LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Bird (Bird, Larry - Player)
built 631 days ago
During the 1987 All-Star weekend in Seattle, Bird was in the NBA hospitality suite one afternoon munching cheese and talking to Celtics executive Jan Volk, when NBA Entertainment debuted its Bird video on a big-screen TV in the suite. Snippets of Bird in action—hitting a three-pointer, throwing a no-look redirect to Kevin McHale—rolled across the screen against the sound track of John Cougar Mellencamp singing Small Town. Bird was surprised when the video came on but quickly turned his back to it, as if it were a documentary on copper mining or something. On it played, a fine organic blend of song and scene, Mellencamp singing about the small town while Bird launched himself into the seats for a loose ball, punched the air after a key basket and just generally outhustled the free world. On and on, as the enraptured audience watched, and Bird stood with his back to the screen.
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In 1987-88, Bird was the first Celtic ever to record a 40-20 game, with a 42-point, 20-rebound effort against Indiana. He averaged a career-high 29.9 points that year, falling just five points short of averaging 30 per contest. Bird ... won his third consecutive NBA Long Distance Shootout title, a feat later matched by Chicago Bulls' Craig Hodges from 1990-92.
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In 1988, Bird had the best statistical season of his career, but the Celtics failed to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in four years, losing to the Pistons in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals. Bird started the 1988–89 season with Boston, but ended his season after six games to have bone spurs surgically removed from both of his heels. He returned to the Celtics in 1989, but debilitating back problems and an aging Celtic roster prevented him from regaining his mid-1980s form. Nonetheless, through the final years of his career, Bird maintained his status as one of the premier players in the game. He averaged over 20 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists a game in his last three seasons with the Celtics, and shot better than 45% from the field in each. Bird led the Celtics to playoff appearances in each of those three seasons.
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Coming off the first of his three consecutive MVP seasons, the third man to achieve that feat after Russell and Chamberlain, Bird helped the Celtics to a seven-game triumph against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals. It was Bird's first postseason meeting with Magic since the 1979 NCAA title game, and it was a memorable one. In Game 5, with the temperature inside Boston Garden approaching 100 97 degrees, Bird pumped in 34 points, leading the Celtics to a 121-103 victory. In Game 7 a record TV basketball audience watched Bird score 20 points and gather 12 rebounds in Boston's 111-102 win. With series averages of 27.4 points and 14.0 rebounds, Bird was named Finals MVP.
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Bird has thrice donned a USA Basketball uniform, first as a member of the gold medal winning 2000 USA R. William Jones Cup Team that posted a perfect 4-0 record in Taipei, Taiwan. Starting all four games, Bird passed off for a team high 4.3 assists per game, while adding 2.0 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. The 5-9 guard returned less than two months later as a member of the 2000 USA Basketball Select Team that fell 97-31 to the eventual gold medal winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team in an exhibition contest on Sept. 3, 2000. Going up against the best in the world, Bird passed off for three assists and collected two rebounds. Most recently she joined in on the final two days of the 2002 USA Basketball Women’s National Team spring training in Colorado Springs.
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After retiring, Bird was admitted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was ... named to the NBA's "50 Greatest Players" list, in 1996. He became coach of the Indiana Pacers at the start of the 1997-1998 season. He coached the Pacers for three seasons before stepping down.
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Bird (Bird, Larry - Player)