Larry Bird stories - Volume 2

for the guard Michael Jordan in library because you have to play the game as a thinker when you plant him you have to get inside please stay away from me move out a couple inches Moses says down we lose blood today he brings intensity to any game he plays and you know what he was doing before this before the plane as far as he possibly can clearly got a shot of the nose and ironically Dantley in shooting the free throws there yeah this is an exhibition correct just look at Larry Bird and answer that - birthday for a legend in the league Larry legend who's got Larry Bird stories grad Doherty told me this story when he was a like second year and in the league and they went at playoffs against the Celtics down one Larry Bird's catches the ball in a deep corner and he steps back for three and before he takes it three he's like oh wow he's gone he's going for the win he's not going for the time and so Brad Daugherty runs out and he's at anything and he head fakes him and as he head fakes time now it's three - he hits him on the but with the ball and then he shoots it at the buzzer and their confidence they hit him on but as he flew by trying to block his shot I'm like there's no more confidence any one of the best biggest trash talkers that you ever seen did anybody tell you where he's going and tell you when he catch it there's none you could do about it he was and it was it was it was great trash-talking because it wasn't vulgar I mean he wasn't you know pounding his chest you can just be standing next to him you know I would jump out and try to block a shot on rotation and he says Scott Scott you're not getting a twitch why you even jump it was after the game and after years of thinking about you like man that dude but he was like cap said he was ridiculous as far as the way he played the game and that's why he's one of the greatest players ever player we planted here yeah which is where it starts right you're right period but just superior mental approach to the game myself but he was able to get his shot off on anybody I mean he was one of the first stretch force talked about a six one nine six ten Lana for shooting threes that wasn't unheard of back then I just I remember sitting in my dorm at UCLA and watching those great series between Boston and magic and bird and magic is my mentor I've said this on this show before but I patterned my game who I wanted to be like who I wanted to play like after Larry Burt's I was torn so I love them both but and have a chance to play against Larry early on in my career and then kind of be under his leadership when he took over as head coach it was a thrill for me because that was you know one of the players that you know I really idolized and pattered my game after people forget how good the younger generation needs to go back in you tube man some of the stuff that kid did man I shouldn't say kid that man that man did the bad boy but it was always and you could get racial you know go down racial lines there you know like black guys saying birds not that good you know then you'd have to defend it but you know the bird can play then magic came out and said no no he can play it's like if it was just this dividing line where people were arguing if bird was actually overrated because he was going to get awards because he was white and I just remember that was always a topic of conversation and would struck me is the first time I play and I had seen them before obviously you know he plated Magic's Midsummer Night's Magic the very first year and as met him once there but to actually like lace up my tennis shoes and getting ready for jump ball and being on the court with him when you walk up to Larry Bird it's not like he is a small six-nine he is a big six nine with long arms and I'm like looking up at him like oh my god this is like Larry I'm saying this to myself and I remember in the garden they had you know the game was closed and they were winning I'll remember this to the end of time we were shooting a free throw when I was at half-court he walks back to me and leans over and says keep working hard young fella you're gonna be a good one this is Larry Bird I mean he is mister Hoosier he's from our state saying this to me and I'm like hey I'm sorry there's certain people that you root for Larry Bird is one of those guys I will always root for Larry use his picks probably better than the players ever played the game and Larry was on the box and Robert Pera was coming down I said a pick on me the chief didn't shoot then throw a good pick so wild Larry's in the air he's got the ball right here and he's screaming their chief but not said the pigs and I'm like he's screaming as a guy in the air but not setting the pig and he makes the jumper like I couldn't believe that I can remember the night and I went out to West Street and as you said we had a couple days maybe a few too many because the Chicago cheerleading staff was in happened to be in the bar that we were at they kept sending us a few birds a few days and it was we had a few too many we got in a cab and they got us back to the hotel in about six hours later we had to be up because we're playing at 12 o'clock game night afternoon and we get to the arena [Music] so we go out in there he takes his first shot and Robert Parrish picks up three quick files so that means I got to go into the game and for a bunch of minutes that night we ended up winning the game winning the series against the bird like you said around 40 points and as we were walking off the floor I can remember Larry Bird helped me realize that I was a pretty good player it was one of those special occasions where there was a college game before an NBA game so after we played I went back to the dorm and I was watching TV at halftime Larry Bird said let me tell you so not Shaquille O'Neal fella if he comes because Larry said he's a liar I remember the game he played against the Lakers the first year that the Celtics won the World Championship with him on the team and he was ridiculous security our sportscaster played the Superman theme when he was talking about him that night after the game because he did everything points rebounds assists just steals you name it claire has such a great mind for the game and you know a great touch I had a lot of respect for him as as a competitor in a podcast interview with Vice sports former NBA all-star Jason Williams played in the 1990s for the 76ers and the New Jersey Nets and well he talked about what it was like as a rookie playing against the great Larry Bird 1990-1991 Bird was coming towards the end of his career and he was to play 38 minutes a game but he only played 60 games and you could definitely tell he'd lost some of his touch which I mean it was obviously expected since he was 38 years old he had all sorts of issues and at that exact time of 1990-1991 Bird was slowing down and at the end of his career due to frequent back issues which would hamper the legend into retirement just a year later in 1992 so it was really not very verse prime or P but if you knew anything about Lady Bird he wasn't gonna let a rookie a rookie dominate him or to be exact he wasn't gonna let her walk he stopped him not even on his last leg according to Jason Williams he felt confident enough that he could check an aging Larry Bird on the court charles barkley had come to the game hungover and Larry Bird realized that immediately he knew chuck had a big night out and Larry Bird saw this as an opportunity to trash-talk his way into a win not only did Bird start trash-talking him but he was lighting him up on the court Larry Bird was hitting three after three after three on Berkeley and he couldn't do anything to stop it I get there in a Charles Barkley comes to the game Hong over oh you know you can smell it on him boy smells like a sail up man I was like possum nuts you know so Larry Burgos comes in the game they started these oohs wound Charlie you've been out all night wrap it take this with you boom he starts lightening up Charles Barkley Larry Bird doing what Larry Bird does backs down the court after hitting it three and tells the opposition coach hey coach give me somebody else so they put in Rick Mahorn a look at witness here Oh have you got a whole answer that make two chips boy you can't check me why my man Larry Bird just talk anything about Rick Mahorn he was a pretty tough guy in the NBA he started trash-talking Mahalo to the bird says to the coach coach put somebody else on me and so he did and so on came armored Gilliam now as you can imagine very versatile and lighting him up as well so after Larry Bird started killing Gilliam he's stressed back down the core just like Larry Bird does and says hey coach put the rookie in now actually put him in the game you know he goes yeah in less than a minute he was unsure of what to do and Larry Bird continued his regardless of his efforts once Williams had enough he challenged labour to a jewel in the post which ended even worse not only was really losing confidence okay the next time I'm just gonna play him this way I'm not going to jump eighties laugh and hysterical you're not going to jump against the bird and it just gives me pause over it's another got nine points me up five down he calls they throw the ball around I'm starting to think when we run back down maybe I shouldn't play basketball maybe I wasn't that good you know I can't go home now you know it was my first stories Larry Bird is never drink beer with Larry Bird it's going it's the all-star game I forget what citizen and I'm sitting there with one of my team is Leon wood it was a great three-point shooter Lamberg comes in last he says it was what you got gonna come in second and it was just like y'all did right there it was so quiet he often didn't even like to let the team staff know he was hurt that is until later in his career when his back had deteriorated to an unbearable point in a 1982 game against the Milwaukee Bucks Larry Bird drove left to the basket and tried to make it a routine jump shot and claimed off the rim bird went up the rebound his own miss and was violently elbowed by powerful at Harvey Catchings where West sports injury was an accident by his own teammate that didn't even look too bad initially it's a bit difficult to look at this footage and say it wasn't on purpose and you actually cringe a bit when you see how hard the shot the elbow practically knocked burned out and left him lying on the floor for several minutes as he looked seriously injured from what I can tell in the tape the injury appeared to happen before the end of the third quarter because Larry Bird went back to the locker room and came back out before the period ended in the fourth quarter playing with what we now know was a fractured psychotic arts bird would score eight more points including a post at dunk to assist adding some defense and hustle plays as he was even shoved out of bounds during one of the possessions his efforts led the Celtics to a narrow win as he finished with 16 points meaning he scored half of them with a fractured arch in crunch time and even though we can't see it on the grainy 80s footage per jar was depressed inward the same way westbrook's was after Lehrer that this hard on the floor for his team he was sent to the hospital where doctors had to drill a hole into the side of his face and insert a medical tool to pop his eye garlic arch back out in social media hadn't been around with clear footage back in these days this performance would probably be a lot more famous we were shocked to see Westbrook standing on his own with the hole in his face imagine watching Larry Bird play an entire extra quarter while leading his team to the win because we always felt like you know this is a black sport you know and so you're saying a guy like Burke coming in and dominate and it was just like whoa you know this is this is something that could last a long time one time we play at Indiana and the playoffs this is the first time he's come back so he walks through the tunnel I'm gonna lay up mine all ears of loud roar you know so koozie somebody in the middle in this Larry Bird your chin Larry and this is the playoff game and it was like this is my first time seeing him this close you know so you know just he's just left or with him behind in Boston he'll always be remembered you know he can always go back to Boston and give me your best Larry Bird I wasn't around long because he was hurt when I was playing that first year second year but I just remember one quick thing we were playing again something I think I stole the ball from and I just remember him turning around saying you little pieces like to me that was Larry Bird and I was so happy because I'm like that library told me you little pieces had a toe infection it really seemed like somebody was just testing how much he could take before he finally sat out a game in the year 1985 Byrd reportedly had a serious pain going on and it stole for three weeks that he played on and he wouldn't bother to get it checked out because again he didn't like to let anybody know he was hurt finally he let the doctor look at his foot to which it would be found that bird had a toe infection that would require his toe to be cut so the infection could drain the doctor insisted that murder take a shot of Novocain that eased the pain because the infection was actually between his toes which was obviously gonna hurt a lot and then Byrd responded just give me one of those beers over there so he used that as his pain medication the doctor cut two and a half inches into his toe to let the infection drain Larry wrapped up the foot and played the exact same night unfortunately I can't find any kind of information on when this game was who was against or anything like that I can't even see how a formed but when he got done with the game the rap was obviously soaked in blood and he was in considerable pain during the game if it's anything like the other ridiculous games Byrd had after some kind of injury that should have had him sitting for days it's safe to say he performed well but the fact that he played with a two and a half inch cut into his toe with no pain meds is impressive enough for me I need to work out soon I need to work on my game the difference you know here's a profession this and he worked that he you know you bird was entering the NBA at a time when 80% of its starters were black he was joining a last-place team with a me first attitude a team that had posted the most losses in franchise history to previous season he refused to be turned into a symbol a symbol representing the great white hope some blacks were skeptical of the knight in shining armor for marketing for the you know fans pushing somebody to be a great white player I didn't think he was as good as everybody say anymore once I came in start playing with him in a 1988 game against the Cavaliers Byrd was on fire having scored 13 points in the first quarter but when he spun away from Craig Ehlo with it clearly into the basket nelle curry of all people would rotate and hit bird with a violent elbow to the side of his face kind of ironic that before Dell was raising the greatest shooter of all time he was apparently trying to take out the best one of his generation anyways bird sustained a fractured I orbiter that again kept him on the floor for minutes he went on to the locker room for treatment came back out like he had done six years earlier only this time he would score 18 more points to put the finishing touches on a thirty one point game that included five rebounds three assists and 4 steals on 11 of 20 shooting but the stats weren't even the most impressive part according to Larry he played the rest of this game with double vision and as he described it he saw two baskets for the rest of the game leaving him to guess which one he had to shoot at but that's not the best part either not only did he like Cleveland up but we know double vision doesn't go away after one game as we've already established if there was any other option than to say the game out that's what Byrd was gonna do he ended up playing four more games with Caguas and I'm not even sure anybody really knew he wore and in those games he scored 36 30 28 and 34 points in typical Larry Bird fashion he shot a staggering 55% from the field with that violent elbow fractured eye Orbiter goggles Ali scoring hitting on over half of his field goal attempts again he's Larry Bird and Larry Bird is from another planet just to add some chords of the story apparently after the Cleveland game where he initially broke the orbiter he noticed his nose bleeding after the game he went to blow it and his eyeballs down a bit just a typical day in the life of Larry Bird I guess was a tie game they had the ball DJ was stalling the basketball you know Larry was kind of standing I was brought up behind him like denying him the ball and they call the timeout he turned around looked at me and said I must go red hero and you you know I know you where I'll be ready [Applause] [Music] two seconds on the clock [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he shouted turnaround jump shot I just looked back in the fall just where they hid all MIT and he said I told you so this sounds 161 games in Birds rookie season a year later he would guide Boston to the first of his three titles three years later he would are in the first of his three consecutive MVPs he was cocky he was arrogant and he was driven by being the best player on the best team to back out and have a beer after the inning in a locker room and we was talking you know be maybe talking his life you know lit you up and I just always say that you know like to my friends it's like really that good nice to say like yeah as the dad is like wild played against another time that was when I was playing him here like 42 kid was a freshman he told Shawn Kemp that I'm the best F player Delacour football Indiana she shot a three-pointer in his face all there was like playing in New Jersey and you know everyone's all jacked up for opening night and getting ready for the game and Casey's giving us our motivational speech to go out on the court and get ready start the season off on the right foot Larry's underneath the tape the trainer's tape table Italian Casey Shuster hints together Casey's giving us the speech I've been laughing inside him concentrate on the game you know he's just a fun guy to play with obviously some up Larry now at versus out to retire and then you know now he's fine he's really I mean a hell of a person then he was pure basketball pure athlete pure star pure Boston [Music] one time we didn't have you didn't have Rahl getting a plane and I didn't know the Larry wasn't gonna play and I'm like onto the plane and Dave walks Bionicle where Dave was I mean I said well this planes going down for sure and he does say think about it as tomorrow's headlines are going to read bird lifts mr. Larry Bird and we've got some quotes for you yes so this is a game from April of 1983 and and Wilkins is a rookie this was a story first appeared the Boston Herald we found it on USA Today so Niq says one of the first times I ever played against bird I went out for the opening tip I went to shake his hand and Burges stood there and looked at me stone faced with his hands behind his back that's that's already so far so good I like birds been in the league I guess this is probably his fourth year and he's having none of this from the rookie who wants to shake his hand yeah Niq goes on I was like whoa then we're getting ready for the tip and he says to me you don't belong in this league Holmes by the way I miss Holmes as a thing people say not Larry Holmes not alaria you don't belong in this league Holmes I couldn't believe it but it happened so fast I didn't know what to think Niq continues then they had the ball and I was on bird and bird says I don't know why they got you garden me Holmes you can't guard me and then whap he had a three then he came down again and said they made a mistake putting you on me Holmes and he took another three just for a brief moment imagined Larry Bird saying Holmes pretty pretty great idea so now I'm hot it says bird I mean I'm hot I'm steaming little while later he says I come back down on a break and he was backpedaling and I just went right after I'm jumped up and he tried to challenge but I took that right through the rim he fell and he hit the basket support oh yeah dramas building that's right he got up and said I like you rookie abandoning Holmes I like you rookies you've got guts I was happy for a second and then he said but I'm still going for 40 on you tonight and then the Big Finish then he paused Niq does this is the Boston Herald then Niek paused the story step back and smiled but I got it will consent he only scored 39 murd 18 of 22 I mean nailed bats bonkers I mean look at those guys it's such a it's just a beautiful like moment in time those years this bird trash-talking story comes directly from Sports Illustrated article in 1983 subjects were a tough first round playoff series against the Hawks the series was tied one to one after a tough game in Atlanta with Dominique Elmer to just over 18 shooting 15 points in those days the first-round series was the best two out of three and the signing game was back in Boston this was the famous tree Rowland Heights Danny Ainge game people were breaking up the fight and herb got in Wilkins face and does really go back to the bench to sit down hope you have a nice summer and welcome that pretty pissed after that and he had to be held back so I'm sure worse a little bit never had Birds Illustrated he's just a look so you gotta take your shots wherever you can get on it says that he was a better shooter before the NBA why yeah he really was he he was playing softball with his buddy Neil heat and he actually was filling in for his college buddy Neil Heaton at this point Larry is done with school he's doing his student teaching doing driver's ed and some other things at a high school local high school it's nearly Heaton asked him to come in and fill in for his softball team so he said sure well he shows up and who's on the other team but his brother so Larry's playing out in the outfield and his brother hits this kind of spinning looping ball almost like a Tim Wakefield knuckleball it's just spinning all over the place now Larry tries to go down and make a basket catch and his finger goes all the way back and he's like man wow it really hurts he looked down at his finger was completely dislocated and mangled and you know he really was bawling he had to stop playing right away and his brother came over and and almost vomited just looking at him it was really really bad so you know they took him the emergency room they they strapped it up they taped it up and whatever and bird went out the next morning went morel mushroom hunting because it was hunting season big deal down in Indiana do the morel mushroom hunting and by the time it came out of the woods late in the day they said where you been they're looking for you you've shattered your knuckle you need surgery right away so now remember he's been drafted by the Celtics during this point but he has not signed a contract yet so he's his finger is in a bad way he has to have major surgery with clips put in and pins and everything else and he never tells the Celtics this has happened but you know sooner or later they get word and they summoned him to Boston and and the trainer examines him and says then the team doctor examines him and they say to Red Auerbach this guy's damaged goods now Reds like really so he says come on Larry get dressed so Larry puts on his stuff red throws in the ball he goes out you start shooting from all over the floor he's hitting from everywhere throws him a few bounce passes this has him throws a few overhead passes and he said you look fine to me kid and Bird said great but bird to this day will tell you he's never had the same feel for the basketball since he injured that finger he said I've never been able to feel the ball quite the same way again so as great as he was in the NBA pre softball career our bird might have even been greater Wow defeated Boston here you see the smile on Larry Bird space a chicken has got some posters raised in the endzone oh we can see it right underneath the young the goalposts but Larry Bird showing the true super story how'd you liked it there you go that's a real test of concentration air yeah Larry says in your face [Music] nice work very pretty with the stuff of legend for years to come they will be the subject of conversations that begin with the words remember when remember when birds stole the ball against the Pistons remember the duel with Dominique in Game seven and 88 remember the three-pointer that finished Houston an 81 throughout the history of the NBA there have been players who are great at one aspect of the game deadly shooters outstanding ball Hawks or shot blockers and so forth there have also been some although far fewer in number who were outstanding multi-dimensional players but Larry Bird is one of only a handful of NBA stars who excelled in every facet of the game shooting passing rebounding defending and we expected it of him we expected him to always do everything well we expected him to hit his shots to grab his rebounds to pile up his assists but it was the extraordinary measure of the man that despite the unusually high standards we judged him by he's so regularly exceeded those expectations he had the ability to lift his game to an even higher level just when his team needed it the most and that's what defines greatness in any athlete not just the ability to pile up numbers but the ability to come through in the clutch and under pressure he had a quality that went beyond his skills he was a winner he was a champion

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Views: 890,800

Rating: 4.6617503 out of 5

Keywords: Larry Bird, Larry Legend, The Boston Celtics, Boston Celtics, Boston, Celtics, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird Stories, Lakers Celtics, Larry

Id: Ok3ZB6NaV8s

Length: 32min 35sec (1955 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 27 2018