58:04 against Detroit so the Celtics went down they were only able to score 75 points 4:58:09 in in front of their home fans in one of the worst offensive games of the bird era and the fact that Larry was 4:58:15 available again for game two was accentuated by the absence of Isaiah Thomas I mean the Piston's most 4:58:21 important player Detroit had all the keys to stop Larry but they didn't have the heart of their team they didn't have 4:58:27 their conductor so they struggled on defense despite that though bird could only shoot 15 shots from the field in 4:58:33 game two and managed to score 16 points however Larry's gravity did allow secondary players like Reggie Lewis or D 4:58:40 Brown to enjoy pretty good performances but a series at 1-1 after two games at the Garden was not going to cut it or at 4:58:47 least that's what everyone thought but game three turned out to be a surprise now the Palace of Auburn Hills was a 4:58:53 fearsome Arena traveling to Michigan meant many things and very few of them were good I mean this was a scary place 4:59:00 to play however the Celtics managed to pull out game three5 to 83 This Time 4:59:06 Larry only took 11 shots from the field the patented Jordan rules that Detroit had created to slow Jordan down also 4:59:13 served to slow down a player limited by his physical health but bird turned that extra attention into open looks for his 4:59:19 teammates and Boston played its best game of the playoffs both on offense and defense even the new coach Chris Ford 4:59:25 couldn't believe it quote believe me we're not as good as we look today and they're not as bad as they looked you 4:59:31 think they're going to die they're still the defending Champions I think they'll come out and play their best basketball 4:59:36 the next game so Detroit had to win their next home game but again they couldn't count on Isaiah Thomas so it 4:59:42 cost them blood and sweat to beat the Celtics in front of their home fans even more so considering that Kevin mccale 4:59:48 was completely on fire but they pulled it off Mark aguire scored 34 points off 4:59:53 the bench and the Pistons were able to tie the series at two games the problem for Detroit is that by game five Isaiah 5:00:00 would not be 100% of his capabilities either the Pistons guard could only play 15 minutes in which he could not score a 5:00:07 single point although he did dish out six assist still Detroit didn't seem to need him that night they were just that 5:00:14 good between Joe Dumars Vinnie Johnson and Bill lambir they scored 80 points of 5:00:19 the 116 that Detroit got in total Bird's 16 points along with Reggie Lewis's 30 5:00:25 only allowed Boston to hang around until the inevitable with Isaiah Thomas coming off the bench Joe Dumars took over the 5:00:32 offensive responsibility for the Pistons scoring 32 points and dishing out 10 assists numbers that the Celtics offense 5:00:39 was unable to counter Bird's back problems meant that he was not at his best in the final game just as they 5:00:44 restricted his abilities throughout the series and with a score of 113 to 117 5:00:50 the Pistons eliminated Boston from the playoffs the Detroit Pistons have eliminated the Boston Celtics and now 5:00:57 the window for bird to get one last ring was closing Larry Bird's Health was getting worse every year his back would 5:01:04 not leave him alone the pain he felt was getting harsher too and at almost 35 years old it prevented him from playing 5:01:11 basically because Larry had never minded the pain he had always been able to play through it that's something all of his 5:01:16 teammates have said but it was just no longer possible he was too old so at the 5:01:21 beginning of the 1991 92 season everyone knew that the forward could break at any 5:01:27 moment Larry had two jobs his last seven years of playing it was playing basketball and then it was him being 5:01:33 committed to Tak him care of his back his 13th season with the Celtics lately those seasons have been difficult owing 5:01:39 to both back and heal injury 13 years of hard work sweat toil and pain produced 5:01:47 Fame and Fortune for one Larry Joe bird however the amazing thing is that bird 5:01:52 was still able to dominate when he was available I mean not at the level he was capable of dominating in the mid 80s 5:01:58 when he was the Undisputed best player in the world but when he was available he was still the Celtics best player one 5:02:05 thing was certain though Reggie Lewis who had been drafted 22nd overall in the 1980s 7 draft had grown up a lot and all 5:02:12 the signs pointed to him becoming the next great Celtic Legend with him as a teammate bird wanted to try one last 5:02:19 assault on the championship one last chance to get his fourth ring and the season started pretty well actually 5:02:25 Boston ended 1991 with a record of 19 wins and 10 losses Larry was still an 5:02:30 elite player he was averaging 20.9 points 9.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 5:02:36 the 28 games he was available but after a fall his back injury became even more 5:02:41 inflamed the Ford was out for just over 2 months and many people wondered if he would ever be able to return to the 5:02:48 basketball court again but of course he did on March 1st 1992 bird played 34 5:02:54 minutes in the Boston Celtics win over the Dallas Mavericks and his return from injury left us with Unforgettable games 5:03:01 the most special the one he played against the Portland Trailblazers was on March 15th 1992 a game in which birds 5:03:08 scored 49 points got 14 rebounds and 12 assists a night in which everyone could 5:03:14 remember what Larry's Prime was like I mean everyone was able to watch for the last time an absolutely unreal 5:03:20 performance from one of the greatest players they had ever seen honestly that night I think every NBA fan enjoyed the 5:03:26 moment it didn't matter if you were a fan of the Lakers the Bulls or the Pistons everyone was happy to see Larry 5:03:32 Bird Shine for the last time on a basketball court his career wasn't over yet but that would be his last great 5:03:39 performance his last work of art for a museum that was filled with identical heroic games however that one was a 5:03:46 little more special because of the handicap because of the condition of his back because of his age because of the 5:03:52 Celtics need to get the best performance from the best player in their history but these were also kind of empty 5:03:58 expectations because everyone knew Larry just wasn't going to be his old self ever again in April 1992 bird suffered a 5:04:07 new relapse of his back injury a relapse that was bad enough to keep him out of the playoffs That season and everyone 5:04:13 feared the worst perhaps that game against his Indiana Pacers on April 3rd would have been the last time fans would 5:04:19 see Bird play basketball but he did his best to return for That season finale the Celtics posted a record of 51 wins 5:04:26 and 31 losses and advanced to the first round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers after moving on to the 5:04:32 second round they met the Cleveland Cavaliers of Brad Dy Mark Price and Larry Nance and bird did it once again 5:04:39 he for fored his way back to try to pull off that miracle that the Celtics needed if they wanted to contend for a ring but 5:04:46 it was too little too late he was only able to play the last four games of the series playing the first two from the 5:04:52 bench and his contribution was just not what he had in mind those games served as a premature farewell Cleveland beat 5:04:59 Boston in seven games despite the enormous efforts of Reggie Lewis who had performances of 42 and 36 points but the 5:05:06 season was over 122 to 104 Cleveland Cavalier victory over the Boston Celtics 5:05:12 Larry Bird's NBA career was over a sad end to one of the most brilliant careers 5:05:17 anyone could have ever witnessed Larry himself was the first to know it too he would never pick up a basketball again 5:05:23 or at least that was the idea it was a summer of 1992 a key moment in basketball history that would be 5:05:29 remembered forever for one reason the Olympic Games would take place in Barcelona and Team USA needed its best 5:05:36 men to avenge the terrible performance they had had in 1988 because what had happened was truly a disaster the United 5:05:44 States goes home with a semifinal loss to the bigger more experienced USSR team 5:05:51 coach John Thompson's team had won the bronze medal at the Olympics Four Seasons earlier with a roster at his 5:05:57 disposal that included only players who were in the NCAA basketball was immersed 5:06:02 in a total globalization process too all in part thanks to the explosion of Larry 5:06:07 Bird and Magic Johnson in the and their game had crossed borders and it created a huge expectation around the world so 5:06:14 the development of basketball accelerated on all continents around the world which caused the competition for 5:06:21 the US to be pretty formidable much stronger than it had ever been so Chuck Daily the 1992 Olympic coach would have 5:06:28 at his disposal the best team ever assembled a historic group of players 5:06:33 that included some of the greatest legends of all time I mean you got Michael Jordan Scotti Pippen Charles 5:06:39 Barkley Magic Johnson Carl Malone John Stockton Patrick Ying David Robinson 5:06:45 Chris Mullen Clyde Drexler all the players put aside their personal quarrels with the exception of Isaiah 5:06:51 Thomas and United to return the US to its rightful position as kings of the 5:06:56 basketball world but they were still missing one important piece they needed Larry Bird now back problems had taken 5:07:02 their toll and the truth is bird was not too interested in playing he had hung up his sneakers for good but then he got a 5:07:09 call a call from a guy he had always hated but who a few years ago had become one of his best friends of course we're 5:07:16 talking about Magic Johnson his eternal rival his Kryptonite the only reason Larry wasn't a college Champion the only 5:07:23 reason his legacy hadn't been the greatest of all time I said Larry you don't have to play 30 minutes a game you 5:07:31 can just play 10 minutes a game all I want to do is come down and do a no look pass to you and you shoot a 5:07:38 three-pointer we both going to be very happy it's amazing how time changed things I mean magic couldn't even look 5:07:44 bird in the eye for almost a decade but the Lakers guard architect of showtime 5:07:49 and alltime great was the main reason Larry went to the Olympics it would be his last role his last dance his 5:07:56 Farewell to basketball in style but to make his farewell tour live up to a career like his Team USA had no other 5:08:04 choice they had to win gold not only that but they had to do it by sweeping all their rivals the dominance of the 5:08:10 country that had created basketball and its rules was in question now so Team USA started to destroy all of its Rivals 5:08:18 they won by 68 points against Angola in the first game by 33 points against draz 5:08:24 and petrit Croatia in the second and by 43 points against Deb left shrimps 5:08:29 Germany but that last game against the German team was the most special for bird that night the French L forward was 5:08:35 the top scorer of his team with 19 points and perhaps that was the last time we saw him lead a basketball team 5:08:42 but Team USA had to finish the job too they defeated Brazil by 44 points and the host Spain by 41 points and finished 5:08:50 their participation in group a undefeated in the quarterfinals they met Puerto Rico whom they also destroyed by 5:08:57 38 points and in the semi-finals against Lithuania they won by 51 points and in 5:09:02 the final against Croatia again and despite the spectacular performance of dra and petrit who scored 24 points Team 5:09:09 USA won the game 117 to 85 by 32 points 5:09:15 the smallest Difference by which the USA won a game in that tournament this group May well be the greatest 5:09:21 team ever assembled in the history this dominant performance Drew even more 5:09:27 attention from the world many casual fans of basketball now had the opportunity to see this unprecedented 5:09:34 group of players just absolutely dominate against everyone else in the world and everyone also got to see Larry 5:09:40 Bird Shine for one last time but that was the moment when Larry Bird finally hung up his boots for good so today I'm 5:09:48 retiring this is not a sad day it's a very emotional day but it's not really a sad day because I knew this day was 5:09:54 going to come sometime I'm excited to be going into a new life but I'm going to 5:09:59 miss this life nothing would ever be the same again the NBA began its golden age it's Heyday and worldwide 5:10:06 commercialization all thanks to a new dominant figure that guard who could never beat Larry Bird in the playoffs 5:10:12 not a single game but Michael Jordan was capable of pretty much anything else the 5:10:17 fiercest scorer the most Fearless competitor the born winner that the league needed and deserved Larry Bird 5:10:24 and Magic Johnson handed him the Baton his era had begun and even though bird never played another minute of 5:10:31 professional basketball he kept in touch with the league and of course he didn't lose touch with the Boston Celtics the 5:10:36 Celtics hired bird as a front office assistant for Five Seasons his advice 5:10:41 was important to the Celtics rebuild but he also had to witness one of the saddest moments in team history Reggie 5:10:47 Lewis the new pillar of the team after the prime of bird parish and male died 5:10:53 suddenly and tragically of cardiac arrest Reggie Lewis was only 27 years old and without its best player Boston 5:11:00 was unable to get back on its feet however bird received an offer he couldn't refuse in 1998 his hometown 5:11:06 team the franchise he had idolized since childhood and which had suffered from Larry's incredible performances over the 5:11:13 years wanted to hire him as their new coach without any coaching experience bird showed how his mind was capable of 5:11:20 dissecting basketball from the bench as well and the Pacers achieved the best record in their history with 58 wins and 5:11:27 24 losses in addition to that he competed with Michael Jordan's Bulls one-on-one again taken the series to 5:11:34 seven games in his first season as head coach bird won the NBA coach of the year trophy had he wanted to continue 5:11:40 coaching his future would have been pretty bright but after qualifying the Pacers for the NBA finals in 2000 bird 5:11:46 decided to end his coaching career he turned his attention to the back office Larry was then hired as president of 5:11:53 basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers and with him they managed to build a team that was able to compete 5:11:59 with Lebron james' Miami Heat almost a decade later in fact in the 5:12:04 201122 season Larry was named NBA executive of the year but right after 5:12:09 winning the award before the 2012 draft that included names like Anthony Davis 5:12:14 and Damen Lillard bird put an end to his career in the office as well he had 5:12:19 already succeeded at all levels of basketball as a college player as an NBA player as a head coach as an executive I 5:12:27 mean basketball could no longer offer him any other challenges it was time to walk away this time for good it is hard 5:12:34 to describe Bird's greatness in words alone it's hard to do justice to his contributions to Modern basketball it's 5:12:41 hard to talk about how his personality helped save a league and turn it into a true Powerhouse at the World level Larry 5:12:48 Bird's contributions were key to making basketball what it is today and for American society to advance at the same 5:12:55 time like a plot out of a movie he was just this talented kid from French look Indiana a simple kid who lived a poor 5:13:02 childhood a country boy who was forced to become an adult much earlier than normal I mean before his sophomore year 5:13:08 Larry had suffered through two events that could wreck anyone his father taking his own life and the divorce from 5:13:14 his wife he just wanted to be happy though I was matter after the funeral because I thought he sort of cut out on 5:13:22 us during a a tough time but you know he went he went through a lot in his life he just wanted to find his passion like 5:13:29 everybody else something that would allow him to fulfill both his dream and his mother's dream the dream of being 5:13:35 able to leave their tiny little village to earn a living that would allow ow them to get out of poverty to build a 5:13:41 life outside the only one he knew Larry loved his comfort zone but fate kind of pushed him out and it allowed him to 5:13:48 become somebody and the social Evolution that occurred during Bird's career was also exponential I mean racism was one 5:13:55 of the worst scourges affecting America in the 1970s the black population had 5:14:00 long endured racial discrimination that affected them in all areas of life but in sports and music some were able to 5:14:08 ascend to the social ual Elite for the first time they achieved a status that served to break down social barriers 5:14:13 that had been in place for centuries and now as stars of the NBA they weren't going to let some goofy white kid come 5:14:20 in and dominate The League I mean that was the idea until they met bird cuz then they realized that Larry wasn't all 5:14:27 that different from the black players his personality and talent helped him earn the respect of an entire league 5:14:33 which at the time was filled with black stars who understandably felt a little bit of resentment towards the white 5:14:39 population Michael magic Kareem Julius all the elite players realized that they 5:14:45 could talk about bird as if he were a brother because years ago bird was learning to play basketball with the 5:14:51 black workers at the French Lick Hotel at that age Larry didn't comprehend racism he was too young to understand it 5:14:58 and these men were much better than his friends they were stronger they had more technique they played with more 5:15:03 intensity and they were adults these men were not only the ones who elevated Bird's game but the ones who taught him 5:15:10 his trash talk too and every day they played with this kid quote when you're 9 10 11 you see somebody 20 you think 5:15:17 they're old but it was a number of guys who would show up every day and one of these guys slim Larry formed a special 5:15:23 bond with not just because slim could play good basketball but because bird loved his personality and that 5:15:29 influenced him a lot and then years later they crossed paths again quote what was really great for me and made me 5:15:35 happy is 30 years ago I ran into slim who was down in Atlanta out there cooking at one of the hotels we stayed 5:15:42 in and he'd come up and say remember me and I knew I'd seen that face before but I didn't know where he was a little bit 5:15:47 older but he said he was so proud of how I turned out John Sally actually summed it up perfectly Larry's the blackest 5:15:54 white dude yeah ever ever met and then Nolan Richardson left us with one of the 5:16:00 best anecdotes in the history of the Hall of Fame event driving and I'm listening to a game is New Mexico State 5:16:08 playing in Indiana State I don't really care about the game but I New Mexico 5:16:14 state is right up the streets from El Paso and I went to utap and we're big rivalry school I'm hoping that Indiana 5:16:21 state will beat New Mexico state and I'm listening to the radio and I have no clue of the players on either Team all 5:16:28 of a sudden this name keeps coming bird he goes to the right Bird he makes the 5:16:34 right Bird I said God damn who is bird bird you know his bird and bird this and and 5:16:42 bird oh did you see the pass that bird made I can't see it but I just trying to 5:16:48 imagine it and I when the time I got to the end I said damn that brother can 5:16:56 play D that brother hey I'm me tell you 5:17:04 [Applause] something when I got the newspaper the 5:17:10 next morning and saw Larry's picture I said 5:17:19 damn bird was the savior of an NBA at its worst a league where drugs were in 5:17:24 every locker room a league where the ratings were as declining as the interest of fans who were less and less 5:17:30 concerned about basketball players didn't care about winning the big markets were unable to compete but bird 5:17:37 along with magic rekindled the NBA's flame without them there might never have been Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant 5:17:44 or Lebron James without Bird magic the NBA might never have become one of the 5:17:49 most popular leagues in the world but what is certain is that without them we would have missed one of the most 5:17:55 incredible stories in basketball history because their rivalry was simply 5:18:00 unrepeatable a rivalry that forced them to face each other like Gladiators that forced them to draw blood to fight for a 5:18:08 legacy it seemed the most important thing that existed and then when there was a truce they both discovered that 5:18:13 they were an exact copy of each other two Bor competitors two unflappable 5:18:19 beasts that plowed the NBA fields and revived the league despite taking Collective and individual titles from 5:18:25 each other I mean either one of them could have been the best player of their decade if the other didn't exist nothing 5:18:31 would have been the same without this rivalry because yes Magic Johnson would not be Magic Johnson without Larry Bird 5:18:37 and Larry Bird would wouldn't be Larry Bird Without Magic Johnson either magic is just a great basketball player he's 5:18:43 the best I've ever seen you know I unbelievable I don't know what to say 5:18:51 and I'm glad that we came in together cuz I had somebody to measuring myself right and say hey okay he's great I 5:18:59 can't let him get too far ahead of me I got to work hard to make up for his lack of athleticism and physicality bird had 5:19:06 to reinvent himself and he became the most incredible forward of the decade one of the first unicorns in basketball 5:19:14 history a word that refers to players with styles that have never existed I mean bird is the exact definition of a 5:19:20 True Unicorn forwards didn't have to do what he did they had to score defend 5:19:26 rebound there wasn't much difference from the classic functions of a center but bird changed everything his ball 5:19:32 handling and playmaking made him a player who was able to find advantages on the court that nobody else could a 5:19:38 player who was able to add another dimension to the game a player who was able to understand one more layer of 5:19:44 depth in a basketball game that seemed to have reached the limit of its Evolution but not only that and I know a 5:19:50 lot of you young folks may not really remember Larry Bird that well but that man was a magician and yeah no he was 5:19:57 amazing his shooting despite suffering a terrible injury during his youth was incredibly consistent bird debuted in 5:20:05 the league at the same time the three-point line was introduced and it seemed like he had been preparing for it 5:20:10 his whole life his ability to get away from the rim while playing Power Forward first created an exception then it 5:20:17 became a trend and finally it has become a necessity in today's NBA forwards who 5:20:23 can't shoot from long range are almost extinct and this would have never happened if coaches had not seen that 5:20:29 this type of play can be completely dominant Larry looking for three knocks 5:20:35 it down Larry Bird's influence in all areas of basketball was unprecedented 5:20:41 and the fear he caused his opponents was chilling I mean his Trash Talk was Unreal and his ability to back it up 5:20:48 undeniable Larry Bird was the coldest talker ever man and he bag it up because 5:20:53 he was so cold Larry's always call me cheesy right he's like cheesy who guard me and I was like you know hey man you 5:21:00 keep putting no white dude on me hey hey that is straight disrespect right but if we had to Define 5:21:06 Larry Bird with a single quote I'd have to go with this one from Pat Riley quote if I had to choose a player to take a 5:21:13 final shot to win a game I'd choose Jordan but if I could pick one to shoot to save my life I'd pick bird Players Unlimited - Sports 42.7K subscribers Videos About 26 Comments rongmaw lin Add a comment... Pinned by Players Unlimited - Sports @PlayersUnlimitedSports 1 month ago Is Larry Bird The GOAT? 8 Reply 2 replies @stephenreiner1523 8 days ago This was by far the most comprehensive video on Bird and the Celtics I have ever seen since watching YouTube to this day by far. 1 Reply @NagelLisa 10 days ago Larry was athletic, damn it! Have you watched all his highlights on passing, shooting, rebounding, and defense? Are you crazy? That was the leagues excuse for why great athletic men of color were getting clobbered by Larry Bird. You can't be a pro at anything without some athleticism. So don't give me that bullsht. 8 Reply 1 reply @kevinswihart6867 1 month ago Larry let his playing basketball speak for him. A tremendous amount of foes and teammates tell you stories of what Bird did in games and practices that dictated his permanent place in basketball folklore as possibly the greatest team player of all time ! Not bad for being considered as a slow runner and that he couldn't jump. 6 Reply @delanoarts3703 1 month ago I love this documentary so much I'm forcing my kid and his friends to watch it lol 4 Reply @MrAitraining 1 month ago Late 70's to 1985 Larry was very athletic. Defense, dunks, running on the break. After his initial back injury he still killed it but a lot of that quickness was gone. Look up 1980-84 stuff. Larry had a motor! 5 Reply 1 reply @edwardlapierre1620 9 days ago Grew up watching this. Every game was an event. Every game I we were spoiled and had friends to the house to watch this incredible ERA of the NBA NEVER EVER TO BE DUPLICATED. NOWHERE ANYWHERE. JUST CANT WATCH THE GAME WITH SAME EXCITEMENT. Txs Celtics Reply @okgood8529 1 month ago It's ridiculous to suggest that Bird had zero talent. He had incredible hand-eye coordination for a player his size and demonstrated it constantly. 2 Reply @Hhbdr 1 month ago Have ya seen him play? Without athleticism? What a joke! He ran circles around most men. Could pass from any position. 4 Reply @delanoarts3703 1 month ago Awesome documentary the youth need to hear about Larry my kid loves g Him but likes magic just a little bit better kobi being his favorite he is 11 me I'm die hard bird I love bird Jordan takes a close actually very close 2nd amazing documentary I'm looking forward to what you have planned next I'm sure these take months but seriously it's worth it 1 Reply @rickiovine2170 10 days ago Stop with the 0 athleticism nonsense. You cannot be an NBA All-Star without being a great athlete. The game is much too difficult. Too many NBA fans base athleticism on how flashy it looks. I base it on how well they am the game. 3 Reply @TerryT0114 9 days ago That "accidental" elbow to Birds face doesn't look accidental to me. It's at about the 2:05 mark in this video. It looks to me like that dude smacked him on purpose, maybe because Bird had put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from jumping for the rebound? Reply @ABBABEER 8 days ago Respect! Reply @johndardi1334 1 day ago How can anyone call Larry un athletic? Anyone who ever played in the NBA was / is athletic. You can’t be in the NBA and be un athletic. Reply @berniebroneverhillarybro6188 1 month ago He's like the Bradey of Football. Reply @jerodrobinson4040 7 days ago Yeah I'm not sure if You understand what the word "Immortality" Means. Basketball Skill cannot grant You eternal Life... Reply @stlcardsuck 9 hours ago If Bird was not athletic then the guys he made look stupid were cripples!!!! Reply @radar0412 1 month ago Bird should've claimed hardship in 1974 and immediately entered the NBA draft. Reply 1 reply @tonyharbour5317 7 days ago Bird had plenty of athletic ability. He could not have done what he did without it. This is a racist title. Especially before he got hurt. Teams had difficulty with him due to his quick first step, his hand eye coordination, his body agility and his mental awareness. To say he was un athletic is a lie and a stereo typical attempt at gaining views. 1 Reply @ericfelegie6371 1 month ago State of Illinois, not Chicago...otherwise doing well here good video on my hero Reply @JRWiles 1 month ago French lick isn't a poor area 😂 not at all Reply