Larry Bird: PETE MARAVICH WAS SO GOOD IN BALL HANDLING, the ball was like part of his hand

that ball looks like a part of his hand and i was i said he must spend a lot of time dribbling and dribbling how many hours through the 1970s the times kept on changing as lightning quick guards like tiny archibald and calvin murphy shaped and baked opponents with their fancy footwork while finding new ways to get to the hoop but the master of improvisation was the man known as the pistol pete maravich just say the name marovich or the nickname pistol pete and the mind's eye recalls the flying hair the floppy socks the incredible moves he was box office and he was a metaphor for what the sport of basketball can be keep your eye on his hands as pete maravich demonstrates some pretty slick ball control you know your dad's one of the best players ever ever pick up a basketball you're looking at pistol pete maravich in my opinion the greatest playmaker playing today i'll probably have to say pistol pete flying hair at the top rolled down socks at the bottom a six foot five inch enigma in between [Music] pete was blessed with a great amount of ability natural athletic ability pete could do a lot of amazing things with the basketball he was really a showman i mean pete would go out there but you know put on the put on the show i mean that's that's what he wanted to do that's how he looked at himself as a showman he transcended what basketball has become which is a game that is as much entertainment as it is sport and he was the penultimate entertainer true entertainer and i think he looked at entertainment more than basketball he was an entertainer at heart and his ability to pass the ball and dribble the ball and do outlandish things on the court which sometimes even overruled the game played the game with a tremendous player [Music] as flamboyant as any player i've ever seen with the basketball and an entertainer maybe the best entertainer our game's ever seen i played for the fans there was no doubt about that famous for his playground moves and circus shots pete always added his own special touch of showmanship pete was a showman he was a showman you see that move do you see this and so we were all just sitting there in amazement i mean he was just he was uncanny unstoppable it was as if you had melted down all 12 harlem globetrotters and then filled up this skinny 6-6 white frame with everything they had he had a like a fire about him that he wanted to be you know this globetrotter type of guy nobody had the ball better than pistol but he wasn't just satisfied with that he had to put a little show on this was like a guy the game was boring to him so he had to create things to keep him interested he's coming down making a a a nice pass he had to go through his legs or two times around his back i'm catching behind that's one it's beautiful the things that i did with the basketball behind the back pass between the legs and things of that nature takes in reaction drills quickness drills to improve your quickness your coordination your confidence and your overall ability to handle basketball knowing the impact that he made on the game uh you know my dad probably has to move out of the way um you know ai's probably got more out the way kobe's probably got more out the way but pete pistol pete was unbelievable man if you go back and look at film of what this guy was actually doing with the basketball watch him for a moment and then try to conjure the right word while you watch remember what you're seeing happen more than a quarter century ago that ball looks like a part of his hand and i was i said he must spend a lot of time dribbling and dribbling how many hours a day would you spend with a basketball bouncing and shooting and say when you're 12 years old when i was 12 done during the summer months about eight hours a day between eight eight and a half and during the winter months about four hours a day [Music] it was like the ball was an extension of him i dribbled so much so many different ways uh learning new types of drills to dribble with one ball with two balls do what i call stutter dribble back over like that try that again if i'm guarding you get your hand there and you know and you never see a white boy doing that on top of it there's a white boy i'm talking about this ain't a brother but he must have had some brother in him because he was a dazzler pete maravich who was so far ahead of his time he was ten plays ahead of everyone else greatness that was pete maravich did he just do what i think he did but watch again for this is the gift he left us with have you found the right word yet that was sweet very deceptive pastor usually on a three on one situation uh you start out throwing the ball in this direction like you're gonna throw it out to this man coming in and actually what happens is it goes the other way you

Channel: AllBasketballTV

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Id: -TO57aoJf7I

Length: 5min 47sec (347 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 23 2021