Adebisi_Said
Truth is Power
Nah, his Dad killed himself months after he left the Indiana U. for good. Larry stated the campus was too big for him and he didn't get along with the upperclassmen.
Last edited:
Larry Bird stories
- Thread starter Da_Eggman
- Start date
-
- Tags
- goat larry bird legend trash talk
Nah, his Dad killed himself months after he left the Indiana U. for good. Larry stated the campus was too big for him and he didn't get along with the upperclassmen.
Adebisi_Said
Truth is Power
DropTopDoc
20/20 Vision With my Buffs On
They say/said the same thing about Jokic…….great players make the game go thru them, at whatever pace they want. It’s also why Luka’s bytch ass is so good.
The link requires a subscription to view.
Edited post with a free link
O.iatlhawksfan
Devoted Joel Embiid hater
The select team beat the dream team? Wtf
Never once averaged 30ppg while playing 40 minutes/game in a faster-paced era with far worse defense, but he's gonna get 35ppg playing 35 minutes/game max in a slower-paced era with better defenders?
You gotta watch his games to even take part in this conversation....if you did you'd realize he was never a ball-dominant player but tended to just score within the flow of the offense. Sometimes he'd go 4-5 plays in a row without even being involved. There's a reason he averaged just 23ppg in his playoff career and rarely put up big totals in big games, he's a guy who could go off but not one who just could turn it on at will.
Like this thread proves the trash-talking is a huge part of his aura - the biggest old-school NBA trash talkers get their rep elevated beyond what their actual play deserve.
DropTopDoc
20/20 Vision With my Buffs On
yeah and then they proceeded to house them repeatedly
DropTopDoc
20/20 Vision With my Buffs On
23.8ppg in the playoffs. Only shot 32% from 3pt range in his playoff career. And always ate more in the easy games against the outmatched teams while coming up short in the biggest moments.
* His 1980 postseason run ended when he shot 6-15 for 19 points and then 5-19 for just 12 points in his Game 4 and Game 5 losses against the Sixers, after putting up 27, 31, and 22 in the first three games.
* In the 1981 Finals he went 3-11 for 8 points, 3-11 for 8 points, and 5-16 for 12 points in Games 3, 4, and 5. Averaged 15ppg on 42% shooting for the series but his team won anyway because Boston was so stacked compared to the Rockets.
* In the 1982 ECF he averaged just 18ppg on 42% shooting. In Game 6 he went 6-19 for 14 points, and then in Game 7 he went 7-19 for 20 points in a 14-point loss.
* In the 1983 ECSF he averaged 19ppg on 44% shooting while getting swept by the Bucks, including 18 points on 9-20 shooting in the Game 4 elimination loss.
* In the 1984 Finals he generally had a strong series, but Boston would have been swept if not for the "Tragic Johnson" collapses, and in the critical Game 7 he managed just 20 points on 6-18 shooting but Boston won with rebounding and over 50 trips to the line.
* In the 1985 rematch they lost to the Lakers with Bird averaging 24ppg on 45% shooting. In the Game 5 and Game 6 losses that ended the Finals he was 8-17 for 20 points and 12-29 for 28 points.
* They won the 1986 Finals against a badly outmatched Rockets team (Celtics had 5 HOF players against Rockets 2nd-year Hakeem and role players), but Bird managed just 17 points on 6-13 shooting in an important Game 5 loss.
* Their attempt to repeat in 1987 ended with Bird going 7-19 for 21 points and 6-16 for 16 points in their Game 4 and Game 6 Finals losses.
* In 1988 against that Detroit defense Bird only managed 19.8ppg on 35% shooting in the ECF, including just 16 points on 4-17 shooting in their Game 6 elimination.
* Everything after '88 is post-injury so I don't put as much stock in that, but his best chance after '88 was squashed in the '91 ECSF when he went 4-14 for just 12 points in their Game 6 loss to the Pistons.
That's every fukking year of Bird's prime from 1980 to 1988. If he could turn it on at will, then why did he come up quiet in so many critical games? Either Boston lost because bird put up a meager total, or Boston won with a team effort despite Bird putting up a meager total. There wasn't a single season where Bird carried an inferior team with huge offensive efforts in the finals games or where Bird went down swinging putting up 35-40 in every loss. How can such a perfect offensive weapon who could supposedly "turn it on at will" consistently manage just 15 or 20 point on under 40% shooting in one critical game after another?
DropTopDoc
20/20 Vision With my Buffs On
@Rhakim
You laid some stats down, the only thing i can offer is red probably wanted nikkas to play a certain way, and nikkas wasn’t scoring like that back in the day,I’ll offer these stats
The 1979-80 Celtics improved by 32 games to 61-21 and returned to the top of their division. Playing in all 82 contests, Bird led the team in scoring (21.3 ppg), rebounding (10.4 rpg), steals (143), and minutes played (2,955) and was second in assists (4.5 apg) and 3-pointers (58). Although Johnson also turned in an impressive first season for the NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers, Bird was named Rookie of the Year and made the first of his 12 trips to the All-Star Game.
his second season
Bird once again led the team in points (21.2 ppg), rebounds (10.9 rpg), steals (161), and minutes (3,239).
his 87-88 season he avg 29 points
he did what he did, might not have always been the man, but we not sitting around discussing bird because he’s some hack, executives to players to coaches watched bird bust much ass (pause) in the league and give props
You laid some stats down, the only thing i can offer is red probably wanted nikkas to play a certain way, and nikkas wasn’t scoring like that back in the day,I’ll offer these stats The 1979-80 Celtics improved by 32 games to 61-21 and returned to the top of their division. Playing in all 82 contests, Bird led the team in scoring (21.3 ppg), rebounding (10.4 rpg), steals (143), and minutes played (2,955) and was second in assists (4.5 apg) and 3-pointers (58). Although Johnson also turned in an impressive first season for the NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers, Bird was named Rookie of the Year and made the first of his 12 trips to the All-Star Game.
his second season
Bird once again led the team in points (21.2 ppg), rebounds (10.9 rpg), steals (161), and minutes (3,239).
his 87-88 season he avg 29 points
he did what he did, might not have always been the man, but we not sitting around discussing bird because he’s some hack, executives to players to coaches watched bird bust much ass (pause) in the league and give props
@Rhakim
The 1979-80 Celtics improved by 32 games to 61-21 and returned to the top of their division. Playing in all 82 contests, Bird led the team in scoring (21.3 ppg), rebounding (10.4 rpg), steals (143), and minutes played (2,955) and was second in assists (4.5 apg) and 3-pointers (58). Although Johnson also turned in an impressive first season for the NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers, Bird was named Rookie of the Year and made the first of his 12 trips to the All-Star Game.
Larry Bird was a great player, and he was already NBA-stardom ready when he came into the league at 23. But even those #'s show him as a strong all-around player, not a dominant scorer. And the 32-game improvement by the Celtics was a lot more than just Bird coming - their team was getting stacked:
* Tiny Archibald, a HOF point guard, had missed an entire season due to injury and came back limited the previous year.
* M.L. Carr, a good vet who averaged 19-7-3 and 2nd-team All-Defensive for Detroit the previous year, was signed as a free agent.
* Pete Maravich, who was old but still solid averaging 17-3-3 for Utah, was picked up at midseason.
* Rick Robey, a solid center who averaged 12-7-2, missed most of the previous year due to injury.
* Gerald Henderson, a solid backup point guard, was picked up as a rookie
Add in Cedric Maxwell (who put up 19-10-3 on 58% shooting the previous year), Dave Cowens (an all-star center averaging 17-10-4), and Chris Ford (16-3-5 as a shooting guard), and that team had balanced talent nine deep. Bird was still the leader but they weren't some shyt team that just added Bird.
Good numbers, but Kiki Vandeweghe (29.4ppg) and Kelly Tripucka (26.5ppg) put up similar #'s some years in the 1980s and we ain't talking about them. Alex English, Moses Malone, and Adrian Dantley are the 3 players who scored the most points in the 1980s (Bird is 4th) and we don't constantly big them up.
It was far easier to score in the 1980s than it's been any time since and Bird still didn't put up dominant scoring totals. He's still a great, an all-time top-10, but I'm seeing zero evidence that he would put up 35ppg today.
Bird has every right to be considered a top-6 1980s player, along with Kareem, Magic, MJ, Hakeem, and Moses Malone. But having a ton of swagger, white skin, and a stacked team that won some titles gets him talked about today a little bit more reverently than he deserves.
The question is whether he was an unstoppable scorer. And he wasn't. In his own era he was limited when it counted over and over and over again.
DropTopDoc
20/20 Vision With my Buffs On
@Rhakim
more great points, i will have to bow out the conversation at this point because I’m more football than basketball savy, and i don’t know the stats or analytics to refute your points, growing up a bulls fan i always remember him giving the bulls work, and i was born in 83 so by time i was aware, he was past his prime, i can agree the shyt talking has def elevated him in legend, but he also backed up the shyt talking, maybe I’m building him up more than he deserves, but in my mind (and i didn’t catch him in his prime) he’s not getting enough credit
more great points, i will have to bow out the conversation at this point because I’m more football than basketball savy, and i don’t know the stats or analytics to refute your points, growing up a bulls fan i always remember him giving the bulls work, and i was born in 83 so by time i was aware, he was past his prime, i can agree the shyt talking has def elevated him in legend, but he also backed up the shyt talking, maybe I’m building him up more than he deserves, but in my mind (and i didn’t catch him in his prime) he’s not getting enough credit