Larry is simply the BEST ALL-AROUND player EVER!!! He made his teammates better more than anyone else. I will take Larry in his prime over anyone even Michael!!!
This team just fed off each other. DJ fed Bird, Bird fed Parrish and McHale, and Walton fed Bird (1:56!!). When they were healthy, the Celtics were damn near unbeatable.
This team was telepathic. DJ and Bird were connected and Danny Ainge is also underrated. The offense revolved around Bird but he was so versatile that he could beat you scoring, passing or rebounding. Add Walton and the results were $$. Oh, and did I mention that the two others (McHale & Parish) are HOFer's. It's a tribute to the parity and talent in the NBA then that the Celtics didn't repeat every year during the '80's.
What a solid player ever game surrounded by great unselfish player that know what they have in Larry bird give him the ball because if you work to get ope. He will give it back if not he’ll just take over!!!😎😳😊✅🇺🇸
The '86 Celtics... up there with the '96 Bulls, 2018 Warriors, '83 76ers, '87 Lakers, 2014 Spurs... BUT on this day the Nets D looked like they'd rather have been just about anywhere on the planet except the Boston parkay.
2.05 the basketball IQ that these 2 guys show in this play is something tha will work even in a 1000 years. I don't care about how athletic it will gets, because as long as you're able to completely fool people, there's no stronger calf or trecipe that will keep you from being embarassed.
Great point!. I see eye to eye with you. Bird's game is timeless, much like Bach's music is timeless. Bird's mind is universal. His game is good into infinity.
2:53 That pass to Parish... HOW ?? Bird just shot it out of his hand like a canon. Zero motion or inertia to propel the ball ?? I guess just a super subtle wrist flick, yet with miraculous force (SOMEHOW) to zip it past defenders.
Picture this scenario: Bird stays healthy from 86 til 92, no back problem's, no double Achilles surgery missing a season, Kevin McHale doesn't break his foot in 87 (that led to problems), Len Bias and Reggie Lewis don't die, most likely what would have happened is Celtics win it all in 87 making them back to back, are definitely contenders for the NBA championship up to 92 when Bird retired, so realistically speaking you could say after winning it in 86, Celtics would no doubt win it a few more times, let's say 4, that would have given Bird 7 chip's, he would have won more than Jordan and Magic and the bad boy Shitston's never would have made it to the finals during the Bird era, never mind even winning one. Michael Cooper recently said in one of his podcast shows said himself if Bias hadn't died, the Celtic's would have continued their dynasty, not the Lakers and he said quote unquote, "Celtic's would have beaten his Lakers in 87" because he said Lenny Bias was that fucking good because he so him play in some type of basketball tournament years prior and couldn't believe how good he was, he said his vertical leap he could touch the top of the backboard. He compared him to Michael Jordan and James Worthy, Coop went on to say, the Celtic's would have won several more championships and he also mentioned Reggie Lewis would have played a big part in it also,,,,,, I'm figuring God looked at it as being so unfair and had to do something about it,,,, just imagine, just imagine if this had happened, would have been fucking insane!
dp233332 Dj was and still is the most under-rated player ever...his vision was superb...elite defender...clutch as anything...and basketball IQ was off the chart...the play at the end of game 5...Bird steal in 87 ECF...DJ streaks to the hoop and makes a brutally tough shot over 6'10 Laimbeer...I always felt that DJ was who made that play...see also his play in game 7 against the Bucks...love DJ...everything a Celtic should be
Bird was too big & strong for most small forwards, too quick (yes he was), had too much stamina (before his back gave out) and too good of a shooter for the big guys to stay with. Oh, and he was a pretty good passer, too.
At first you look at the score and think 'The freaking Nets kept it close with the iconic '86 Celtics IN Boston Garden?' But they were a decent Nets team looking back- this was their last playoff appearance after a solid five-year run before spiraling into the basketball abyss The way Bird played, it's remarkable the Nets kept it under double digits.
