Bird in his prime playing on the greatest team ever, 1986 Celtics. 43 points in 29 minutes of basketball greatness, 17/24 FG, 5/6 3PT FG. Celtics won the game 126:96. www.basketball-...
I was there. We used to show up about 45 minutes early to the civic center whenever they played in Hartford to watch Bird hit about 50 shots in a row during warm-ups.
in '64 we saw the Lakers in an exhibition game, and Rudy LaRusso, who was the Power Forward, not the shooting small forward, who was Elgin Baylor, took and hit several hook shots in a row from deep, which awed us kids. When he moved to another team w/o a scorer like Baylor, he got more shots & his scoring average almost doubled. He averaged 21 points per game his last year with Golden State, and retired at the top of his game because his home, wife, and baby were in Los Angeles. He later became a sports agent.
How incredible was it live??!! I lived in Hartford was a huge Larry fan and Saw him at the Garden once!! The Celtics passing game was mind blowing, everyone was hot, DJ the wizard, Chief the super cool big man, McHale with the wing span of an eagle with moves left u speechless, Ainge quick as a cat, and a bench who could start elsewhere!! Then the Legend puts on a show like a maestro!! His rainbow and step backs were a marvel, passing jaw dropping trash talking his way to 39pts, 12 rebounds and 7 assists!! The crowd was louder than a rock concert and infectious!! Best times ever!
I have always said that Bird had some really grat, impressive, unique games at the Civic Center games in Hartford and New Orleans. There was something about those venues.
Larry Bird is the greatest perimeter player of all-time by far!! He just scored 43 points off of only 7 dribbles!!! Watch it and count it. He literally dribbled the ball 7 times on all his scoring plays. Name me one guy today that can score 43 points on 7 dribbles. Kobe Bryant just scored 60 the other day and probably dribbled the ball well over 500 times. LOL. All you people who didn't know need to recognize Bird as the all-time greatest.
The Wilson you keeping it 100 , Bird was so far ahead thinking wise it was unbelievable, whomever says otherwise is just plain stupid or don't know anything about basketball, they say he couldn't jump or maybe he's soft..........got to give up to beantown, they signed Bird knowing he was playing another year a ISU, shrewdest move EVER by the cigar smoking man with all those chips hanging from the rafters!
Great observation. Larry Legend is also one of the fastest reacting players I ever saw. When they say he was slow, Maybe his legs were slower than some but his ability to react and counteract is super quick. That gave him a huge edge.
Bird had so many skills refined to a high level. He’s one of the greatest shooters ever, he averaged 10 rebounds a game for his career which is a testament to his IQ, toughness, and nose for the ball, and he’s one of the best passers in history. No wonder he talked a lot of crap and backed it up. After all, he played the mental game as well as any player in history.
Exactly there are so many little things I consider him to be the best ever at: off hand play, head fakes, ball fakes (and using said off hand play, and head and ball fakes to turn offensive rebounds into baskets , and plus ones 1/2 the time. There are also bigger skills he can be considered the best ever at : shooting (not just 3s, but in, out, post, off balance, mid air, etc.), clutch play, toughness, mental acuity, and trash talking
IMO, Mr. Bird was one of the most elegant G.O.A.T. players in NBA, mostly for his admirable skill to make every play he made so easy! Other star players were more explosive, kind of bullying brawlers showing their “macho” attitude, but no Mr. Bird. Fantastic player!
There is no one, it just goes to show Bird was in it to win, not to put up great numbers to put him at the top so everyone could see that and praise him, Michael Jordan is one of those players that wants to pump in sixty a night so he'd be at the top for everyone to look at him and be like wow! Jordan is the best! LB could careless, it was all about keeping his teammates involved and winning championship's
Larry was a no frills nothing fancy blue collar superstar. He seemed to do everything well. He shot the ball so effortlessly it was almost boring.And then you look up and he had 40-10-9 along with a few steals and a couple blocks. Plus you can be sure whoever was guarding him has great stories of hillbilly trash talk. Lol
In the 80's was hard to get to the finals great duels with Bernard king in 7 games also against Dominique and not forget the pistons which did not win till Larry was injured a lot of teams had championship material
Larry Bird was EASILY top 5 of all time. But how about the way that Celtics team of 85 -86 passed the ball. All of the highlight videos on YT show all the guys getting easy layups because of the fantastic passing !
+TheeCM5 satellite? You mean used to pickup old school land antennas UHF, VHF signals. If there was karma in the world kids today would be forced to be happy with just a few tv channels and atari pong.
@trha2222 You ARE kidding, RIGHT ? Hard telling with to days generation, can't figure out how to work a rotary phone. My goodness. What's hard about it ? Lord help us all.
Such an unbelievably awesome player. I think it's hilarious that people keep trying to put LeBron James (who's awesome) as the G.O.A.T. over Jordan, Wilt, Kareem, and Russell, when he couldn't even hold Larry Bird jockstrap, in his prime.
For all u stat readers n go Byers, who want to proclaim somebody called king James in today's soft game, please use your eyes, they don't lie, then try to sell me somebody called king JAMES. LARRY BIRD IS THE GREATEST ALL AROUND AND CLUTCH,TOUGH PLAYER EVER, P E R I O D! End of story
@@73Trident I guess I dont know basketball. Please explain why they're all flat footed with the way they are playing him and rarely get in a defensive stance, nor try and contest his shots?
Larry Bird is the GREATEST all around player the game has ever seen, PERIOD! yes, that's right, even better than Jordan, let me break it down why. You have to go by the whole complete package. Was one of the greatest all around shooters ever to play, meaning, great open shooter, long range, short mid range, finisher around the basket, great at getting his own shot and was a great shooter even while defended, was unbelievably clutch, even when defended, made the difficult shot with the game on the line. Unbelievable passer, not just the easy pass for an assist to a wide open teammate, was a tremendous tough rebounder, got the tough under and around the basket rebounds and game on the line rebounds, not just the rebounds that pad stats from the free throws or are uncontested. Could get the rebounds and lead the break, make the right pass that lead to a basket or pull up or take it all the way for the score.not a great one on one defender but exceptionally smart and played great team defence, great at playing passing lanes and help defence. Was as tough as they come, smart, never gave in, played as hard as anyone, and with the game on the line, was unbelievable! Don't take it from me, ask Pat Riley, he said.. "with the game on the line, I want Michael Jordan taking the shot, with my life on the line, I want Larry Bird taking the shot" ..I advise anybody today who never saw him play, and to all you stats readers, go check out the videos, there's plenty, you can use your own eyes .
@@cesarmomares8135 stats can be read but can be misleading, EYES don't lie, as Magic himself said, " there will never ever be another Larry Bird"... PERIOD
sorry for my english.... i play football, i loved basketball...... if a can play with jordan or bird in my team..... i will learn more with bird and i will receive more passes...
During the 85 and 86 seasons, Bird played the best basketball in history up to and including that point. Watching it now is impressive; watching it then was stunning.
No one has played better basketball since then as well. You want to argue that there have been those who have been as great from '86 forward? Fine. But it's virtually impossible to play BETTER basketball than Bird played in his prime. He was that good at every facet of the game.
lb33isu .....STATISTICALLY Birds best two years were 86/87 and 87/88. Each of those years he shot at least 50% from the field, 40% from the 3 point line and 90 % from the ft line. He averaged 28 and 30 ppg respectively as well. IMO he should have won the MVP in those 2 years also.
Agreed Edward. He got screwed in 87 when they started the "Magic for MVP" BS during the preseason and sure enough gave it to him. Bird should have 5 MVPs. Greatest all around player of all time, no doubt.
please tell me how you feel about me asking what if jeff van gundy lenny wilkens larry brown don nelson pat riley john wooden phil jackson and/or red auerbach were the head coaches of the legendary larry bird
Larry played hurt - a lot. Why ? He said - because the people came - to see him - play. Me seeing Larry play, once, was a thrill. Like a concert moment. Those tickets weren’t easy to come by either !
They would've been contenders until Bird's back starts acting up in '89. Honestly, if Len wasn't disciplined enough to stay away from drugs, then I don't see him being as dedicated to his craft like Bird was.
bird actually said he would have retired had len bias survived, he also mentioned If they didn't get bias they were going to get brad Daugherty. imagine how good they would have been with either and a healthy bird
You ever notice when Bird shoots and is hot (most the time) the team just turns around and heads back on defense knowing its going in. Ive watched Mchale and Parish pass to him and just head back..
Three point fg’s 1) 0:12 2) 0:41 3) 0:53 4) 1:12 5) 2:17 6) 2:31 This is from a baller that did NOT have a three point rule in school nor an offense designed around the three pointer. Same goes for other greats like Pistol Pete.
He was a great PA announcer. I heard he still does Boston College games. I wish the Celtics would bring him back. Way better than who they have now. I love Andy's "threeeeeeeeeeeeee points for Larrrrrry Bird".
Watching bird back then was aggravating to us non Celtics fans.. but when you think about him now , he was so dam good .. if he was a selfish player he could've got many 60 point games ..but he realized he just wanted to win and that made him spread it around the team.. the man was incredible
I think Larry was so consistently AMAZING that people got desensitized to some of the things he did, especially passing the ball and hitting clutch shots....bcuz there's really nobody that has as many amazing passes and clutch game winners as him BUT if u watch as the years go on the reaction is almost matter of fact. Shows how consistently brilliant a ball player he was and the whole unathletic thing has been TOTALLY overplayed! Its meaningless
I'm from Connecticut, and we used to go to every game at the then Hartford Civic Center. We used to get there early to watch Bird shoot around, and specifically this game he hit about 40 3's in a row.
Best MODERN Fundamental Basketball player to EVER lace them up..As fierce a competitor to ever play in the NBA. LARRY IS THE TRUE GOAT. MJ close. Screw the rest, especially Lebronald McDonald. 6'8 300lb cry baby w no tolerance for pain. The guy is soft compared to the LEGEND. REAL SOFT. 😂❤🏀
3:22 this sequence is amazing. The defense at a point just gives up and waits for Bird to hit the shot because they have no idea what just happened. I especially love how Bird's pump fake at the end tricks his defender-- who's out of position-- into not challenging the shot, allowing Bird the long study.
This was when bball was more of a team game. The NBA completely lost me when it devolved into a focus on isolation plays with the other 8 players standing around watching.
So stereotypical lol. Many of those players can't play today, especially the Caucasian American players. Too slow, terrible handles and poor shooting technique. Bird was an all-time great, but man the dude was pretty slow footed. Loved his game though, very skilled and versatile.
I seriously think people don't realize how great of an offensive player bird truly is. Scoring that many points in 29 minutes is absolutely ridiculous.
Bird needing to make just 247 threes to have the career NBA record in '86 says a lot about how the game has changed. A bunch of guys make that many in a year now. Steph had 402 in 2015-16.
Taking a three was always iffy. 50/50. Love / hate relationship with fans. I remember one guy - his knick name was “ Down Town “ Brown. But Larry was deadly. He had to be covered at all times.
There was still no 3 point line in high school at this time. And some NCAA games still didn't have it. By the 2010s a generation had grown up their whole lives with a 3 point line as normalcy.
@@TRJ2241987 Yep. And the analytics guys made teams realize that making threes 35% of the time is more efficient than making mid-range shots 45% or even 50% of the time.
@@ej11481 This is so true, and I don't know how the NBA took so long to figure it out. Training up to be a 35% 3pt shooter is too easy and as an added bonus long rebounds can give you O boards even if you don't have good offensive rebounding talent. It for sure makes the midrange game a handicap at best, and entirely pointless at worst. Taking 3's or driving for layups/dunks. That's the modern NBA game. I feel like any team playing differently is being foolish. I love the 3pt line as an amateur adult-league player with no talent for mid-range or post play, because it's easy for me to be out of shape and out of rhythm and still knock down catch-and-shoot 3's. But as much as I love it for my personal bias in amateur play, there's no question in my mind that it has ruined the professional game. (that and all the travelling and reaching-in too, but those are separate problems).
@@JakeStine Agree that the way teams shoot threes today (though logical) has damaged the game. Am all in favor of moving back the line by 2-3 feet and expanding the court. Regarding mid-range shots, I think it still makes sense for elite mid-range shooters (CP3, KD, etc.) to take them when open. But yeah, the guys shooting just 45% or so on open mid-range jumpers should probably stop.
Imagine if Bird was a stat padder like today's stars worrying about how they're doing on Basketball-reference. Another video against the Spurs he went 12 for 13 in 31 minutes scoring 33 points. Thirteen fucking shots when he's got a hot hand but he played within the offense and trusted his teammates. Killed the Spurs on Defense too. He easily could have had a career average of 30 points per game or more. He was pretty much unstoppable up till he had the heal surgeries and his back got worse.
Larry Bird was an artist on the court for sure. I still enjoy viewing his old games. One interesting stat is his rebounding: 10 per game lifetime. Shaquille O'Neil, , 3 inches taller and 100 lb.s heavier, only had 10.9 rebounds lifetime.
Lol...Those horrible Cavs teams of the 80's. Too bad they didn't get good till daugherty and Price showed up only to have MJ stopped them. They had it rough in the 80's.
They try to compare Bird to Doncic, he is not even close right now, Bird was in the NBA for 9 years and dominated, 3 Championships,and if his back wouldn't have gotten injured, he would have been the greatest player of all time
If I were George Karl I literally would have choked Keith Lee until his eye popped out of his head for the piss poor effort. Not that it would’ve mattered the way Bird played in 86’ but Christ put your hands up atleast
He's a wizard. He has so many options he might employ and such a high shot that it's nigh on impossible to out guess him. And he is so fast in his decision making that many times the ball is gone before they know he has it. He also is ALWAYS moving without the ball.
Are you seriously basing a declaration about all 80s defense by what you've seen in a 5 minute clip of the _Cleveland Cavaliers?_ Against the *_1986 Celtics_* ?
