"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I’d choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I’d take Larry Bird.” - Pat Riley
I'd rather watch this series on a repeated loop for the rest of my days rather then 5 mins of the current no defense, 3 point shoot out, load management, no loyalty player super teams NBA!
Agreed. To those of us who have played and watched over the past 60+ years, today’s NBA is a joke. Rarely see a travel call, even after 3 or 4 steps, never 3 seconds, superstars can hack and shove while rookies get foul calls for breathing too hard on a star player. I grew up loving Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, KC Jones, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, etc. back when they played real basketball. After the Bird & Magic era, my watching declined sharply to the point that I rarely watch any more. College, however, has still maintained more of the purity of the game and that’s where I still watch.
I'm old school. I forgot all about that quote. 😂😂😂 Yes that was a great quote. Pacers fan here from Indiana. God I miss the Pacers of the 90s and early 2000s.
One minute in, and I already saw 3 technicals, 2 flgrants, and an ejection in today's NBA 🤣 I miss this era. Grown men, really out there playing like it matters.
Yes and you never saw those players taking a few games off because they're so tired throughout the season. They played every game and they played it with passion.
Yup. The NBA was in trouble at the end of the 70`s. These guys really got the ship floating again. I am a Hockey guy . When I was a kid, I watched every sport. But it just is not the same NFL or MLB. I even liked tennis. But after Pete Sampris and Ivan Lendil acing every serve it got boring. Every play is a shotgun pass in Football and baseball used to take an hour and a half to play a game, now it is a damn four hour game of stepping out of the box to adjust your damn batting gloves and shin guards. I miss it too.
I haven't watched basketball in YEARS and I actually got excited watching this. This type of play is great, much more physical and team-oriented than today.
@@mrspaulb3889you ever notice, the only players that Jabar ever scuffled with on the court were always white guys. Parrish played physical ball but Jabar walked away from him. He clearly tried to elbow Bird in the face, unprovoked. He also initiated the fight where Rudy Tomjonovich had his face fractured. Jabar held Kevin Kunnert from behind as his teammate pummeled Kunnert. Rudy ran down the court to protect Kunnert and got sucker punched running past Kermit Washington. Then Jabar also gave Kent Benson a terrible blow that knocked him out.
@@williamwright6157 NFL football players are too big ,& strong & talking 18 footbal game etc etc l sports teams must protect athletes , NHL must protect wayne gretzky
The 76ers, Lakers and Celtics were the 3 dominant teams and the only ones who beat the each other on a consistent basis, with the home team winning 90% of the time
This game wasn't about Kareem "disrespecting" Bird (yeah they were jawing but just two GOATs being competitive). It was more a reaction to the Showtime Lakers running roughshod over the Celtics in game 3 (137-104). After that game, the Celtics were down 2-1 and all the momentum was with the Lakers. Bird called his team "sissies" in postgame interviews, and they as a team came to play physical in this next game to throw the Lakers off their rhythm and turn a footrace into a slugfest. Honestly one of the greatest finals series ever, absolutely legendary.
Absolutely 100% correct in your statement, you just knew after Larry called his teammates out after that game 3 loss, an embarrassing loss, that the Celts were gonna come out for blood in game 4 and when Mchale knocked Rambis to the floor, it swayed the momentum right over to the Celts…..The Lakers tried to outmuscle the Celts from that point on and that wasn’t their type of game, honestly just a mastermind play by Bird to fire up his guys and to take the Lakers out of they’re rythym
I still believe when one considers the whole spectrum of Bird's amazing game: passing, awareness on the court, offensive creativity, blocking out/rebounding, intensity, clutch free throw shooting, basketball I.Q., and finally - his uncanny performances in crunch time, he was the greatest. Often playing with both savvy and controlled brutality, he was the virtuoso of basketball.
I'm not like a huge "sports guy" but I was born in 1983 so I remember the heyday of early-mid 1990s basketball and hockey and such. And recently I watched videos about Larry Bird, so yes I agree he was OVERALL the greatest because he was like a grandmaster chess player of basketball. I watched a video of what other NBA stars said about Larry Bird, and they said he was always in the right place at the right time, he looked at the overall picture, he knew where the ball was going to go.
The greatest could find a way to score over any D, and Bird is up there with the greatest of the great ones in this respect, peopl like Jabbar, Michael, Wilt.
I think hes amazing but hes the prime example of early adopters, clearly he was revolutionary but at a time when the game wasnt so technical imo. The barr has been raised by every generation so much so that its harder to excel imo. Not taking anything away from Bird at all, he was an absolute pioneer and revolutionary player
I love how aggressive the defense is. There's no way that type of aggression would fly now. There were a couple moments where I was thinking people would get flagrant calls or ejections. I haven't really sat and watched a basketball game since the mid-late 90s but this definitely makes me feel nostalgic. Loved it.
Basketball is boring now days. 4x's as many Commercials. 20x's as many 3 Point shots, and no Defense until the last 5 minutes of the game. I'm just glad I've been a Laker fan since the mid-60's and got to see decades of awesome Basketball.
@marktarmannpiano you're right, the original stats I looked up didn't have an OT, still though it goes against the "every player was a lock down defender" narrative people like to throw out
As a hardcore Laker fan during the 70s and 80s, nobody scared me more than Larry Bird. He was just unstoppable and could kill you so many different ways.
Bird is the greatest player of all time. Kareem is second. He had an unstoppable shot that was very high percentage. Both were undeniably all-time greats!!
If I had $ on that game I'd ask Kareem to cover me because he single handidly poked the blond bear! Absolutely nothing will EVER compare to what we enjoyed in the 80's!!! As a lifelong Laker fan growing up on the west coast in the 80's, it was tough to truly understand how good Bird really was. Laker fans HATED the C's but had a TON of respect knowing they could take a game over in an instant and it ALWAYS started with Bird. I wish we had the chance to see him/them play more then 2x a year, home & away, that was it, no games on the tube besides your local team if you were lucky enough. The finals were literally syndicated in the early 80's before the Celtics rivalry. At least on the west coast we knew what Larty and the Celtics did the next day (always won and he always had around 30/12/8). Celtics fans didn't even know the Lakers won by 30 (& that Magic had 20/10/22) until 2 days later. It's crazy to think that Houston was the only other team to represent the west (2x) in the 80's. Kicked LA's asses too; well, one series was best of 3 garbage, but ultimately they got absolutely demolished by the C's both times! Makes you wonder who was better from '82-'84 (Philly)!? LA was better on paper but the east was exponentially tougher (especially when Stern moved Milwaukee to the east to balance out the conferences). Early on the 76ers were as scary as the C's frankly. Great debates, no one right answer (Lakers). I will say this; 1.) Magic was 3 years younger than Bird and was in his prime '85-'87, and the C's run was starting to fade (officially over June of '87). Totals; Magic (8 finals / 5 ships) dominating the early years & the later years against LB (who ended with 5/3. 2.) Magic choked on more than one occasion, but his h2h playoff numbers were better overall. He even outscored LB in '87 and his ast/rebs were better. Once the common thread being this; Once Magic turned 30 he never won again, the same with Larry. The league was just too good (Pistons, Bulls, Jazz, Blazers). 2b). Andrew Toney still gives me nightmares to this day. Did he do this to Celtic fans too? We could only see the box score the next day unfortunately (of course; Bird 34/14/8). I sure miss the good old days and will always cherish the NBA in the 80's as the best of my life as a sports fan!!!
He was deadly, period. I watched Bird kill my Knicks o er and over and over....LOL, but I was always a fan. I'm today's game, he would have had about 5 extra seasons of great playing since athletes are better taken care of.
The only time I ever paid attention to basketball was during this era. Larry Bird was not fluid or graceful at all, but boy could that guy shoot, and was he ever effective. What a talent, what a competitor. And I don't mean that to downplay the level of talent overall in that series. That series was absolutely incredible. I look at those two teams, and am reminded of the incredible level of talent that was on that court. Today's NBA is absolutely unwatchable by comparison.
@@daledilbeck9621 You aren't wrong. I quit watching basketball a looooong time ago. When March Madness gets down to the Final Four I'll watch those games. The atmosphere is great and the games are reasonable in length at 40 minutes with 20 minute halves and last 120 minutes on average. The NBA...I don't know how people can stand it, and I'm not just saying that to be a jerk, I really mean it. 48 fouls per game on average. 1 per minute. Maddening. In addition, each team is allowed 7 timeouts per game of varying length. SEVEN. The game is 48 minutes long, broken into four quarters, and it takes 150 minutes to play. 8 minutes more game time than the NCAA has translates into 30 more minutes real time. This year, teams are averaging 103 possessions per game, and are scoring 114 points on average per game. Teams score about 80% of the time at the free throw line, so, based on 25 free throws per game, roughly 20 points of the 114 per game are scored that way, leaving roughly 95 points scored during play per team, per game, on 103 possessions. Plus there's a 24 second shot clock. So if a team has a notable lead in the fourth quarter, you better get a pillow out, because one team is going to be burning .4 of a minute every time they touch the ball, which could be about 4.5 minutes worth of keep-away out of the 12 minutes, right up until the losing team has to start fouling to preserve time and unnecessarily stretch the game. Unwatchable. Completely unwatchable.
Those series between Boston and Lakers was the NBA at it's best!!! Those moments was so special... The rivalry and the competitive effort on BOTH ends of the floor was literally like watching gladiators in battle! And it wasn't just about the "Franchise players", it was about the entire TEAM competing hard!
this is all manufactured drama. it's part of the game when the ring is up for grabs. These two guys are both class acts and respected one another, clickbait video.
The words basketball and gladiator being used in the same sentence is hilarious. A club level lightweight fighter would demolish the entire court one after another.
That rivalry in the 1980s between Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics was by far the most exciting and entertaining basketball of all time . I watch replays of these great games and I still remember them when I watched it live many moons ago.
It seems that these teams and players measured their success and even their careers on this rivalry. Every one of them is immesley proud of what this was.
And as much as I detest espn , their three part series featuring this rivalry was so epic. But it’s kinda hard to mess up such a great story that these two teams provided
So cool to see giants of the game pushed to their absolute limits, and even beyond. Kareem really melted down in this one. These guys put everything into it, no stat chasing, all for the rings. Competition that was fierce and true. Beautiful.
I loved the contrast between the teams. The Lakers spent most of the 80s just cruising to the Finals, because they were so much better than everyone else in the West. The East was a warzone, with the Celtics, 76ers, Bucks, Hawks, Pistons, and Bulls all battling it out. Two completely different environments, producing completely different styles of play.
It wasnt Kareem it was Magic Johnson who melted down. That was a deciding moment of the series in a sense. Kareem had a fantastic series including this game. It was more a matter of the Celtics being better that year, more seasoned as a team. If you can point the finger at anyone it would be Magic Johnson who made critical mistakes in several games including this one. Missed free throws, turnovers, forgetting the time on the clock. Bird hit the game winner right in Magic's face.
Man, I had forgot how great all these players were and the teams they played on. But after watching this it all came back in a flash. The shear intensity of all these players was so far beyond anything presented today in the NBA. That game looked like it was speed up twice the speed but that is how they all played. Nothing was left on the floor. Simply amazing the caliber of all these players and dedication to the game. It's sad that someone was even considered a loser after that game, and Bird, what else is there to say. If the fans today got to see what we experience back then, they would know they were being ripped off from what real team play and greatness of players looked like. This will never happen again because the love of money took over the love of the game and the dedication it takes to play every night at that level. Thank you to all those players back then. You will never be duplicated or compared to any of these teams today. Those were the GOAT times of basketball.
Back Then, Coach I Think I Broke My Hand. Coach: Walk It OFF!! Now coach i think i broke a nail. LAY DOWN!!! THE LIFE FLIGHT IS 2 MIN, OUT!!! THEY ARE TAKING OFF THE ROOF, TO LAND NEXT TOO YOU, SO AS NOT TO CAUSE ANY UNDUE STRESS!!!! YOU 'R NOT GOING TO SUE US ARE YOU? THE P.O.T.U.S. IS ON HIS WAY!! THE ARMY, AIR FORCE THE NAVY, THE RANGERS, ALL THE SEALS!!! ALL THE OTHERS ARE HERE, WHAT DO YOU NEED??? MY MOMMY, MOMMY!!! Coach: THE MARINES ARE PICKING HER UP!!! WE ARE AT (DEATH- CON)-500 AND FLAGS ARE AT HALF STAFF!! THE WORLD IS THINKING GOOD THOUGHTS FOR YOU!! AND THE WHOLE WORLD HOPES YOU MAKE IT! AND THEY WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU WANT TO WIN THE INDY-500, AND ALL OTHER GAMES!! YOU ARE A ROOKIE AND WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!! WE JUST PUT 500 TRILLION IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT TO HELP, YOU FEEL BETTER! AND 10 YRS OFF SO YOU CAN HEAL! Back then: player shows coach his hand 5 x the size it should be. coach o.k. Take a salt pill. And if it gets any worse, we will cut it! WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF GAME TO PLAY!! NOW GET OUT THERE!! AND NO ICE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST? NOW GO,GO,GO!!! (And that's a fact jack)
Larry Bird is so underrated as a game winning player, he never had the style of Jordan but by god he had grit and determination, could single handedly change a game at a whim and the man could shoot the hoop. Larry Bird has to be one of the greatest of all era's... Legend🏀
Underrated? Didn't he win 3 league MVP's in a row? How old are you? In the 80's everyone rooting for another team thought he was overrated! I know I did then. I no longer do, though. I respect the game of basketball in general too much to be a mindless partisan anymore. Larry was *always* known as one of the best clutch shooters... ever. And not just a clutch shooter, an incredible *force* on the court at moments in the game. I think his first season the Celtics added more wins in one season that any other team, and it was basically the same team with a year's experience and a new Larry Bird. Look at his NCAA semifinal game before playing Magic's Michigan State. He went something like 14 for 16, and one miss he rebounded and put back right back in, and they won by 2 points! Name one other game in NCAA tournament history that has a similar performance with a similar win... ever. And you think the other team's defense wasn't 100% geared toward stopping Larry Bird in that game? I was a Laker fan and absolutely hated on Larry and MJ... precisely because I wasn't stupid and I know who the threats were to my team winning. Dude has *always* been clutch, so you must be quite the youngin'. BTW, I hate on Andrew Toney, too, because the one year he was truly healthy, the 76ers lost a single game in their Championship run, and it was Toney who broke the camel's back. He either popped jumpers all day in your face or forced you to leave the middle open for Doc, Moses and everyone else... picking your poison was the only chance you had. Few people know that if Andrew Toney wasn't riddled with injuries during the playoffs, the 1980's championship roster might look a fair amount different than it does today.
@@bossshxtonly Great, great basketball. Larry was a top player in his prime. Kareem was past his prime when Larry started. I rabidly admire both of them. Larry was stronger than magic in nearly any circumstance. Kareem won for the lakers early in the showtime years.
I remember watching this series. It was edge of your seat stuff! The clash of two different styles of play, of team building. I don’t think there ever were before or ever will again be so many hall of famers on the court together. It was wonderfully fitting that Bird and Magic should become close friends after battling all those years.
In the 80’s the rivalries between Boston and LA was great ti watch!!! But living in Indiana the rivalry I loved to watch was the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons !
The intensity of the games between these two teams in this era is unmatched. This short video of plays from this one game is more exciting than any NBA basketball I've seen in decades. Grateful to say I was a Celtics fan at this precise time in history and it was great. The 86 Celtics are easily my all-time favorite team. Bird, Parrish, McHale, Johnson, Ainge. Legendary ! Thank you for posting this !
I grew up playing hockey and football. Even though I was not a big basketball fan, I always loved watching this generation of Lakers and Celtics play ball, especially against one another. Legends everywhere on both teams. I recall watching this very game like it was yesterday. Simpler times back then, both in sports and in life... man do I miss those days.
@@saturnosiris1221 Damn straight, I guess that is why I'm committing on youtube commit section because I'm to broke to go out and spend money to do anything because i'm such a peasant Lol, I do go out to eat at restaurants cause it lot cheaper than going to the grocery store depending on where you eat.
Man, that was some thrilling basketball. Best memories for me. I grew up in Terre Haute when Bird was playing college ball. When he went to the Celtics the local station started carrying their games. Loved listening to Johnny Most call those games.
i did'nt get to watch many games on TV, so i would spin through the radio dial, listening to hear Johnny Most's crackly voice calling the game.....and you knew you had the right station......unmistakable.
@@wheelie63 Awesome! I did the same while working back in those days... They used to have a tribute of Johnny in the garden, wonder if they do in the fleet center now?
Johnny was something else. He wouldn't tolerate any attacks on his boys. I almost drove off the road one night as he was describing Pistons Laimbeer and Mahorn during warms ups "here's Laimbeer and Mahorn, they don't warm up with a ball, they don't need a ball, that's not what they are out there for. They look like they are on set for a Roman gladiator movie!!!!" 😂😂😂😂😂
Ah...growing up in the 1980s, The Celtics were my favorite team. Watching Bird, McHale, Parish, Johnson and Ainge do their thing was a sight to behold. Larry Bird was my favorite player ever.
One of the wildest things I've ever seen was Ainge throwing the ball in and he nailed a player for the other team right in the head and almost knocked him down!!! I'll bet anything that was on purpose! Ainge was a great player!!!
Luca Doncic is going to be just as good IMO. VERY VERY hard to beat/compare anybody to Larry Legend, but DONCIC IS THAT GOOD, check his stats as im sure you have.
Me too brother, growing up in the 80s and being from Boston, I would get to go to at least 5-6 games a year at the Garden, and I even was there for Game 1 of the 85 series, when Bos blew them out by like 35 pts or so, that was a tough series to lose. Can you imagine if Len Bias hadn’t died, he would have joined the team for the 86-87 season after the Celts won it in 86..I guarantee the Celts would’ve went back to back and possibly even won like 4-5 in a row !!!!! What could have been
This was one of the greatest rivalries of all time!!!! Back in a time when Defense was spelled with a capital D!!!! As a lifelong Celtic fan seeing Bird and the gang making Magic and the rest of The Lakers cry and choke was awesome!!!
I'm not a basketball fan and I don't watch basketball, but for some reason watching this game was very soothing and reminded me of a time when things were simpler and fun....plus the announcer was very good at keeping the pace going.
76 years here. Bird Celts, Russell Celts, Red and Johnny Most. Carr steals the ball, Havlicek steals the ball. It was rarely easy for them, but it was always glorious. Can't watch BB anymore.
Bird was really that guy and is easily a top 5 in my book. Sad he's so underappreciated these days since everyone is too young to realize how great he actually was.
What... _"underappreciated"?_ What planet do you live on? He's not in the _MJ vs Bron_ g.o.a.t. conversation, but every current NBA player both knows & appreciates Larry Legend. So do the critics. So do most fans ... pretty much everyone. *Underappreciated?*
@@donarthiazi2443 Ask kids these days their top 3 or 5 and then come back to me. Bird should be in the top 3 or 5 yet fewer and fewer people have him there. Not saying they don't know about him, but because of recency bias, he is not as respected as he should be in the GOAT conversation. I'm not even an old-head but Bird would dominate in this era and I'd argue he'd be better in this era.
Larry Bird was a special player. He saw angles and little short cuts to the ball so well. You can't expect him to be somewhere. That little shove taking a man off the court for a few seconds was crafty. I love Kareem too, huge fan.
@@Silence_Duder_Gooder That's only one more. lol. That being said, IMO, there is no question that the Lakers had more total talent. Not a Celtic fan, but that is another example of how great Bird was. McHale was great, DJ was a gamer, and Parish was stubborn.
That is part of the game. Both teams are very intense in winning. The emotion is at its peak. That is why these games are fun to watch. Their eagerness to win is just at the highest level.
Im remembering this game like I'm a dementia patient having a moment of clarity. I was so hooked on watching that my world stopped to watch every single moment. Pre-game, post-game, and highlights. Nothing kept me from being glued to the tube. Those were the days.
I’m a huge hockey fan and its all sports now. Everyone is buddy buddy and the passion and hate that came with winning is all gone. I understand having less head injuries in general but…they get paid millions to entertain us. I am not entertained by most sport outings anymore
I remember this game so well, back in the glory days of the NBA. This was the key game, where Celtics turned the tide in this epic championship series against a great lakers team. Bird was unquestionably the MVP of this game, but Dennis Johnson was my favorite player. His defense on Magic during this series was a thing of artistic beauty. Cannot say enough about DJ, and who can forget McHale's clothesline take-down of Rambis? He'd have been ejected for that play today, but back then, they only allowed grown men to play in the NBA. I always thought Kareem was a bit of a whiner and a crybaby when things didn't go his way, the inspiration for Lebron a generation later ;-) They are both great players whose personalities rub me the wrong way.
I agree with your comment on DJ: throughout the 80's he was my favorite guy on those great teams. Total team guy, sky - high basketball IQ and tough as nails.
@@MalzoneFan Well, we are complete agreement on DJ 's qualities and assets. Next to Bill Russell, he might be my all time favorite player, from my favorite team. Hard to say. I always liked KC a lot too, both as a player and coach. Was it coincidence he happened to be the victorious coach for this once in a lifetime game? You decide. Anyway, DJ coached an NBA development team here in Austin (the Toros) during the early 2000's. He collapsed and died of a heart attack during one of their practice sessions. I didn't know a flip about the Toros, but I went to a coupla games just to see the Man in person. I cried the morning I opened the sports page to be greeted with news of his passing. I think I'd seen him only a few days prior. A shock.
This is why I hate Boston fans cuz ur all the same cuz u could've of just gave bird is probs without coming off as a spiteful celtics fan talking shit about Kareem who's the one of the G.O.A.T.S just cuz ur salty cuz this was the only finals ur Celtics beat the Lakers in during the 80s cus not only did the Lakers when the finals the next year against y'all but they beat u again in 1987 and it was partially because of Kareem Abdul jabbar.What makes Celtics fans even more horrible is that Lakers fans never talk shit about Larry Bird,Kevin Mchale,Robert Parish,or Dennis Johnson when giving props to Magic or Kareem but celtics fans always found a way to take stupid jabs at Cooper,Worthy,Kareem,or Magic F.O.H.
I almost forgot how loaded with absolute DAWGS those teams were! I could watch this all day! To see this you might think they had nothing but hate for each other. Listen to them now: it's all respect, respect, respect. That's a real rivalry and love of the game!
Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. born 4-16-1947 weight 12# length 22.5” in Harlem,NY. Played at Power Memorial Academy, (playing at 6’8”) a Catholic high school in Manhattan in the Catholic High School Athletic Association, NYC,NY. His father Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. At 7’2” played at UCLA under John Wooden 1966-1969. The NCAA banned the dunk in 1967 and rescinded the rule in 1976. Changed his name in 1971.
Always makes me think of my Dad. He was insanely into the Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics at those times. I was a Lakers' McAdoo, Johnson, Cooper, Rambis, Jabar fan.
Note that he felt the guy leaning on his back, hooked his left foot behind Cooper's, pushed his butt out when he made the pass, KNOWING it would send Coop flying backwards. Beautiful.
Bird is all class. Watching this as a neutral and noticing it contains the the Kurt Rambis collision, I thought to myself, that it would be hard to keep a positive narrative with respect to Bird, when such a foul was committed by his team in the game - but then I saw something that I hadn't seen in other videos of the event - Bird goes and helps him up and gives him a few consoling words. Wow. I'd never seen that angle before. That was class.
@@OscarGrouch-nv4gy Well, I've taken a look and the closest I can get to your quote is bird saying "I'm just a Hick from French Lick" -(LOL!) which is true! - but I don't think it negates the assertion that it was class.
This was the most unbelievable series. Fortunately I was at games 5 and 7 in Boston. The 1984 NBA Finals not only brought back the NBA but also reignited one of the most bitter rivalries. Boston / Philadelphia in those days was just as tense... they played 6 times/year PLUS the playoffs. Of course the Celtics had beaten the Fakers 7-0 in Championship Series prior to 1984. Game 5 was played in a 103 degree sauna that was the old Boston Garden (remember there was ice beneath parquet floor). This was also the year the NBA and the Players Association discovered the value of advertising and endorsement$. Anybody remember the Magic / Bird Converse commercial in French Lick, IA? Today's players have these two teams to thank. When the NBA was truly great.
Fakers? Are you biased much? Sure looks that way to me. Why can't fans just state their opinion without insults? Okay, so you don't like the Lakers, we get it. At least i appreciate the legend that is Larry Bird and I am not even a Celtics fan.
Bird commented once that he loved the challenge of beating on players that dismissed him because he was white, couldn’t run fast or jump high. He beat superior athletes with his mental superiority of the game. Grew to gain their respect and admiration
Well it was a lot more than just mental superiority, Larry Bird was an incredible, tough, in shape, Athlete, and an unbelievably great basketball player...
0:40 Oh man, I never saw Larry pull THAT move, much less get away with it. 😂 He literally arse-checked an opposing player off his feet, and out of bounds.
He has the right to stand out of bounds to inbound the ball. Good no call. If anything the ref could have called delay of game on the Laker player. He can't be out of bounds harassing the inbound pass.
@@steverenom.299Excellent point. I was actually thinking it should have been technical foul of some sort, but I admit to not being up on all the rules lore. 😋
The dummy Laker was not supposed to be out of bounds behind him either... He deserved what he got...And watch, of course, he made it look a lot worse than it really was... And he was not supposed to be back there in the first place...
Not a basketball fan. But remember watching these series when the Lakers and Celtics always seemed to find themselves in these championship games. Incredible athletes, amazing sportmanship from both legendary teams. Glad I was able to witness and enjoy these games. Great memories. 👍
The golden years. The Birdman was a monster on the court that would use every trick in the book to get into the other guy's head. The LA - Boston matches were incredible. I cherish those years when the game had not yet been ruined by $$$. Those days are long gone baby.
I grew up in Orange County Ca. in the 60s through the 90s, and was a big Lakers fan with the primary bad guy being the Celtics. Those are the Games I remember and it was blessing that both Bird and Magic Johnson came into the league at the same time. They restored the league and brought back NBA Basket as it is supposed to be played, with coordinated offense, and tough defense. Not like today where it is all high light reels with Dunks.
Brought it back? When was it as good as this before that time? I think they elevated it to a whole new level, then passed the torch to MJ, and he reached the pinnacle
Gosh ! Those were the days ! Bird was the Man.... playing against a great team with great players. 👍 Basketball is nothing like it was in the golden era ! 👍 🇺🇸
Larry Bird was a straight assassin, both offensively and defensively, and you didn't want to insult, talk trash or think you were going to outplay him. This is when basketball was not only good, but extremely entertaining as well. Todays game is soft and uninspiring compared to the era of the 70's, 80's and 90's. I'm not comparing the talent, just the enthusiasm, heart and entertainment value. I grew up watching the Pistons, Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, 76ers, Spurs and a few other teams that were in the mix and there really isn't a fair comparison. Also, the teams back then had a few more personalities than today.
They always show clips of Bird when is scoring but they never show when he got shutdown and was schooled by Dr. J in the playoffs or when Jordan scored 63 on him he's ranked an awful 36th in scoring 45th in assists and an even more embarrassing 62th in rebounding, so he's not a great rebounder or assists or scorer, he was truly overated the stats proves this so quit it.
Bad Take, I always find it hilarious how ppl who never played a game of basketball think they know whether a player was overrated or not better than the players who played against him, lmfao, go hit the back of the bus with Redick with that shit scrub!
@@dariussuite1605 I guess all the Hall of Famers who've publicly stated and shared stories of Bird doing it all to them personally are lying, right? Don't take my word for it, go look up what guys like Magic, Worthy, Isiah Thomas, Laimbeer and even Dr J himself have said about Larry Bird.
@@garyleahy4537 Isaiah Thomas actually said that Larry Bird should have never won 3 MVPs in a row and clearly stated why, Julius is a humble guy now who doesn't realize how he schooled Bird, he's not the Aba frame of mind guy no more,Bird actually says that Doc schooled him in his book, stats don't lie, but commentators at that time and the media do, he was a sign of hope back then because of the domination of the ABA players along with the black NBA players, but forget that,it's the stats that just truly prove it.
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I’d choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I’d take Larry Bird.” - Pat Riley
Why Jordan? He was not a great shooter.
@@rman52 Exactly! Truth!
@@rman52 Jordan was clutch how old are you?
@@2quick24 but he was clutch
I would pick kobe
I'd rather watch this series on a repeated loop for the rest of my days rather then 5 mins of the current no defense, 3 point shoot out, load management, no loyalty player super teams NBA!
So very true. Today's game is unwatchable.
Agree
Absolutely right about that. This was great basketball, look at the plays, ball movement, team ball. It’s amazing to watch.
I agree
Agreed. To those of us who have played and watched over the past 60+ years, today’s NBA is a joke. Rarely see a travel call, even after 3 or 4 steps, never 3 seconds, superstars can hack and shove while rookies get foul calls for breathing too hard on a star player. I grew up loving Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, KC Jones, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, etc. back when they played real basketball. After the Bird & Magic era, my watching declined sharply to the point that I rarely watch any more. College, however, has still maintained more of the purity of the game and that’s where I still watch.
My favorite sports quote of all time is Jordan made you look slow, but Bird made you look stupid.
I'm old school. I forgot all about that quote. 😂😂😂 Yes that was a great quote. Pacers fan here from Indiana. God I miss the Pacers of the 90s and early 2000s.
Big Game James
Lol 😂
Larry Bird was from Indiana if I'm not wrong.@@marvinhunt8276
@@joseortega-us6rn Yes. French Lick Indiana is where Bird is from.
Dennis Johnson was critically underrated. Instrumental to these Celtics and the SuperSonics championship obviously. DJ was the man
Tremendo jugador. Un base casi perfecto.
Bird called him his best teammate ever
@@ericc.edholm6565both were able to read the court , miss those one gruels for the paint, talk about tension. But fortunate to see them.
I've been a Lakers fan since the days of Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, etc.
Dennis Johnson was amazing, the man was incredible !
He had a Very high IQ out there in the floor
One minute in, and I already saw 3 technicals, 2 flgrants, and an ejection in today's NBA 🤣
I miss this era. Grown men, really out there playing like it matters.
And the players wore shorts, rather than split skirts. The game really went to hell when the guys switched to culottes.
@@abaxteria thank you ! Glad it’s not just my opinion !
Yes and you never saw those players taking a few games off because they're so tired throughout the season. They played every game and they played it with passion.
How about that Rambis charge on McHale?
Great Observation! lol
The highlights of this game are better than anything the NBA has now. My goodness, do I miss real basketball.
I'll second that!!! They played with heart
Exactly 💯
Oh, is the NBA still around?
@@marcopolo1134 I fear democrats and republicans more than I fear the CCP.
@mvp019 not as it was with Bird, Magic, and Jordan.
So many legends on those two teams. This rivalry is what saved the NBA in the 80's
The 80's and 90's were incredible. So many legends from those two decades.
Yup. The NBA was in trouble at the end of the 70`s. These guys really got the ship floating again. I am a Hockey guy . When I was a kid, I watched every sport. But it just is not the same NFL or MLB. I even liked tennis. But after Pete Sampris and Ivan Lendil acing every serve it got boring. Every play is a shotgun pass in Football and baseball used to take an hour and a half to play a game, now it is a damn four hour game of stepping out of the box to adjust your damn batting gloves and shin guards. I miss it too.
TOO MUCH $ INVOLVED THESE DAYS THEY'VE REMOVED THE HEART FOR CAPITAL GAIN DOG GONE IT!! LEROY HAND ME A BEER OVER DARE.
Yes Lakers had so many Carolina players McAdoo. Worthy. Perkins, Fox are the ones I remember
The slam dunk contest coverage really helped too.
I haven't watched basketball in YEARS and I actually got excited watching this. This type of play is great, much more physical and team-oriented than today.
lol same. I was really into it for a minute. 😅
That's cause they don't play man2man defense anymore. Just that safety Susie zone defense bullcrap
😂😂😂😂
The money messed it up, as it always does.
I have not watch a game in years as they are boring.
These were the golden years of basketball
As well as baseball
NBA on CBS was the best.
You had to fight for points. These men were worn out after games.
u aint lyin
I like that everyone played defense.
I'm not sure what game they play today, but THIS is basketball!
Too much speed and athleticism today. Bigs can dribble and shoot 3's
@@nathane2243 to many divas!
Players can’t even look at each other today without one of them falling out and a foul getting called.
@@mrspaulb3889 it blows my mind
@@mrspaulb3889you ever notice, the only players that Jabar ever scuffled with on the court were always white guys. Parrish played physical ball but Jabar walked away from him. He clearly tried to elbow Bird in the face, unprovoked. He also initiated the fight where Rudy Tomjonovich had his face fractured. Jabar held Kevin Kunnert from behind as his teammate pummeled Kunnert. Rudy ran down the court to protect Kunnert and got sucker punched running past Kermit Washington. Then Jabar also gave Kent Benson a terrible blow that knocked him out.
I remember watching this game with my dad just stunned at how hard and how good these teams played.
More physical than today's NFL. Love it as a fan.
@@williamwright6157 NFL football players are too big ,& strong & talking 18 footbal game etc etc l sports teams must protect athletes , NHL must protect wayne gretzky
There will never be another rivalry like this one again. Highest levels of basketball and intensity from both teams every time they met.
So true, REAL east vs west pride on the line
I miss real men's basketball.
For sure and everyone played defense. The best player guarded the other teams best player regardless of position most of the time.
The 76ers, Lakers and Celtics were the 3 dominant teams and the only ones who beat the each other on a consistent basis, with the home team winning 90% of the time
Michael and Bryant was a good one
This game wasn't about Kareem "disrespecting" Bird (yeah they were jawing but just two GOATs being competitive). It was more a reaction to the Showtime Lakers running roughshod over the Celtics in game 3 (137-104). After that game, the Celtics were down 2-1 and all the momentum was with the Lakers. Bird called his team "sissies" in postgame interviews, and they as a team came to play physical in this next game to throw the Lakers off their rhythm and turn a footrace into a slugfest. Honestly one of the greatest finals series ever, absolutely legendary.
thats because the Birdman was playing Chess and the others were playing Checkers''
Absolutely 100% correct in your statement, you just knew after Larry called his teammates out after that game 3 loss, an embarrassing loss, that the Celts were gonna come out for blood in game 4 and when Mchale knocked Rambis to the floor, it swayed the momentum right over to the Celts…..The Lakers tried to outmuscle the Celts from that point on and that wasn’t their type of game, honestly just a mastermind play by Bird to fire up his guys and to take the Lakers out of they’re rythym
Agree
@@eddieespinoza6904You think Birdie plays better chess than Kareem?
Actually, yes.@@richardn6768
I’m a Knicks fan & these 2 were something truly special. LB was like MJ, NOT someone to antagonize during a game. The angrier they got …
I still believe when one considers the whole spectrum of Bird's amazing game: passing, awareness on the court, offensive creativity, blocking out/rebounding, intensity, clutch free throw shooting, basketball I.Q., and finally - his uncanny performances in crunch time, he was the greatest. Often playing with both savvy and controlled brutality, he was the virtuoso of basketball.
Larry Legend is the GOAT.
Definitely one of the best clutch shooters ever.
I'm not like a huge "sports guy" but I was born in 1983 so I remember the heyday of early-mid 1990s basketball and hockey and such. And recently I watched videos about Larry Bird, so yes I agree he was OVERALL the greatest because he was like a grandmaster chess player of basketball. I watched a video of what other NBA stars said about Larry Bird, and they said he was always in the right place at the right time, he looked at the overall picture, he knew where the ball was going to go.
The greatest could find a way to score over any D, and Bird is up there with the greatest of the great ones in this respect, peopl like Jabbar, Michael, Wilt.
I think hes amazing but hes the prime example of early adopters, clearly he was revolutionary but at a time when the game wasnt so technical imo. The barr has been raised by every generation so much so that its harder to excel imo. Not taking anything away from Bird at all, he was an absolute pioneer and revolutionary player
I love how aggressive the defense is. There's no way that type of aggression would fly now. There were a couple moments where I was thinking people would get flagrant calls or ejections. I haven't really sat and watched a basketball game since the mid-late 90s but this definitely makes me feel nostalgic. Loved it.
you should know flagrant fouls weren't invented yet
The league is soft as cat shit now.🙂
@@superyou918 they used to be called technical fouls
I miss this rivalry and the old NBA
Basketball is boring now days. 4x's as many Commercials. 20x's as many 3 Point shots, and no Defense until the last 5 minutes of the game. I'm just glad I've been a Laker fan since the mid-60's and got to see decades of awesome Basketball.
"Larry can't run or jump cause that was God's way of making things fair." - Charles Barkley
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
Charles. No one like him. He does remind me of Yogi Berra at times.
Barkley knew.
Stop. Larry was a great athlete. He could run he could dunk. Crappy athletes don’t thrive in the NBA. It’s just a lie dark racists tell themselves.
The " one round mound of rebound", once said a commentator.
This was sooooo much better than today's no-defense 3-point contests.
125-129 in regulation....not a lot of defense
@marktarmannpiano you're right, the original stats I looked up didn't have an OT, still though it goes against the "every player was a lock down defender" narrative people like to throw out
Parish fighting for that rebound in the paint and getting the and 1 was tough game!
I'd like to throw J.J. Redick in a time machine and see how how many seconds he could stay out there before being placed on the injured list.
@@davidkramer333 did you not see all the bodies flying? lol
Over time, we tend to forget just hiw great these games were. As a young man I was a die hard Bird, McHale and Celtics fan. Thanks!
I was a Diehard Lakers fan. I hated the Celtics. But we feared Bird..
As a hardcore Laker fan during the 70s and 80s, nobody scared me more than Larry Bird. He was just unstoppable and could kill you so many different ways.
Why would you be scared?
Bird is the greatest player of all time. Kareem is second. He had an unstoppable shot that was very high percentage. Both were undeniably all-time greats!!
Celtic fan here, same for me but it was Magic & the Lakers. Them were the days J.
If I had $ on that game I'd ask Kareem to cover me because he single handidly poked the blond bear! Absolutely nothing will EVER compare to what we enjoyed in the 80's!!! As a lifelong Laker fan growing up on the west coast in the 80's, it was tough to truly understand how good Bird really was. Laker fans HATED the C's but had a TON of respect knowing they could take a game over in an instant and it ALWAYS started with Bird. I wish we had the chance to see him/them play more then 2x a year, home & away, that was it, no games on the tube besides your local team if you were lucky enough. The finals were literally syndicated in the early 80's before the Celtics rivalry. At least on the west coast we knew what Larty and the Celtics did the next day (always won and he always had around 30/12/8). Celtics fans didn't even know the Lakers won by 30 (& that Magic had 20/10/22) until 2 days later. It's crazy to think that Houston was the only other team to represent the west (2x) in the 80's. Kicked LA's asses too; well, one series was best of 3 garbage, but ultimately they got absolutely demolished by the C's both times! Makes you wonder who was better from '82-'84 (Philly)!? LA was better on paper but the east was exponentially tougher (especially when Stern moved Milwaukee to the east to balance out the conferences). Early on the 76ers were as scary as the C's frankly. Great debates, no one right answer (Lakers). I will say this;
1.) Magic was 3 years younger than Bird and was in his prime '85-'87, and the C's run was starting to fade (officially over June of '87). Totals; Magic (8 finals / 5 ships) dominating the early years & the later years against LB (who ended with 5/3.
2.) Magic choked on more than one occasion, but his h2h playoff numbers were better overall.
He even outscored LB in '87 and his ast/rebs were better. Once the common thread being this; Once Magic turned 30 he never won again, the same with Larry. The league was just too good (Pistons, Bulls, Jazz, Blazers).
2b). Andrew Toney still gives me nightmares to this day. Did he do this to Celtic fans too? We could only see the box score the next day unfortunately (of course; Bird 34/14/8).
I sure miss the good old days and will always cherish the NBA in the 80's as the best of my life as a sports fan!!!
He was deadly, period. I watched Bird kill my Knicks o er and over and over....LOL, but I was always a fan.
I'm today's game, he would have had about 5 extra seasons of great playing since athletes are better taken care of.
The only time I ever paid attention to basketball was during this era. Larry Bird was not fluid or graceful at all, but boy could that guy shoot, and was he ever effective. What a talent, what a competitor. And I don't mean that to downplay the level of talent overall in that series. That series was absolutely incredible. I look at those two teams, and am reminded of the incredible level of talent that was on that court. Today's NBA is absolutely unwatchable by comparison.
so true i cant stomach the game now so much fun the good ol days
You guys don’t know anything about basketball lol
@@daledilbeck9621 You aren't wrong. I quit watching basketball a looooong time ago. When March Madness gets down to the Final Four I'll watch those games. The atmosphere is great and the games are reasonable in length at 40 minutes with 20 minute halves and last 120 minutes on average. The NBA...I don't know how people can stand it, and I'm not just saying that to be a jerk, I really mean it. 48 fouls per game on average. 1 per minute. Maddening. In addition, each team is allowed 7 timeouts per game of varying length. SEVEN. The game is 48 minutes long, broken into four quarters, and it takes 150 minutes to play. 8 minutes more game time than the NCAA has translates into 30 more minutes real time. This year, teams are averaging 103 possessions per game, and are scoring 114 points on average per game. Teams score about 80% of the time at the free throw line, so, based on 25 free throws per game, roughly 20 points of the 114 per game are scored that way, leaving roughly 95 points scored during play per team, per game, on 103 possessions. Plus there's a 24 second shot clock. So if a team has a notable lead in the fourth quarter, you better get a pillow out, because one team is going to be burning .4 of a minute every time they touch the ball, which could be about 4.5 minutes worth of keep-away out of the 12 minutes, right up until the losing team has to start fouling to preserve time and unnecessarily stretch the game. Unwatchable. Completely unwatchable.
Back when white people were allowed to play and watch.
if i recall, Byrd also held the record for assists.
Those series between Boston and Lakers was the NBA at it's best!!! Those moments was so special... The rivalry and the competitive effort on BOTH ends of the floor was literally like watching gladiators in battle! And it wasn't just about the "Franchise players", it was about the entire TEAM competing hard!
They saved the NBA - Magic and Larry and teams.
Don't forget those Jordan years.
@@1099670 NBA was already back when Michael and Scotty and team won three in a row.
this is all manufactured drama. it's part of the game when the ring is up for grabs. These two guys are both class acts and respected one another, clickbait video.
The words basketball and gladiator being used in the same sentence is hilarious. A club level lightweight fighter would demolish the entire court one after another.
Its time to officially acknowledge Bird as Top 5, all time.
Top 1
And Magic Johnson the most overrated player in NBA history!!!
Top #3
@@davidmr1510C'mon Man! Magic was great.
Mj 1 Kareem 2 Bird 3 Magic 4 Wilt 5 Shaq 6 Lebron 7 Russell 8 Kobe 9 Curry 10 just my opinion
That rivalry in the 1980s between Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics was by far the most exciting and entertaining basketball of all time .
I watch replays of these great games and I still remember them when I watched it live many moons ago.
It seems that these teams and players measured their success and even their careers on this rivalry. Every one of them is immesley proud of what this was.
And as much as I detest espn , their three part series featuring this rivalry was so epic. But it’s kinda hard to mess up such a great story that these two teams provided
So cool to see giants of the game pushed to their absolute limits, and even beyond. Kareem really melted down in this one. These guys put everything into it, no stat chasing, all for the rings. Competition that was fierce and true. Beautiful.
I loved the contrast between the teams. The Lakers spent most of the 80s just cruising to the Finals, because they were so much better than everyone else in the West. The East was a warzone, with the Celtics, 76ers, Bucks, Hawks, Pistons, and Bulls all battling it out. Two completely different environments, producing completely different styles of play.
Yes, Kareem melted down. And while nobody can prove it, if you argue too much with the officials, they'll intentionally make more calls against you.
@@timothymiller1783 human nature, nobody likes the same person repeatedly yelling and spitting in their face
@@corwinsmith1502, you got it! 👍
It wasnt Kareem it was Magic Johnson who melted down. That was a deciding moment of the series in a sense. Kareem had a fantastic series including this game. It was more a matter of the Celtics being better that year, more seasoned as a team. If you can point the finger at anyone it would be Magic Johnson who made critical mistakes in several games including this one. Missed free throws, turnovers, forgetting the time on the clock. Bird hit the game winner right in Magic's face.
Man, I had forgot how great all these players were and the teams they played on. But after watching this it all came back in a flash. The shear intensity of all these players was so far beyond anything presented today in the NBA. That game looked like it was speed up twice the speed but that is how they all played. Nothing was left on the floor. Simply amazing the caliber of all these players and dedication to the game. It's sad that someone was even considered a loser after that game, and Bird, what else is there to say. If the fans today got to see what we experience back then, they would know they were being ripped off from what real team play and greatness of players looked like. This will never happen again because the love of money took over the love of the game and the dedication it takes to play every night at that level. Thank you to all those players back then. You will never be duplicated or compared to any of these teams today. Those were the GOAT times of basketball.
🎯
2nd that
Back Then, Coach I Think I Broke My Hand. Coach: Walk It OFF!! Now coach i think i broke a nail. LAY DOWN!!! THE LIFE FLIGHT IS 2 MIN, OUT!!! THEY ARE TAKING OFF THE ROOF, TO LAND NEXT TOO YOU, SO AS NOT TO CAUSE ANY UNDUE STRESS!!!! YOU 'R NOT GOING TO SUE US ARE YOU? THE P.O.T.U.S. IS ON HIS WAY!! THE ARMY, AIR FORCE THE NAVY, THE RANGERS, ALL THE SEALS!!! ALL THE OTHERS ARE HERE, WHAT DO YOU NEED??? MY MOMMY, MOMMY!!! Coach: THE MARINES ARE PICKING HER UP!!! WE ARE AT (DEATH- CON)-500 AND FLAGS ARE AT HALF STAFF!! THE WORLD IS THINKING GOOD THOUGHTS FOR YOU!! AND THE WHOLE WORLD HOPES YOU MAKE IT! AND THEY WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU WANT TO WIN THE INDY-500, AND ALL OTHER GAMES!! YOU ARE A ROOKIE AND WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!! WE JUST PUT 500 TRILLION IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT TO HELP, YOU FEEL BETTER! AND 10 YRS OFF SO YOU CAN HEAL! Back then: player shows coach his hand 5 x the size it should be. coach o.k. Take a salt pill. And if it gets any worse, we will cut it! WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF GAME TO PLAY!! NOW GET OUT THERE!! AND NO ICE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST? NOW GO,GO,GO!!! (And that's a fact jack)
And they were all good players including the reserves…
Those were the days when men had penises and women had vaginas.
So great to see these old highlights. So many legends on the floor at 1 time. Look how rough inside the paint was. Goodtimes back in the day.
Larry Bird is so underrated as a game winning player, he never had the style of Jordan but by god he had grit and determination, could single handedly change a game at a whim and the man could shoot the hoop. Larry Bird has to be one of the greatest of all era's... Legend🏀
Larry....one of the greatest..
No he's not, he's one of the very best
True. One thing that impresses me about him is that he owned Dennis Rodman, and Rodman was one of the best defenders in NBA history.
Underrated ? Us boomers know he was and is always going to be considered one of the best, like Jerry West, a “clutch” player
Underrated? Didn't he win 3 league MVP's in a row? How old are you? In the 80's everyone rooting for another team thought he was overrated! I know I did then. I no longer do, though. I respect the game of basketball in general too much to be a mindless partisan anymore. Larry was *always* known as one of the best clutch shooters... ever. And not just a clutch shooter, an incredible *force* on the court at moments in the game. I think his first season the Celtics added more wins in one season that any other team, and it was basically the same team with a year's experience and a new Larry Bird.
Look at his NCAA semifinal game before playing Magic's Michigan State. He went something like 14 for 16, and one miss he rebounded and put back right back in, and they won by 2 points!
Name one other game in NCAA tournament history that has a similar performance with a similar win... ever. And you think the other team's defense wasn't 100% geared toward stopping Larry Bird in that game?
I was a Laker fan and absolutely hated on Larry and MJ... precisely because I wasn't stupid and I know who the threats were to my team winning.
Dude has *always* been clutch, so you must be quite the youngin'.
BTW, I hate on Andrew Toney, too, because the one year he was truly healthy, the 76ers lost a single game in their Championship run, and it was Toney who broke the camel's back. He either popped jumpers all day in your face or forced you to leave the middle open for Doc, Moses and everyone else... picking your poison was the only chance you had.
Few people know that if Andrew Toney wasn't riddled with injuries during the playoffs, the 1980's championship roster might look a fair amount different than it does today.
Bird talked the talk, but he always walked the walk!!!
Especially against a 37 year old Kareem!
@@NotGordAgainst everybody. Now SIDDOWN
@@Lucille69caddy I'm not a Larry Bird hater bro calm down.
@@NotGord 😆😆😆..
@@NotGord youd think he was a relative..😆😆😆..after all these years..😆😆..hes still emotional abt bird.😆😆
The NBA in the 80’s was more physical than the NFL is today.
for reals!
@@bossshxtonly Great, great basketball. Larry was a top player in his prime. Kareem was past his prime when Larry started. I rabidly admire both of them. Larry was stronger than magic in nearly any circumstance. Kareem won for the lakers early in the showtime years.
@@patbrooksher7514 Today it's just plain thugball.
Many years of the NHL was well above and beyond today as well. It all changed....
well overall magic got the best of him including college .
I remember watching this series. It was edge of your seat stuff! The clash of two different styles of play, of team building. I don’t think there ever were before or ever will again be so many hall of famers on the court together. It was wonderfully fitting that Bird and Magic should become close friends after battling all those years.
It was beautiful
Bird & Majic are the co GOATS of BB Ball. nobody else comes close.
@@petergambino2129 I hear you bro
In the 80’s the rivalries between Boston and LA was great ti watch!!! But living in Indiana the rivalry I loved to watch was the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons !
I agree! But to me the original Dream Team was the G.O.A.T. Of Teams !!
The intensity of the games between these two teams in this era is unmatched. This short video of plays from this one game is more exciting than any NBA basketball I've seen in decades. Grateful to say I was a Celtics fan at this precise time in history and it was great. The 86 Celtics are easily my all-time favorite team. Bird, Parrish, McHale, Johnson, Ainge. Legendary ! Thank you for posting this !
Dont forget Big Bill Walton, a major cog in that team
@@davidmilton4862 Absolutely ! Incredible court vision and those passes were golden !
Man I hated the Celtics so much back then. Mainly because they always beat whoever I was pulling for (mostly the Sixers). They were so good.
The Knicks-Celtics rivalry of this era was equally intense
Amen such a shame😢
I love these styles of video. No useless commentary. Just a well edited clip of a timeless game
Unless it's Johnny Most doing commentary!!
The NEXT game was IMO even better… if you’re a Lakers fan. Bird was amazing, certainly top 5. He did it all.
With a piss poor title. Click bait.
@@robertjason6885 I'm actually a celtics fan! But I bet this Trajan guy is a Lakers fan
Tommy Heinsen and Dick Stockton are CBS legends. Their commentary painted the picture for most NBA fans in the 80s.
I grew up playing hockey and football. Even though I was not a big basketball fan, I always loved watching this generation of Lakers and Celtics play ball, especially against one another. Legends everywhere on both teams. I recall watching this very game like it was yesterday. Simpler times back then, both in sports and in life... man do I miss those days.
@@saturnosiris1221 Inflation has gotten that bad? Sheesh.
@@saturnosiris1221 Damn straight, I guess that is why I'm committing on youtube commit section because I'm to broke to go out and spend money to do anything because i'm such a peasant Lol, I do go out to eat at restaurants cause it lot cheaper than going to the grocery store depending on where you eat.
it was a great era.. followed by the pistons vs bulls rivalry.
hardly no dui,s LOL'
Same here. I'd watch that NBA over the current one anyday
I never, ever, ever get tired of watching Larry Bird play.. I never, ever, ever get tired of watching Larry Bird play..
It’s crazy watching these old highlights, how much harder the fouls were.
Meanwhile today, Lebron gets touched with a pinky and goes flying. 😂
🤣😂
Mchale throws Rambis to floor, stays in game. Bird butt checks Cooper into the second row, and nobody notices
@@johngalt9737 Cooper deserved an Oscar for that act.
@@vicariousjohnson9823 maybe, but it was still probably a foult
it s just like the new generations
Man, that was some thrilling basketball. Best memories for me. I grew up in Terre Haute when Bird was playing college ball. When he went to the Celtics the local station started carrying their games. Loved listening to Johnny Most call those games.
Johnny's 16 packs of unfiltered camels voice was legendary!
i did'nt get to watch many games on TV, so i would spin through the radio dial, listening to hear Johnny Most's crackly voice calling the game.....and you knew you had the right station......unmistakable.
@@wheelie63 Awesome! I did the same while working back in those days... They used to have a tribute of Johnny in the garden, wonder if they do in the fleet center now?
@@JerryNordstrom ......"Havlicek stole the ball !!! ".......lol
Johnny was something else. He wouldn't tolerate any attacks on his boys. I almost drove off the road one night as he was describing Pistons Laimbeer and Mahorn during warms ups "here's Laimbeer and Mahorn, they don't warm up with a ball, they don't need a ball, that's not what they are out there for. They look like they are on set for a Roman gladiator movie!!!!" 😂😂😂😂😂
Ah...growing up in the 1980s, The Celtics were my favorite team. Watching Bird, McHale, Parish, Johnson and Ainge do their thing was a sight to behold. Larry Bird was my favorite player ever.
One of the wildest things I've ever seen was Ainge throwing the ball in and he nailed a player for the other team right in the head and almost knocked him down!!!
I'll bet anything that was on purpose! Ainge was a great player!!!
Luca Doncic is going to be just as good IMO. VERY VERY hard to beat/compare anybody to Larry Legend, but DONCIC IS THAT GOOD, check his stats as im sure you have.
Me too brother, growing up in the 80s and being from Boston, I would get to go to at least 5-6 games a year at the Garden, and I even was there for Game 1 of the 85 series, when Bos blew them out by like 35 pts or so, that was a tough series to lose. Can you imagine if Len Bias hadn’t died, he would have joined the team for the 86-87 season after the Celts won it in 86..I guarantee the Celts would’ve went back to back and possibly even won like 4-5 in a row !!!!! What could have been
This was one of the greatest rivalries of all time!!!! Back in a time when Defense was spelled with a capital D!!!! As a lifelong Celtic fan seeing Bird and the gang making Magic and the rest of The Lakers cry and choke was awesome!!!
Yeah, that’s why Magic has 5 rings and bird has only 3.
Those days were intense, a crap ton of defense and very physical basketball.
Larry Bird was a unicorn.
No defense I just watched a clothesline that is not defense lmao
@@imdrift170 Are you daft?
@@imdrift170 Did he make the shot?
I'm not a basketball fan and I don't watch basketball, but for some reason watching this game was very soothing and reminded me of a time when things were simpler and fun....plus the announcer was very good at keeping the pace going.
There was no announcer better than Chick Hearn.
@@robertriver786 Hearn can be heard on the Pink Floyd album The Wall (at the 4:07 mark of the song "Don't Leave Me Now" That's pretty cool.
I'm not a huge basketball fan either but boy you can tell both teams were playing like they meant it.
Most INTENSE SINGLE NBA Finals game I have ever witnessed in my 53 years. Was like watching a Heavy Weight Boxing match that night ! Just Incredible.
Greatest match-up period. Any league any sport...
GOSPEL TRUTH! ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Agreed Adam, and I have 69 seasons to select from.....
76 years here.
Bird Celts, Russell Celts, Red and Johnny Most. Carr steals the ball, Havlicek steals the ball. It was rarely easy for them, but it was always glorious.
Can't watch BB anymore.
Bird was a beast...Growing up in New England , it was a joy to watch him play
Word
This wasn't series, it was a war. Loved every second of it.
Seven foot bugged eyed monkey
Hugs and kisses after the game
It's a sporting event, it was a game or series, not a war. If you had ever been in war you would not make such as stupid comment.
Reminds me of the old NFL days of Washington vs Dallas and Pittsburgh vs Oakland. They took no prisoners back then.
@@billr3724 I remember those days very well !
Basketball’s golden years. God, those games and players were great.
I still remember watching that game at my parents house outside of Boston - thanks for the memory, wow I loved those Celts!
No way Bird was gonna lose this game. 💪
love watching these old games 10 times better thaan watching the teams play today
Bird was really that guy and is easily a top 5 in my book. Sad he's so underappreciated these days since everyone is too young to realize how great he actually was.
What... _"underappreciated"?_ What planet do you live on?
He's not in the _MJ vs Bron_ g.o.a.t. conversation, but every current NBA player both knows & appreciates Larry Legend. So do the critics. So do most fans ... pretty much everyone.
*Underappreciated?*
@@donarthiazi2443 Ask kids these days their top 3 or 5 and then come back to me. Bird should be in the top 3 or 5 yet fewer and fewer people have him there. Not saying they don't know about him, but because of recency bias, he is not as respected as he should be in the GOAT conversation. I'm not even an old-head but Bird would dominate in this era and I'd argue he'd be better in this era.
@@GALuigi Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, MJ, Hakeem, LeBron, whose top 3 or 5?
@@charlesdonahue3667 😂
@@charlesdonahue3667 Hakeem? Better than Bird? Really? Not even close, frankly.
This was, without a doubt, the greatest rivalry in NBA history
Larry Bird was a special player. He saw angles and little short cuts to the ball so well. You can't expect him to be somewhere. That little shove taking a man off the court for a few seconds was crafty. I love Kareem too, huge fan.
I never, ever, ever get tired of watching Larry Bird play.
No one talks about how Dennis Johnson is sooo smooth with the ball and a great solid clutch player!
He was great. Larry Bird called Dennis Johnson the smartest player he ever played with.
I loved Dennis Johnson with the Sonics, and I continued to root for him after the Sonics stupidly traded him. May he Rest in Peace.
@@Jim-lu9pw Bird always mentions DJ when talking about the past
"Big Game" James Worthy, Kareem, and Magic took two out of three from that team thank you very much.
@@Silence_Duder_Gooder That's only one more. lol. That being said, IMO, there is no question that the Lakers had more total talent. Not a Celtic fan, but that is another example of how great Bird was. McHale was great, DJ was a gamer, and Parish was stubborn.
0:39 favorite no call ever, Cooper butt checked over the photographers by Bird
1:23 I love how Larry Bird was helping Kurt Rambis while both teams were just fighting all over and with eact other😂😂
Rambis returned the favor at 2:18
Yeah, Larry was like "You alright? That was a shit foul". Rambis says "Yeah, I'm good, thanks."
Yeh, that foul by McHale would get you thrown out of the game now. That was extremely dirty lol
That is part of the game. Both teams are very intense in winning. The emotion is at its peak. That is why these games are fun to watch. Their eagerness to win is just at the highest level.
Im remembering this game like I'm a dementia patient having a moment of clarity. I was so hooked on watching that my world stopped to watch every single moment. Pre-game, post-game, and highlights. Nothing kept me from being glued to the tube. Those were the days.
Brings back great memories. I remember watching this live. So many GREAT players on both teams! Much better than today's basketball wimps.
I am happy to say that I was there when that happened with my father. I was only a child but memories that I will never forget.
When basketball was basketball. I didn't start watching until 89 but I respect the 80s. 90s were awesome too.
Those days were fantastic. Both teams hated each other on the court but respected the hell out of each other off the court. Brilliant basketball.
I’m a huge hockey fan and its all sports now. Everyone is buddy buddy and the passion and hate that came with winning is all gone. I understand having less head injuries in general but…they get paid millions to entertain us. I am not entertained by most sport outings anymore
Now they loaf for 3+ quarters and then play to determine the winner, boring
Two great teams loaded with great players.. but damn Larry bird was awesome
Best all around player to ever play the game.
Larry could guard Magic, but Magic couldn’t guard Larry.
Larry Bird was unironically one of the 5-8 best players to ever touch a basketball
@@steviechampagne Larry Legend was the best...period.
@@LT1HILLINGHOE No. Larry Bird is Legend. But MJ was from another planet.
@@steverenom.299 Best joke of the year
I remember this game so well, back in the glory days of the NBA. This was the key game, where Celtics turned the tide in this epic championship series against a great lakers team. Bird was unquestionably the MVP of this game, but Dennis Johnson was my favorite player. His defense on Magic during this series was a thing of artistic beauty. Cannot say enough about DJ, and who can forget McHale's clothesline take-down of Rambis? He'd have been ejected for that play today, but back then, they only allowed grown men to play in the NBA. I always thought Kareem was a bit of a whiner and a crybaby when things didn't go his way, the inspiration for Lebron a generation later ;-) They are both great players whose personalities rub me the wrong way.
jabar jar-jar pouted, entitlement like he deserved a bill Russel status. unlike russel ja baw was overrated.. albeit a tall "one shot "wonder.
I agree with your comment on DJ: throughout the 80's he was my favorite guy on those great teams. Total team guy, sky - high basketball IQ and tough as nails.
@@MalzoneFan Well, we are complete agreement on DJ 's qualities and assets. Next to Bill Russell, he might be my all time favorite player, from my favorite team. Hard to say. I always liked KC a lot too, both as a player and coach. Was it coincidence he happened to be the victorious coach for this once in a lifetime game? You decide. Anyway, DJ coached an NBA development team here in Austin (the Toros) during the early 2000's. He collapsed and died of a heart attack during one of their practice sessions. I didn't know a flip about the Toros, but I went to a coupla games just to see the Man in person. I cried the morning I opened the sports page to be greeted with news of his passing. I think I'd seen him only a few days prior. A shock.
This is why I hate Boston fans cuz ur all the same cuz u could've of just gave bird is probs without coming off as a spiteful celtics fan talking shit about Kareem who's the one of the G.O.A.T.S just cuz ur salty cuz this was the only finals ur Celtics beat the Lakers in during the 80s cus not only did the Lakers when the finals the next year against y'all but they beat u again in 1987 and it was partially because of Kareem Abdul jabbar.What makes Celtics fans even more horrible is that Lakers fans never talk shit about Larry Bird,Kevin Mchale,Robert Parish,or Dennis Johnson when giving props to Magic or Kareem but celtics fans always found a way to take stupid jabs at Cooper,Worthy,Kareem,or Magic F.O.H.
can someone tell me the date of this game? Thanks!
This is when basketball was at it's greatest. Especially the rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers. Today it sucks. All of it.
I almost forgot how loaded with absolute DAWGS those teams were! I could watch this all day! To see this you might think they had nothing but hate for each other. Listen to them now: it's all respect, respect, respect. That's a real rivalry and love of the game!
No better time than the 80s for basketball. I remember watching this series as a kid. Those times were amazing.
Can’t believe McHale missed that easy put back at the end of regulation
Larry Byrd: all skill, all brains, no fear. Best ever.
Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. born 4-16-1947 weight 12# length 22.5” in Harlem,NY. Played at Power Memorial Academy, (playing at 6’8”) a Catholic high school in Manhattan in the Catholic High School Athletic Association, NYC,NY. His father Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. At 7’2” played at UCLA under John Wooden 1966-1969. The NCAA banned the dunk in 1967 and rescinded the rule in 1976. Changed his name in 1971.
Larry Bird is the best all-around player ever in so many ways.
Always makes me think of my Dad. He was insanely into the Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics at those times. I was a Lakers' McAdoo, Johnson, Cooper, Rambis, Jabar fan.
Bird's fadeaways and his scrapping for his missed shots are two of his greatest assets.
That hipcheck sending the Lakers player falling backwards into the crowd was almost NHL-worthy!
@@bostonwhofan is it true he said, "I'm not your GIRLFRIEND!"
One of if not the GREATEST rivalries in NBA! These teams were the best of the best!
This never gets stale. Great commentary, coaching and pure basketball
Larry bring the ball in with his back turned pushes dude into the third row was epic. Not sure how I've never seen that clip before.
It was an awesome move!
@@BWF007 then he sprints down the court to have 5-4 Savage!
Note that he felt the guy leaning on his back, hooked his left foot behind Cooper's, pushed his butt out when he made the pass, KNOWING it would send Coop flying backwards. Beautiful.
Situational awareness. Gave the Celts 5-4 advantage on the break. Nothing personal, just business.
Bet you couldn't do that in today's soft NBA
The golden days of the NBA the best. If it were still like this I'd watch
One of my favorites growing up was watching Bird and Dr Jay in the Boston Garden.
Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Pistons. What a great era in the NBA. These 80's/90's teams made me a fan!
Hey, Dr. J., Moses Malone and the 76ers in the early 80s was no joke either…THEY DESTROYED everybody in 1983…even my Lakers fell hard to them.
Don't forget Akeem's 2 championships.
I've never been a Celtics fan, but in watching Bird, I realize what an incredible talent he was, along with being tough as nails, awesome.
The only time I liked the Celtics is when Paul Pierce played for them because I'm a KU alumni
I like how Bird bumped one of the Lakers into the crowd with his body while in-bounding the ball.
That was Coop of the "Coop a-loop".
Bird had eyes in the back of his head. Knew where Cooper was and gave him the business
Cooper was one of the best defenders in those timw
took him out, insta 5 on 4 advantage!
A lovely cartwheel into the crowd!
Watching Larry Bird and Celtic games on TV with my dad as a kid were special moments. So much fun.
Growing up in the 1980's, this was must-see TV, even if you didn't follow basketball during the regular season.
Bird is all class. Watching this as a neutral and noticing it contains the the Kurt Rambis collision, I thought to myself, that it would be hard to keep a positive narrative with respect to Bird, when such a foul was committed by his team in the game - but then I saw something that I hadn't seen in other videos of the event - Bird goes and helps him up and gives him a few consoling words. Wow. I'd never seen that angle before. That was class.
Bird was one of the biggest trash talkers of all time. Hardly classy.
@@jimmydm3 That's true. But taken in isolation. That was class.
Bird told him they fouled him too hard but didn’t apologize.
No even Bird admits himself he was not classy at all... Everyone knows it, smarten up
@@OscarGrouch-nv4gy Well, I've taken a look and the closest I can get to your quote is bird saying "I'm just a Hick from French Lick" -(LOL!) which is true! - but I don't think it negates the assertion that it was class.
Man, Bird was a badass. You forget how physical the game was then.
0:39 of the clip... case in point... the best part of the entire video
LeFraud Has Choked In SIX Finals.......I like everything about this user name. Cheers
Thanks for your hard work guys, really enjoy your channel.
This was the most unbelievable series. Fortunately I was at games 5 and 7 in Boston. The 1984 NBA Finals not only brought back the NBA but also reignited one of the most bitter rivalries. Boston / Philadelphia in those days was just as tense... they played 6 times/year PLUS the playoffs. Of course the Celtics had beaten the Fakers 7-0 in Championship Series prior to 1984. Game 5 was played in a 103 degree sauna that was the old Boston Garden (remember there was ice beneath parquet floor). This was also the year the NBA and the Players Association discovered the value of advertising and endorsement$. Anybody remember the Magic / Bird Converse commercial in French Lick, IA? Today's players have these two teams to thank. When the NBA was truly great.
French Lick, IN (Indiana)
Fakers? Are you biased much? Sure looks that way to me. Why can't fans just state their opinion without insults? Okay, so you don't like the Lakers, we get it. At least i appreciate the legend that is Larry Bird and I am not even a Celtics fan.
@@Jim-lu9pw triggered much?
@@starkenterprises2371 No, just telling it like it is.
is this 84
Bird commented once that he loved the challenge of beating on players that dismissed him because he was white, couldn’t run fast or jump high. He beat superior athletes with his mental superiority of the game. Grew to gain their respect and admiration
Well it was a lot more than just mental superiority, Larry Bird was an incredible, tough, in shape, Athlete, and an unbelievably great basketball player...
As a Chicago Bulls fan since 1981, you can flip a coin between Bird and Jordan as the G.O.A.T.. I'll take either or.
@@akbarlebowitz8151 There are like 8 players in this video better than Jordon.
@@redrick8900 Not a fan of reality...or statistics?
0:40 Oh man, I never saw Larry pull THAT move, much less get away with it. 😂
He literally arse-checked an opposing player off his feet, and out of bounds.
Did you watch Cooper just before Bird did that? He instigated it.
He has the right to stand out of bounds to inbound the ball. Good no call. If anything the ref could have called delay of game
on the Laker player. He can't be out of bounds harassing the inbound pass.
@@steverenom.299Excellent point. I was actually thinking it should have been technical foul of some sort, but I admit to not being up on all the rules lore. 😋
The dummy Laker was not supposed to be out of bounds behind him either... He deserved what he got...And watch, of course, he made it look a lot worse than it really was... And he was not supposed to be back there in the first place...
You can see Kareem losing his fucking mind by the end of this lmaoooooooo
Not a basketball fan. But remember watching these series when the Lakers and Celtics always seemed to find themselves in these championship games. Incredible athletes, amazing sportmanship from both legendary teams. Glad I was able to witness and enjoy these games. Great memories. 👍
Yeah, especially Bird’s hip check on Worthy I think, when he was inbounding the ball. Actually should have been a foul.
Right there with you on everything you said about those great games.
The golden years. The Birdman was a monster on the court that would use every trick in the book to get into the other guy's head. The LA - Boston matches were incredible. I cherish those years when the game had not yet been ruined by $$$. Those days are long gone baby.
Yep. Today's NBA is completely unwatchable.
Miss the days of real NBA games
Le ho viste in Tv queste partite...due squadre con tanto talento in campo...bei tempi, ora solo spazzatura.
I grew up in Orange County Ca. in the 60s through the 90s, and was a big Lakers fan with the primary bad guy being the Celtics. Those are the Games I remember and it was blessing that both Bird and Magic Johnson came into the league at the same time. They restored the league and brought back NBA Basket as it is supposed to be played, with coordinated offense, and tough defense. Not like today where it is all high light reels with Dunks.
Brought it back? When was it as good as this before that time? I think they elevated it to a whole new level, then passed the torch to MJ, and he reached the pinnacle
@@jperryniagara, the league assisted Jordan in reaching that pinnacle. 😝
@@jperryniagara Watch the 60s and early 70s retro games then you will see what I mean.
As a guy who hasn't watched an NBA game in about seven years, this footage reminded me of why I loved the Lakers-Celtics rivalry as a kid.
Gosh ! Those were the days !
Bird was the Man.... playing against a great team with great players. 👍
Basketball is nothing like it was in the golden era ! 👍 🇺🇸
Can't stop the fade-away. Bird was one of the greatest!. I remember watching this series....I haven't seen basketball this good since then..
Larry Bird was a straight assassin, both offensively and defensively, and you didn't want to insult, talk trash or think you were going to outplay him. This is when basketball was not only good, but extremely entertaining as well. Todays game is soft and uninspiring compared to the era of the 70's, 80's and 90's. I'm not comparing the talent, just the enthusiasm, heart and entertainment value. I grew up watching the Pistons, Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, 76ers, Spurs and a few other teams that were in the mix and there really isn't a fair comparison. Also, the teams back then had a few more personalities than today.
They always show clips of Bird when is scoring but they never show when he got shutdown and was schooled by Dr. J in the playoffs or when Jordan scored 63 on him he's ranked an awful 36th in scoring 45th in assists and an even more embarrassing 62th in rebounding, so he's not a great rebounder or assists or scorer, he was truly overated the stats proves this so quit it.
Bad Take, I always find it hilarious how ppl who never played a game of basketball think they know whether a player was overrated or not better than the players who played against him, lmfao, go hit the back of the bus with Redick with that shit scrub!
@@dariussuite1605 I guess all the Hall of Famers who've publicly stated and shared stories of Bird doing it all to them personally are lying, right? Don't take my word for it, go look up what guys like Magic, Worthy, Isiah Thomas, Laimbeer and even Dr J himself have said about Larry Bird.
@@dariussuite1605 ...aaaaaaaaaand the Patriots cheated
@@garyleahy4537 Isaiah Thomas actually said that Larry Bird should have never won 3 MVPs in a row and clearly stated why, Julius is a humble guy now who doesn't realize how he schooled Bird, he's not the Aba frame of mind guy no more,Bird actually says that Doc schooled him in his book, stats don't lie, but commentators at that time and the media do, he was a sign of hope back then because of the domination of the ABA players along with the black NBA players, but forget that,it's the stats that just truly prove it.
This definitely unlocked some core memories. I can almost feel and smell the room that I watched these type of games with my dad.
JUST ONE OF MANY PLAYERS THAT REGRETTED DISRESPECTING LARRY BIRD👍😎