Bird deserved Finals MVP. Maxwell was 17.7 pts 9.5 reb and 2.8 ast. Bird was 15.3 pts 15.3 reb and 7.0 ast. Listen to announcers talking about how clutch Bird was - he hit two big J's, fought for the big rebound-great lefty outlet, and threw a beautiful out of bounds pass to Maxwell for a layup, and then the clincher 3 pointer. Media liked Max better as Bird at this point was unfriendly with the press and still shy. Bird probably didn't care but he was best player.
yea it was horseshit to me to give it to Maxwell. his fg% was great, but a lot of those came on passes from bird lol. bird almost matched moses fuckin Malone rebound for rebound, was only 2 points less than ced, and dished out 7 assists a game, and was clearly their best player. and to top it off in the clinching game bird had a massive game. whatever, bird probably didn't give a shit. all he cared about was winning and beatin that ass. Maxwell is, I think, the only player in nba history to win fmvp without so much as a single all star appearance. he was a decent solid player but nothing special. bird was their leader, and the only reason they even were there is b/c of him. it's funny that idiots say b/c he was white bird got the benefit of the doubt when in many ways it was the complete opposite. reverse racism and the fact that he pretty much ignored/had disdain for the media made them overlook him here for example, or in earlier mvp's. bird was the best player in the league from 81-86 without a shadow of a doubt. he probably should have 4 mvp's atleast. and the funniest thing was him finishing 3rd in mvp in 87. 3rd? behind mj's overrated ass and 40 wins for the bulls? PLEASE. media has ALWAYS loved scoring. it's why magic got overlooked in mvp races too.
Totally robbed. He was huge in this game and closed out Houston beautifully. He avg'd two less points but five more rebs and 4 more asts AND was super clutch in this game. Stupid Max got it.
Bird averaged 15 rebs in this finals only one less than a prime Moses Malone - one of the greatest rebounders of all time and multiple reb titles. And larry was a sophomore.
bird should be mvp of these series..eventhough not in great shooting form but he avg 15.5p 15.5reb and 7 assits...this is another proof that bird wasn't only shooting and scoring but he could dominate in so many ways!
I used to think MJ was the best player ever and he's my favorite player - but I think Larry Bird was the best player ever after seeing all of the RU-vid videos and remembering him play in the 80s. I hated what happened in 87 Finals - the 85 Finals was unfortunate - but I can't think of anyone more clutch than Larry Bird. Eyes on the back of his head.
I have to say I think MJ is the best ever. If you look at the playoffs, they met twice, MJ and the Bulls vs Bird and the Celtics. Both times MJ was swept by the Celtics. So MJ is 0-6, losing all 6 games to the Celtics. Obviously, it's not a close comparison, MJ is the greatest ever. (Andrew Toney used to light up Bird and the Celtics all the time)
@@jadentrez I always remember Kevin McHale sprinting off the bench while tearing off his warmups. His zeal was memorable. Similar to Carlton Fisk waiving the ball fair.
I agree with everyone about bird being the MVP, but I think the idea was maxwell deserved one for what he had done for the franchise kind of like pierce in 08. Ray Allen should have won that MVP but it was pierce who stayed through all those years
I'm not understanding your comment. Maxwell's first season was 1978. So he was there for 1977-78 and 1978-79 before Bird joined the team. I'm not seeing the "through all those years" that you mentioned. Granted '78 and '79 were two of their worst seasons. But he had been their first round pick in '77 and wasn't likely to be jumping ship just two years in. And then, the Celtics drafted Bird first round in '78.
The 84 series gets a lot of accolades and 86 was probably the best Bird team but they came back from 3-1 against a great Sixers team and then won the championship. It would have been better if they beat the Lakers.
The only thing Maxwell did better than Bird that series was scoring/FG percent and that was largely b/c Bird set him up for lay-up after lay-up. The voters back then clearly weren't very connected to the series.
You know, I was just thinking how much the Joker reminds me of Moses Malone. The only difference is Moses was a black hole. Joker can pass. If Moses could pass like Joker they would have won this series.
If you watch the last 2 min of this game, you should easily be able to understand why Bird was the superior player over LeBron. Bird could score anywhere, with anyone guarding him. And if you over played, he would make a perfect pass to the open guy. Sorry, I just don't see LeBron doing any of this. And I like LeBron (as a player). I think he's the best in the world, even today at his age, but he didn't compare to Larry. Just the clutch shots alone show you better was the better player.
Bird isnt even in the same stratosphere as lebron. Bird is by far better than every other small forward (KD being his only comp for the 2nd best sf spot) but a comparison between him and lebron is so unfairly in lebrons favour that its embarrassing to compare the two. Bird Championship series stats: (15, 15, 7 41%) (27, 14, 3 48%) (24, 9, 9 48%) Lebron Championship Series stats: (28, 10, 7 48%) (25, 11, 7 45%) (30, 11, 9 50%) (30 12 8 60%)
He had some tough games offensively, which was kind of a disappointment after his great series against the 76ers. Anyway, he should have gotten the finals MVP award of course, he's always been consistent with his rebounding, playmaking and clutch plays.
This was only the second year of the 3 pt line in the NBA. AND it was a lower percentage shot being attempted by players who hadn't grown up specifically practicing it. A sure 2 pt is more than a missed 3.
J13 “wrong to be wrong”. My opinion. You’re just mad cuz I don’t agree with you that Jordan is the goat. You are the weird one. Tired of you Jordan fans in his cult following
Larry Bird did NOT deserve MVP in this series. This was the first game since game 2 that he scored double-digits. With the series tied 1-1, Bird couldn’t even score double-digits for 3 straight games, yet Boston won 2 of them because Maxwell carried them on his back (especially in game 5 with the series tied at 2-2). Maxwell was the rightful MVP of this series.
