"Larry Bird Basketball" was the most popular sport in Terre Haute, the city where Indiana State University is located
In his final year of college, Bird led the Figs to invincibility in the NCAA, winning a petite 33 consecutive games until they met in the championship game. Michigan State's varsity basketball team led by a 6-9 point guard named Magic Johnson. It was one of the most recognizable Final Fours in NCAA history and one of the most watched college basketball games in the 25 years that followed. Although the Figs ultimately lost the Final Four, Byrd won the Naismith Award for College Basketball Player of the Year as well as the John Wooden Award, and he is also the 5th highest scoring player in NCAA history. In the years they had Bird, the Figs produced an impressive 81-13 record.
The Boston Celtics drafted Bird with the sixth overall pick back in 1978, and at the time, they believed Bird was fully equipped to play in the NBA and strongly urged him to forgo his final year of college and go straight to professional basketball. Bird refused, but it was worth it to wait one more year. 77-78 Celtics had a record of 32 wins and 50 losses, the worst since 1949, and the 78-79 season saw the Celtics set a new low of 29 wins and 53 losses as Bird delayed joining the NBA for a year to finish his studies. But with Bird's arrival in Boston in 1979, the greatest turnaround in NBA league history was marked.
The Celtics won exactly 32 more games the following 79-80 season, going 61-21 and regaining the division title. In a total of ***82 games, rookie Bird topped the team in scoring (21 points per game), rebounding (10.4 per game), breakups (143), and minutes played (2,955), while finishing second on the team in assists (4.5 per game) and 3-pointers (58). Bird was named Rookie of the Season and made his first All-Star team despite a stunning performance by Magic Johnson, who entered the NBA the same year and helped the Lakers win a championship.
In the following off-season, the Boston Celtics acquired center Robert Parish and sixth man Kevin McHale in what is considered one of the best value trades in NBA history, and they, along with Bird and Cedric Maxwell, formed a superstar front line that finally brought the Celtics to the 80-81 championship. The Celtics were the first team to win the championship in the 80-81 season. The Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers was an all-time classic, with the Celtics first trailing 1:3, and then on the precipice of a three-set comeback. In the Finals, the Celtics beat Moses Malone's Houston Rockets 4-2. Malone-led Houston Rockets. Bird, in his second year in the NBA, also led the team in scoring (21.2 points per game), rebounding (10.9), blocked shots (161) and minutes played (3,239).
Bird's skills not only drew throngs of fans to the Boston Garden to see him play, they were equally packed when he played on the road. Together with Magic, he saved a previously dismal NBA ball market and helped the league realize its new slogan: The Incredible NBA Show. In just two seasons, fans, coaches, and players know what the name Bird means: big numbers and clutch performances. The focus and composure he exemplified in the game made him hard to beat, and the elite shooting skills he developed from a young age helped him be invincible on offense. No other shooter in that era was as good and consistent as Bird.
Bird was the embodiment of Celtics glory, a player who combined grace, confidence and hard work, and who loved to rise to the challenge of playing under pressure while helping his teammates do their best.
Bird was named to the NBA's second defensive team three consecutive times from the 1981-82 season, even though he looked a little slow and wasn't the best one-on-one defender. But with superb anticipation and jamming made him a good defender. His insight into the game allows him to always act a beat ahead of his opponents.
Bird was voted regular-season MVP three years in a row, starting with the 1983-84 season, the third person in NBA history to win the award after Russell and Chamberlain. In the 1984 Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Bird and the Celtics ended up winning the decisive Game Seven. It was also the first time he and the Magic had met in the playoffs since the 1979 NCAA Final Four. Bird scored 34 points in Game 5 to help the Celtics win 121-103, and 20 points and 12 rebounds in the pivotal Game 7 to help his team win 111-102. With averages of 27.4 points and 14 rebounds in seven games, Bird deserved to be the Finals MVP.
In the 1984-85 season, Bird's scoring average reached a new high of 28.7 points per game, which ranked second in the league, and was the second-highest scoring season of Bird's entire career. This was the second highest scoring season of Bird's entire career. A personal record of 60 points was set in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. Bird also finished the season second in the league in three-point shooting at 131-of-56 for a 42.7 percent clip. The Celtics ended up going 2-4 against the Lakers in the Finals that year due to injuries to Bird's elbow and finger, but Bird still received his second regular-season MVP trophy at the end of the season.
The following season, the Celtics won their 16th championship in franchise history, and Bird reached the pinnacle of his career. His individual honors during the year included regular-season MVP, Finals MVP, Sports Personality of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. He ranked among the league leaders in three-point field goal and free throw percentage, in addition to all other personal statistics. He even traveled to the All-Star Weekend three-point shooting contest to perform a miraculous shooting stunt to get his first three-point shooting contest title. Under Bird's leadership, the Celtics had the best record in franchise history with 67 wins and 15 losses. In the Finals, Bird once again helped his team beat the Houston Rockets 4-2 with a quasi-triple-double average of 24.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.5 assists, including 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the pivotal Game 6, making him without a doubt the Finals MVP for the second time.
Bird's performance during the 1986-87 season was just as stunning. He became the first player in NBA history to shoot over 50 percent (actually 52.5 percent) from the field and over 90 percent (actually 91.0 percent) from the free throw line in a single season. And the season after that, he proved in classic Bird fashion that it was no flash in the pan - shooting 52.7% from the field and 91.6% from the free throw line to break another record. Meanwhile, he's maintained his personal numbers of 28+ points + 9+ rebounds + 6+ assists per game over those two seasons.
As we know, Bird was a crafty defensive player, and one of his most famous performances came in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals against the Detroit Pistons, when the Celtics trailed by one point, 106-107, with five seconds left in the game and Detroit had the serve. Bird predicted that Thomas's sideline ball to be sent to Ranbir, grabbed the ball before Ranbir shot to break the ball and quickly distributed to teammates Dennis Johnson, by the latter shot whistling ball to turn defeat into victory. The Celtics eventually beat the Pistons in seven games to become Eastern Conference champions and reach their fourth consecutive Finals.
Bird was already a 30-year-old veteran at this point, with mounting back and foot injuries preventing his dream of winning a fourth championship ring. But he still put on superhuman performances from time to time during games.
In the 1987-88 season, Bird became the first player in Celtics history to score 40-plus points and rebound 20-plus in a single game, a 42-point, 20-rebound effort against the Indiana Pacers. His 29.9 scoring average that year was also a career high. During the season, Bird also achieved his feat of winning three consecutive 3-point contests, a record only later reached by Craig Hodges of the Chicago Bulls (1990-92).
In that year's Eastern Conference semifinal against the Atlanta Hawks, Bird and the Hawks' Dominique Wilkins had a classic fourth-quarter scoring duel, with Bird scoring 20 points in the final stanza to give the Celtics the win -- even though he was suffering from severe bronchitis.
Bird played only six games in the 88-89 season because of surgery to remove a heel spur. The following season, Bird made 71 consecutive free throws, the third-highest mark in NBA history. Bird missed another 22 games in the 90-91 season due to back neuralgia, an ailment that ultimately forced Bird to opt for retirement in 1992. In Game 5 of the first round of the 90-91 playoffs against the Indiana Pacers, Bird fell hard in the second quarter resulting in injuries to his face and back. But he returned to the court in the third quarter to help the Celtics eventually win 124-121. Doctors operated on his back after the season, but it didn't seem to do much good.
The 1991-92 season was Bird's last, as he missed a full 37 games with a back injury. In a nationally televised game against the Portland Trail Blazers in March, Bird was Mr. Key -- he scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and scored the Celtics' final nine points, including a game-changing 3-pointer with two seconds left in the game! After two overtimes, Boston ended up winning 152-148. Bird finished the game with 49 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals.
"Whenever Bird is on the floor, miracles are possible." So said Drexler, a superstar on the Portland Trail Blazers, to the Boston Express after the game.
If there was one glaringly cheap mistake in Bird's career, it came in Game 4 of his final playoff season against the Cleveland Cavaliers, when Bird missed a routine overtime layup that led to a 112-114 loss for the Celtics. And the Cleveland Cavaliers ended up eliminating the Celtics by a final score of 4-3. Bird was unable to play in three of the four games the Celtics lost because of a back injury.
It's time for Bird to talk about retirement, but before he does, he has one more wish to fulfill, and that is to join the 1992 U.S. Dream Team that won the gold medal in basketball at the Barcelona Olympics, a perfect ending to his career as a professional player.
When the 1992-93 season began to approach, Bird made the final decision, and on August 18 he officially announced his retirement to the media. In 897 games over 13 seasons, Bird*** scored 21,791 points, 8,974 rebounds, 5,695 assists, and averaged 24.3 rebounds, 10.0 assists, and 6.3 ppg. He shot 49.6 percent from the field and 88.6 percent from the free-throw line for his career.