talent just don't get it. Reflecting back on the series, Magic Johnson said ". Bernard Cardinal Law, Larry Bird and Mayor Raymond L. Flynn. Featured Image Photo Credit: Adapted from:Bernard Cardinal Law, Larry Bird and Mayor Raymond L. FlynnbyBoston City Archivesis licensed underCC BY 2.0. . Houston Rockets in 6 games (4 wins, 2 losses) * 1984: Boston Celtics def. He won his second NBA Finals MVP. Larry Bird - Stats, Age & Height - Biography I am fully convinced that anyone under the age of 40 will never admit Larry Bird was a better player than Stephen Curry. Birds college career as a whole was exceptional. Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird: Was LA Lakers or Boston Celtics Legend Hakeem was no slouch, averaging the most points and rebounds in the NBA playoffs. Amazing! They did make the playoffs the year after and many thought that they would easily repeat at first. M.L. Carr on Lakers vs. Celtics 1984 Finals being epic - Basketball . The Celtics-Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. The last four games all came down to the last shot, with all the games being decided by two points or less. I have been a Boston sports fan for more than forty years. Being the reigning MVP, there were big expectations for Bird in the 1984-85 season. 2022-23 Season Schedule; Noise Group Limited is a UK registered company. Bird's Boston Celtics finished 16-15 in NBA Finals games and 3-2 in NBA Finals series. The Cs won games five and six by two points each to reach game 7. After the tournament, both entered the NBA in the 1979-80 season with high . And, to be clear, he came by it honestly. Bird only averaged 15 points per game throughout the series but he did drop a series high 27 points in Game 6 to officially send the Rockets packing, as Bird won his first chip. Bird finished second in the MVP voting to Malone and was unable to lead the Celtics back to the Conference Finals. His accolades are countless, with the former Indiana State man being an NBA legend. The Bullets were the 8th seed in the East winning only 35 regular season games and finishing last in the Atlantic division. Johnson had the winning record in the regular season and playoffs, and he took down Bird twice in their three Finals showdowns although Johnson having the better team had something to do with that. In the final game of the tournament, Larry Bird and his erstwhile unbeaten Indiana State Sycamores lost to Magic Johnson and his Michigan State Spartans by the score of 7564. The Cs turned up the D and Bird was everywhere. Top 15 Worst NBA Finals Performances by a Star - TheSportster While Bird did not have the finals success of a Jordan or Russell, he still had a better record than greats including LeBron and Wilt. In 1974, Bird received a scholarship to play basketball at Indiana University but struggled to adapt to the large student population. Despite home wins in games three and five, the Pacers lost the series in six games, with Shaq and Kobe just being too much for Indianas stars. Both times it was to his rival dating back to college: Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a tough six game slugfest with the Houston Rockets but Bird and company were just too good. Bird outscored Dr. J 26.7 to 19.9 ppg in the series, led all players in rebounds and was second on Boston in assists. Larry averaged 27.4 points, 14 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game in this series. In Game 4, the Lakers had a five-point game lead with less than a minute to play, but made several execution errors, including Magic Johnson's bad pass to Robert Parish late in the fourth quarter, and missing two crucial free throws in OT as the Celtics tied the game and then came away with a 129-125 victory in overtime. Houston had a tough road to the Finals: they beat the defending champion Lakers featuring both. The Rockets swept the Sacramento Kings in round 1, then took six games to get by a fun Denver Nuggets team starring Alex English and Fat Lever. How Many Finals MVPs Does Larry Bird Have? . Larry Bird could do it all on the basketball court. (Larry Legend, The Hick from French Lick, Kodak, The Great White Hope), Position: Big Names Off the Bench: Jerry Sichting, Bill Walton and Scott Wedman. Bird won three titles with the Celtics in 1981, 1984 and 1986, earning Finals MVP honors in the latter two. Bird won their first meeting in seven games, winning the NBA Finals MVP. more information Accept. Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers were coached by Pat Riley and also featured defensive ace Michael Cooper, a young. In his first trip to the NBA Finals, Tatum averaged 21.5 points, seven assists and 6.8 rebounds, but the Celtics came up short. Larry Bird is one of the few basketball players in history that are widely recognized even by people who dont even know the sport. Larry Bird picked up the 1984 MVP award and led his Celtics to the first seed in the Eastern Conference with a 62-20 overall record. Larry Bird Championships: He Defeated the Best! One of the ongoing debates within the world of sports centers around how you define greatness. The Cs won a couple home games to start the series then lost a close one on the road. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Carr. The Celtics won the series, with Bird getting a triple double in the deciding game six. "Wilt . 1984 NBA Finals - Wikipedia 1981 was against the Houston Rockets where Cedric Maxwell was the NBA Finals MVP. As for their averages, Johnson posted 20.7 points, 13.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game in their head-to-head matchups in the Finals compared to Bird's 25.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists. The Cs won in a blowout in game 3 in Houston before Houston tied it up with a tight win in game 4. Now, the explanation. He won his second NBA Finals MVP. Jayson Tatum passed Larry Bird for the most 30 point games Adding one more hall of famer, Bill Walton, put this team over the top. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. One of the most exciting 3-0 series in league history, the Celtics made quick work of the up-and-coming Bulls featuring a young Michael Jordan. This cost the Lakers valuable depth, as James Worthy, a key contributor off the bench, would now have to start in Wilkes' place. When Larry Bird Began His Coaching Career, He Revealed - Sportscasting The Celtics entered the next season off a high, cruising into the NBA playoffs and sweeping Cleveland in the opening series. Larry Bird's 1986 Playoff Stats . Magic gets the edge because he finished his career stronger, he was able to get/maybe steal from Charles Barkley the 1990 MVP, and he got the Lakers to another finals in 91, after 88 and the injuries Boston was done being any kind of serious contender they never got past the second round again for the rest of Larry Bird's time but if you're talkin Peak vs. Celtics forward Larry Bird averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds a game during the series, earning the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). Larry pushed the Celtics out of the second round with an easy 4-1 series win over the Atlanta Hawks, led at the time by Dominique Wilkins. Better than MJ, LeBron, Kareem, Larry and Magic.If you take out Steph's games with an NBA75 teammate (KD), Steph's Playoff Win% is 48-26 (.649), which is still better than Duncan, Kobe and Larry Bird's with all their NBA75 teammates. The Celtics swept the Bulls after getting a bye in the first round for winning the Atlantic Division. Bird averaged 28.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists for the Cs. As it turned out, Chauncey Billups was right about KG getting in trouble for being too vocal. [2] It was also the last time that a team with home court advantage in the NBA finals played Game 5 on its own floor until 2014. Traditional You have to really understand the circumstances in each Finals run and see how he ended up with the record that he has right now. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Fanatics.com and other companies linked to on this site. Larry Bird Q&A: Being a white player in the NBA, trash - Andscape No one thought we could beat the Lakers. Larry Bird beat iconic NBA players on his way to three NBA championships including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Hakeem Olajuwon. That went to Birds teammate. . It's clear the two dominated the decade, but who got the better of who? Remember, Boston selected Larry in the 1978 draft but decided to return to Indiana State for his senior season. 0:49. 2 NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986) 3 NBA Most Valuable Player (1984-1986) . He averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game across his three seasons, winning Naismith College Player of the Year in 1979. The Celtics next opponent was the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that swept them the year earlier. Larry Bird News, Biography, NBA Records, Stats & Facts - Sportskeeda The games were closer than youd expect for a 1 seed vs 8 seed series. The Conference Semifinals was a seven-game series against the Knicks, which ended with Boston winning 4-3. Larry led the way and averaged 27-14-4 to lead the team to the championship, along with his first Finals MVP. The Bucks now featured a young Terry Cummings along with Paul Pressey and Sidney Moncrief. It was the same matchup with pretty much the same teams. Nevertheless, it is rare to see a player dominate in so many areas of the game, theres no wonder why the Celtics made multiple deep playoff runs. Despite playing for another five seasons after his last title, Bird would retire with three NBA championships. Cedric Maxwell averaged 17.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists to win Finals MVP. Larry Bird is one of the ten greatest players in the history of the NBA. There's always a mystique about players that played before the 90's because we don't have all the data, stats etc as we have to. It was one of the most dominant playoff runs that we had ever seen in basketball at this time and it was hard to imagine them as anything other than favorites entering that series against the Rockets, a team that they already beat in the championship before. Magic Johnson had an 11-8 record in the NBA Finals versus Larry Bird in his career. James has as many series losses in the Finals as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird combined.