In 2003, he joined the Pacers front office as the teams president of basketball operations and worked side-by-side with Walsh to rebuild Indiana into a contender. Larry Bird was drafted as the 6th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in 1978 before he went back to college for a final year. Stephen Curry has racked up 29,674 minutes and has played in 864 . There is no question about his eligibility.. . Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Get to know Larry Bird: Stats, records and more, How the Celtics landed Larry Bird in the NBA Draft, 1988 NBA Playoff Highlights: Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins epic showdown, Celtics 75th Season: Bird-Dr. J fight adds to 76ers rivalry, Celtics 75th Season: Bird's debut, Ford sinks first NBA '3', Looking back on Larry Bird's steal against the Pistons, Bill Walton on what made Bird the best he ever played with, Bird's gutsy performance vs. Pacers in '91 series clincher, Three-time NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986), Three-time All-NBA Defensive Second Team (1982-84), Three-time NBA Three-Point Contest champion (1986-88). After the 2011-12 season, Bird stepped down as the Pacers president of basketball operations, citing health issues. Bird missed 22 games in 1990-91 because of a compressed nerve root in his back, a condition that eventually forced his retirement. Check out 50 great assists by Larry Bird. But even those legendary players didnt fill Boston Garden, wowing fans and dominating games as Bird did. Bird once again led the team in points (21.2 ppg), rebounds (10.9 rpg), steals (161), and minutes (3,239). Bird returned home to become the head coach of the Indiana Pacers in 1997 and led them to the conference finals. Larry Joe Bird (Larry Legend, The Hick from French Lick) Bats Left, Throws Left; Height 6' 9", Weight 220 lb. Bird nearly doubled the Sycamores' win total year-over-year from 13 to 25 after sitting out just one year in 1975-76, rather than two, after IU signed papers for Bird's release. Extremely high basketball IQ, pure heart and hustle. And Warn, firm in his belief Bird would look foolish on a baseball field, was willing to give him the chance to embarrass himself. ", The New York Times' Dave Anderson: "[Bill] Hodges likes to say that his primary contribution to the Sycamores this season has been 'not messing up Larry Bird. Larry Bird, playing for Indiana State, and Magic Johnson, playing for Michigan State, were two of the best basketball players during this time and were about to go head-to-head in a competition that sparked a rivalry between them that lasted throughout the 1980s. He has accounted for 1,556 steals, as well as 755 blocks and 5,695 assists. Among Birds contemporaries, perhaps only Earvin Magic Johnson was considered a better passer and was a player who he would inextricably be linked with forever. In the final, they played Michigan State, led by "Magic" Johnson, and together their rivalry would eventually be responsible for the resurgence of the NBA in the 1980s. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. By that time Birds scoring average had reached the mid-20s, and he was averaging upwards of seven assists. Birds 19 points in the 1982 NBA All-Star Game, including 12 of the Easts last 15, earned him the games MVP trophy. He was a 12-time All-Star, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and a nine-time member of the All-NBA First Team. Odds & lines subject to change. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? The Sycamores went 81-13 during Bird's three-year career. He won the NBA Executive of the Year award in 2012 to become the only person in NBA history to win Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year. Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend", Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, he was a local basketball star. Few played tougher than Bird, who would leap into crowds and over press tables for loose balls. 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). Games. It is amazing how extreme insecurity can drive a person. Larry Bird was a co-star of one of the greatest college basketball national championship games ever Bird vs. Magic, when the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores took on the co-Big Ten champion Michigan State Spartans in the 1979 championship. six players on the first team and . He was also called Kodak by his first NBA coach, Bill Fitch, . Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. Find out more. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. The Cavaliers won in seven games; Boston lost three of the four games couldnt play because of his back. Despite losing leading scorer Steve Green and John Laskowski after the 75 season, IU got the band back together in 1976 and finished what the Hoosiers came three wins away from achieving the previous year: an undefeated, national championship season as they became the NCAAs #1 All-Time March Madness team. The following comes from The Tampa Bay Times: His best NCAA tournament game came in the Final Four against DePaul, when he scored 35 points with 16 rebounds and nine assists (all were NCAA tournament highs for him) while shooting 16-of-19 from the field. Bird found the transition to college life difficult. View Comments. The Celtics beat the Houston Rockets in '81 with Maxwell and Larry Bird leading the way and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in 1984 when Maxwell confidently told his teammates "to get on my back, boys" in the decisive . AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. He thought he had been playing pretty damn good that day. The next season, 1974-75, is where two of the greatest What ifs in IU basketball collide: What if Bird had stayed and what if Scott May, the teams second-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, hadnt broken his arm against Purdue in late February? Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. The small forward had just led Indiana State to a 33-1 season, with the teams sole loss coming to Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Birth City: West Baden Springs. Its also fair to speculate that the south wall of Assembly Hall might be a little more crowded if Larry Bird had never transferred from IU. His Mom and Dad divorced while Bird was in HS, His dad shot and killed himself a year later. Forward Larry Bird played 13 seasons for the Celtics. Bird was too insecure for the atmosphere there and Magic hated how Knight yelled and screamed and bullied players so he went to Mich State. Even the mild mannered Kareem Abdul Jabbar once decked Benson square in the jaw during a pro game, after being delivered one too mant rib shots by him. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a former American professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Join our linker program. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. Indianapolis Star. Hoosiers survive Big Ten tournament quarterfinal test. A disk was removed from his back after the season, but it didnt help all that much. Larry Bird, in full Larry Joe Bird, (born December 7, 1956, West Baden, Indiana, U.S.), American basketball player who led the Boston Celtics to three National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (1981, 1984, and 1986) and is considered one of the greatest pure shooters of all time. Let me be clear, college basketball would look and feel the same if Bird never transferred from IU to ISU, but the 1979 national championship game Bird vs. Magic is still the highest-rated college basketball game of all-time, with a 24.1 rating for a game in which 38 percent of all TVs in the country that were turned on at the time were tuned into Indiana State vs. Michigan State on NBC. Bird nearly doubled the Sycamores win total year-over-year from 13 to 25 after sitting out just one year in 1975-76, rather than two, after IU signed papers for Birds release. Best Known For: Basketball icon . It determined the balance of power in the NBA throughout the 1980s, arguably the most important era in NBA history, helping to reestablish the Celtics as the best team in the Eastern Conference during this time. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Coming out of Springs Valley, Bird chose IU over Indiana State and Purdue after being pursued by more than 50 schools, according to The Herald (Jasper, Ind.). It wasnt until 1983-84, however, that the Celtics returned to the NBA Finals. RELATED: The complete results from the best #MarchMadnessMoments bracket. The Orlando forward played only 11 games this season after missing two years with a torn ACL. The three-time NBA champion played 94 games with the Sycamores. Editors note: This is part of a series of stories revisiting the biggest what-ifs in IU history. Bird and Johnson were already playing their first year in the NBA by then. He is a graduate of Indiana University. Along with Magic, Bird was revitalizing the NBA, helping the league live up to its new slogan, NBA Action: Its FAN-tastic. After only two seasons, fans, coaches and players knew exactly what Bird was all about: big numbers and clutch performances. TV stations showed film clips of Bird instead of commercials. We present them here for purely educational purposes. I could do that. Larry Bird Stats and news - NBA stats and news on Boston Celtics Forward Larry Bird. So, what will Larry Bird's age, height, and weight be in 2021? I have all the confidence in the world that Ill be able to handle these guys and do the things that are necessary to win games.. Indiana State nearly became the most recent undefeated national champion, reaching the 1979 national title game with a 33-0 record. Larry Bird. He's an impressive figure with incredible rivalries, but there are still tons of things that younger NBA fans should know about Larry Legend. Larry Bird Comparisons: ( players sorted by last name ) - A-Larry Bird vs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. During his career he shot .496 from the floor and .886 from the free-throw line, retiring as the fifth all-time free-throw shooter behind Mark Price, Rick Barry, Calvin Murphy and Scott Skiles. Nearly 30 years ago, then-college basketball star Jamal Mashburn saw Larry Bird in a hotel prior to a week of scrimmages between The Dream Team and some of the country's top college players. Larry Bird was such a player. Here are some of Larry Bird's notable career achievements and statistics: Three-time NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986) Two-time NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986) . Navigation Toggle NBA. He was a 2x 1st team All American, future #1 overall lottery pick and 1976 NCAA player of the year, leading the 76 IU team to the only undefeated national title of the next 40 years. His back was also hurting, but Bird came back in the third period to help lift the Celtics to an emotional 124-121 victory. What if former IU football coach Clyde Smith hadnt resigned after an open and undercover campaign to oust him? Find out more. Han slutade spela i NBA 1992. In the last 7 years, I've been covering everything related to the career and job seeking world. Bird was named the 1978-79 College Player of the Year and left Indiana State as the fifth-highest scorer in NCAA history. He has tallied 1,556 steals, as well as 755 blocks and 5,695 dimes. He once saw to it that McHale went for 40+ against Benson, ordering the guys to just feed the ball into Mchale every time down the floor. 1988 Men's NCAA, 2019 Women's NCAA, 1940 Men's NCAA, 2006 Women's NCAA, 1981 Men's NCAA. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. Having collected 7,217 defensive boards and 1,757 on the offensive end, Bird has accounted for 8,974 rebounds in total in his career. Wins over No. In addition to his three championship rings, Bird piled up an awesome collection of personal achievements. Ballinger had proof. Imagine what he wouldve done with a Hall-of-Fame head coach and future NBA players as teammates! ", In Bird's own words, here's the value he placed on ball movement: "My feeling about passing is that it don't matter who's doing the scoring as long as it's us. In an effort to stop Bird, Bradley coach Dick Versace installed what was referred to as the "Bird's Nest Defense," where two defenders would guard Bird and the other three defenders would cover the four other Sycamores. He missed 37 games because of the continuing back problems. "He's a great passer and an excellent rebounder. Only a few photos exist from the game, but seeing it live would have been legendary. Not just some guy. Bird received a scholarship to play for the Indiana Hoosiers in 1974, but he dropped out after only one month at Indiana . He said he was prepared to leave the team after the 2010-11 season with the Pacers headed in the right direction. It's because of Bird. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. This blog is forever grateful for the meme template that sweet, sweet banner gave us. Bird recalls in his Book "Drive"--which he wrote late in his playing career-- how he never missed an opportunity to take it to Benson during their NBA days. With Bird as the focal point of a well-rounded squad, the Celtics won three NBA titles and 10 Atlantic Division crowns. This guy is the epitome of everything Ive tried to do here, then-Pacers president Donnie Walsh said of Bird. But Los Angeles won the series in six games. What if Sam Wyche didnt leave IU after only 1 season? Celtics Jamal Mashburn recalled how Larry Bird responded to trash-talk at a 'Dream Team' practice in 1992 "Hey Larry, you ain't hit a jumper since '84." Hodges is credited with recruiting Larry Bird to Indiana State and coached Bird in the famous 1979 NCAA Final against Michigan State. Bird averaged 21.3 points, 10.4 assists, and 4.5 steals in 82 games during his rookie season in 1979-80. They teamed with Bird and veteran Cedric Maxwell in a frontcourt that carried the Celtics to the championship in 1981. It was interesting to me a I never knew that Larry Bird had signed to play for Indiana, and the story of how he ended up at Indiana Stateinteresting stuff! Magic Johnson was in the class of 1977. His career averages were 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in 897 regular season games. "'You appear to be enjoying this,' one reporter commented. Bird was so self-confident that he was known to waltz up to the opponents bench before tipoff and predict a 40-point performance for himself. 13, but spent most of the season outside of the AP poll. Kent Benson was the bigest name in Indiana basketball back then, but an A1 arrogant asshole as well, at least by most accounts of those who knew him. Larry Bird played 13 seasons for the Celtics. Larry Bird was a co-star of one of the greatest college basketball national championship games ever - Bird vs. Magic, when the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores took on the co-Big Ten champion . Larry Bird once played college baseball as a dare, and he was actually good, The Clippers Russell Westbrook experiment is off to a terrible start. Note: at Spring Valley HS in his senior year., Bird averaged 31 ppg, 21rebounds per game and 4 assists). Before the draft, Larry Bird had just finished his junior year at Indiana State.