The Best Larry Bird Story Ever Told

as much as analytics have evolved the way we think about basketball there will always be an element of the game that you will never understand by looking at a bunch of numbers on a spreadsheet because you would think that Larry Bird's best game was his 60 point shooting Clinic against the Atlanta Hawks Larry Bird scored 60. it is the greatest shooting exhibition I've ever seen in my life or his near quadruple double versus the Utah Jazz where he set out the entire fourth quarter because his team was winning by so much I remember one night in Utah Larry had a triple double and he had nine steals so you could get a quadruple double which never happens only been a couple in NBA history came out of the game in the third quarter because they were leading by so much I ran down to the other end where he was sitting on the bench I said hey get back out there you could get a quadruple double it's only been done like twice in history he said get the hell out of here scoop I don't care about that Larry Bird finished that game with 30 points 12 rebounds 10 assists and nine steals one steal away from a quadruple double because padding his stat sheet just for the sake of doing it was beneath him but in the 1986 NBA Finals versus the Houston Rockets Larry Bird called Game 6 the best game he ever played you know everybody's always asked my best game but I would take that 90 of the night out yes to reach the NBA Finals the Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 thus ruining the Lakers Celtics rematch that the world wanted to see on this last second shot so has Mitch cupcak McRae will inbound one second on the clock [Applause] a miraculous shot by Ralph Sampson off balance has given the Houston Rockets the Western Conference Championship and a trip to Boston for the NBA World title well we always wanted to play the Lakers there's no question about it but but Houston was an upcoming team with Elijah Juan and they had a very good team and after four games of the NBA Finals the Celtics were leading the series three games to one but in game five the Rockets went back to their home court and literally fought for their lives and now Dennis Johnson Anna melee is broken out here a melee has broken out the benches of empty and they have brought police onto the floor the bottom of the pile is Walton and Samson right now it all started with Samson and Jerry seester and they're still going at it and there's blood you can't be doing that I mean I thought it was distasteful from both sides I think that you just got to play the game it was a game that we wanted to win we want to get the series over with because anything can happen if you stay out there long enough you get guys injured we were better than that we should have I don't know about sweeping them but we should never lost game five we got pushed around in game five and then we had practice the next day on Saturday everybody was really quiet but there was one person who wasn't worried at all and that was number 33 and I remember him on a Saturday afternoon in practice saying that we need to rebounds we're going to get rebounds we need this we're going to get that we're going to be we're going to be fine Larry's bird assured the world we're going to be fine and so we get into the game Larry's out doing his pregame warm-up and we're all in the locker room stretching and working it out and then Larry comes into the locker when he looks at us all gathered all our attention he says guys I was just out there in the crowd I was an hour and a half before game time and the crowd is already in and they're ready and right now they want the blood of the Houston Rockets but I'm telling you right now that if we don't deliver today they're gonna want our blood now let's get going who's coming with me I don't think anybody could have been used that day we were on we made some uh mistakes early but the energy was there the excitement was there and we knew if we continue to play hard we're going to win I stumped it up it was one of the worst performers Larry had to call a timeout because Akeem had stolen the ball from me a bunch of times and went right we had a big lead Larry and Kevin were playing great and then Keem just started stealing the ball from me and I was just bobbling everything Rockets have played in the prior games good defense making the Celtics use a lot of time in the background by Elijah thank you and Larry calls timeout he walks over to Casey Jones and says Casey you got one choice you can either take me out or you can take Walton out right now [Laughter] but aside from Bill Walton's early blunders the Celtics proceeded to show why they had the greatest home court advantage of all time because after Ralph Sampson punched Celtic player Jerry seasting in game five the Celtics crowd as you can imagine didn't like Ralph Simpson at all and they made sure that he knew it into the action on the road and the Celtics have won 40 straight here Samson turn around over McHale 's played good defense early on Paris gets free and there was this one elderly woman who was maybe five feet tall and maybe weighed 80 pounds and she had a front row Courtside seat and she brought a sign a sign that was bigger than she was and she said hey Ralph and she's referring to the big fight and with Jerry seasting self and she goes hey Ralph I'm five feet tall and 92 years old you want to fight me too and this lady just stood in the front on the edge of the court she never sat down she just yelled and screamed at Ralph the whole time Boston only lost one game at home that entire season in part because of that Celtics home crowd but mainly because Larry Bird was the best player on the planet and in game six he showed exactly why what do we get on that Sunday afternoon we got what Larry Bird maintains to this day was the game in which he was and I quote him most prepared ever to play all I know is this prepared whatever degree he says he was it was one of the greatest individual performances I think it may have been his greatest game [Applause] gave up the good low post position Danny Haynes missing McHale and bird underneath here's bird and a basket it was spectacular because in a game of a lot of winners of the genetic Library I mean you had a Keem you had Ralph who were just brilliant you had Kevin McHale you had the chief and here was Larry Larry got every rebound Larry made every steal he made every pass he just literally did everything and made the rest of the world seem inconsequential co-shooter in the series McCann [Applause] Bill Walton said number 33 had gone out and painted the perfect Larry Bird Masterpiece and it wasn't even about the numbers it was about his effort on both ends of the floor a seemingly Lost Art for superstars of today it was all over the court double teaming and getting back to his assignment in the passing Lanes forcing turnovers left and right and Diving for every loose ball but the moment that best describes his effort that night was when he Dove on the floor and forced to jump off against seven-foot Hall of Fame Center Hakeem Olajuwon and without batting an eye Larry Bird who wouldn't impress anybody with his jumping ability did this but bird has that Savvy in the timing and the Celtics have it he got a jump ball against Elijah one now he can't do that but he did it okay he he was omnipresent defensively he anticipated where they wanted the ball he was like a one-man it was a one-man Zone frankly he was going crazy but he was everywhere throws it right into the hands of bird there's a four on one break for the Celtics and aim Michael Jordan summed it up perfectly when he was told to list Larry Bird's weaknesses MJ said Larry Bird can't jump and he's not that quick but he makes up for it by using his head analyzing the opponent it makes him better than the competition consequently he doesn't have a weakness [Applause] being in the arena for that game and the way he played and how he was just everywhere on the court like a free safety just a freaking Maniac for three and a half quarters and you look at the numbers and it's like ah 29 10 and 12 something like that but it wasn't like he didn't shoot lights out um his per wasn't the best of any bird performance but like I have never seen anybody have an imprint on that game scoring less than 30 points fairly well dick but Peterson may have nightmares God and Larry [Applause] Larry Larry Bird outside shot is missed by Robert Reed Ames the bird pulls up in the line level finds an opening try to change hands his bird three on one Boston passed back first oh my gosh and then the second half started and it was just phenomenal because he just kept going excuse I post stuff about 18 20 feet away and you get the ball and they're in poor Rodney McRae or whoever they would have on it Robert Reed I'm sure they tried Ralph and Akeem on them it didn't matter he could have put all Five Guys on him and they couldn't stop it isolating one-on-one McRae didn't go for the fake pass back the numbers won't show it it was it was a very nice routine triple-double 29 11 12 something like that and he just totally dominated the game in every way and of course to highlight the artistic highlight was when he on the right box zigzag dribbles out to the corner to turn around and hit a three and go you know and when they were pouring it on in the second half Dennis Johnson walk two seconds on the shot clock bird wants a three out of it he gets it you dribble into the three-point line and then without even looking he would just throw it back up there and then run down the court with his arms in the air and his finger pointed up he said we're number one and the Celtic crowds just said here we go Celtics there we go it was absolutely fantastic Larry Bird the greatest player I ever played with by far the Celtics dominated that game and Larry Bird was rightfully crowned Finals MVP Larry Bird said that was the only game I thought I was totally prepared for as far as the focus was concerned none better never I should have quit right there performance the dominant but Larry did on that afternoon in June of 86. I would love just that tape to be shown to every high school and college coach or every Pro coach now just for everybody to say how you basketball better than this you can't and after that series Hakeem Olajuwon called Larry Bird the best all-around player that I've ever seen this Celtics Championship but the finishing touches on a perfect year where Larry Bird also won the regular season MVP finished with the home record of 50 and 1 and was awarded the associated presses athlete of the year across all sports the 1986 Boston Celtics were the best team ever with the best player ever having his best game ever it really gets no better than that all year and win 50 and lose only one on the parquet floor you know everybody's always asked my best game but I would take that 99 out yes

Channel: Prime Larry Bird

Views: 357,397

Keywords: NBA, NBA History, Larry Bird, NBA Legends, GOAT

Id: lAbs1bqhzio

Length: 12min 59sec (779 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023