Larry Bird 1985 Playoffs: 34pts, Gm 4 vs. Cavaliers
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- A bad elbow kept him in the Holiday Inn while his teammates lost Game 3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That was bad enough. But when the Cleveland fans and moronic electronic media had the audacity to cry, "We want Bird!" Larry needed no more motivation to suit up for Game 4. "They don't know what they're saying," he snarled. "They don't want me. They don't want no part of me. I'm gonna throw both barrels at 'em." It was vintage WWF. It was vintage Larry Bird. He made sure he came out early for warmups. He waved to the crowd. He took a lap around the floor. And then he buried the Cavs with 34 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists. Talk about John Wayne clearing the room . . . "I loved it," he said. "I loved every minute of it."
Larry: "I remember one of the referees came up to me before the game and said that if the crowd came out of the stands they would protect me. Oh, I had the fans riled up, but I knew we'd play well because I knew the other players would back me up. I was ready to play that night."
Great game, Bird was pretty messed up in the 85 playoffs, only time I saw him wear a sleeve. Cavs fans weren't very bright yelling: "We want Bird!" in game 3.
The unfairness of the LA /Boston rivalry was this: Boston had to slug their way past physical teams like Philly, NY, Milwaukee and Detroit. "The problem with our rivalry is that the Lakers could be out there playing at 80% and still get to the finals, but we had to bang & scratch & beat our way to get there" Bird said "It was just a fact the East was stronger & more physical, we were taking a huge beating on our way to the finals and the lakers were just sitting back, waiting for us to arrive."
An underrated aspect of the 80's that never gets mentioned is that Milwaukee changed conferences prior to the 80/81 season. If the Bucks were in the West they may have given the Lakers a tougher path to the Finals
What a terrific performance. If he didn't injure his elbow and later his right hand, the Celtics would've most likely repeated, in my opinion. Kareem had a tremendous Finals though.
A prime Larry Bird is probably the most un-solvable problem the average NBA defender has ever had to think on.
I loved hearing James Worthy talk about Bird, and I'll paraphrase what he said. . ."there were sleepless nights knowing I had to guard him (Bird). I'd much rather guard a Michael Jordan than Bird. With Bird you had to play a thinking game, and he was always 2 steps ahead."
Almost every time Bird shot, he headed down court. He could tell that his shot was going in.
East was much tougher conf. I used to think that was an east coast bias opinion until I read Dave Heeren's "Basketball Abstract" - pg 49 to 51 statistical fact that top to bottom East dominated West every year for 10 yrs straight of the 80's. LA record vs east in finals = 24W & 27L (47%) Put LA in east & no way they reach 9 finals or get 5 rings
Around the 2:30 mark taking the ball out in front of the Cavs bench I think larry uses the Cavs towels to wipe his face :) that is classic Larry with his subtle mind games. The Cavs fans wanted Larry for game 4, and he did not disappoint !! Larry legend !!
I never noticed that until you pointed it out, that's funny as hell.
I love at 2:35 how he uses one of the Cavs towels to wipe his face down - just a subtle "this is MY court" gesture!
At 2:34 did Larry use the Cavs team towel out of their team training bag ? If so that is savage !!
Everyone knows about Larry's legendary trash talk, but few knew he was also skilled in nonverbal shit talking.
Also comparing who Bird had to go through as compared to Magic and his Lakers is something of a joke. The 80's EAST is the toughest conference in the toughest league era ever.
the story of bird is injuries. His teams were decimated by injuries in 85,87-92. They had no business makin it as far as the did in 87,88, 91 and 92
Lets be honest and I dont know why LA fans are in such denial about this.
COnversely LA's has one injury in 81 to Magic.
Not to mention twice Bostons had franchise players dies from drug use
Which players died?
@@Mateo.7777 Len bias and Reggie Lewis.
@@vedantkhadye8518 Reggie Lewis had a heart condition. His specialist advised him not to play anymore but he found a specialist who said he could play limited minutes.
Dj with the block at the end!!!
Awesome VERY rare footage of this series, which the Cavs put up a very good fight in..sure, they lost 3-1 to the defending World Champion Celtics, but they didn't go out easy..
@FavreianVengeance The 86 Rockets were a very good young team, next year Sampson was hit with injury, so they weren't that good after 86. The 87 Jazz were a very good team. 81 Rockets we're one of those teams that peaked at the right time, they also beat 2 other teams besides LA without home court, I wouldn't underrate them. Other than that I don't know many classic confrontations LA had in the West. All the classic highlights came from the east playoffs, Bird, Dr J, King, Thomas, Dominique
And I could argue that in 87 Celts were loaded w injuries & in 88 if Isiah doesn't sprain his ankle Pistons win. Its a statistical fact the west was the weaker conf every year for 10 years! Lakers were a great team but their road to finals was much easier. If LA had to play in east they don't get 9 trips to finals
totally agree
I dunno.. there were some good West teams too
@@HiNRGboy Ben, no other teams from the West won the Finals when LA was beaten in the West in the 80's. Another sign that the East was much stronger.
@@mrho4speed Rockets got there once right? I know what you're saying, I was just saying there were some tough teams in the West too besides the almighty Lakers. Some teams I felt would have been really goid in the playoffs couldn't even make it cuz of their records were a little short handed. The 80-81 Warriors and Nuggets for instance had at least 3 all stars on each team and still didn't make it.. a team like the Blazers did.. but they weren't better than those two teams if you look at the starting 5.
Thank you for sharing this vid. Love to watch pre '88 Bird before the injuries piled up.
They don’t want me! They don’t want any part of me!
I'd love to see his lap around the court 😁
34 points on 17 shots. Unbelievable
@CoreyT127,
Actually, it was 31 shots (FG's & FT's).
Not that unbelievable...
Thanks for posting. This was classic Bird, getting the fans riled up and then quieting the crowd down and winning an away game. Your description is spot on as I did read where this was one of Bird's favorite games. He LOVED to win on the other team's floor and before this game started he took a lap around the court to whip up the crowd. Great post!!
I'd love to see that lap 😁
Yes...and as much as Bird had help...Magic had more. Bird was better(even if its by a little bit) than Magic Johnson. Magic is the greatest PG ever, but Bird is the greatest SF ever, but Magic couldn't do everything Bird could do...not steadily like Bird.
Isiah is right up there with Magic at the PG
I also don't think LA would have been swept or even beaten in 83 if not for Worthy's broken leg. 1990 we know LA doesn't go down in 4 if Magic is not hamstrung. I think LA beats Bulls in 91 if Worthy doesn't get high ankle sprain against Trailblazers. Not saying Boston would have destroyed LA in 87 if healthy, but it would have been a better series than what they gave them.
@LuigiLaker Boston fans rightfully take away from the Lakers title of 85 b/c was legitimately playing injured. It's the same reason they'd take away from 09 when KG was out. The Lakers had great teams, but Lakers fans like yourself falsely believe they were heads and shoulder above the C's. They weren't. And I would not discount 85 b/c LB didn't want to make excuses. Why would he make an excuse? He wanted to be a gracious in loss.
Greatest all around basketball player in history.
I wish it was the 80s again. Legend.
You give bird LeBron athletic ability and he's the best ever no doubt . Switch it around, You give LeBron bird's athletic ability and would he have made the NBA?
your comment made zero sense 🤡 ✌️
What a terrific defensive shutout by the Celtics to close the game.
great ending.
@LuigiLaker Maxwell was a non-factor in 85 b/c he broke his leg. I think that's a huge excuse. I know Lakers fans clamor about Worthy breaking his leg in 83.
Hey. I'm 11 years late to ask, however, do you have the full game? I have Game 3 of this series - would you be interested in a trade?
I suspect that the Lakers pay under the table for talent, but I haven't seen anything concrete. How did the Lakers cheat to get Worthy?
gotta love a confident ballplayer something lost on today's players. cockiness does not equal confidence.
Great clip
The late and definitely great, Joe Tait.
2 things here. 1) That is not Joe Tait. 2) Tait was great..but, he is not late..he is still alive.
@MerkinMuffly Agreed. The West was cake for the Lakers in the West. And I've heard rumblings about poor officiating to turn the late 80s series vs the Jazz and Mavs in the Lakers favor.
Larry Legend
I remember World b Free, that stooge thought the Cavs would best the Celtics at home, well he was wrong and the funny part, World had a chance to win the game with a three but he got blocked by Dennis Johnson , what be a chump! 😅
A very underrated 80's first round series ! Each game could have gone either way !
The '88 Lakers featured Magic, Worthy, Scott, a 41 year old Kareem who was truly shot and role-players. They won the whole thing.
The knock on Bird is that his teams lost too many times with HCA advantage. 1980,1982,1983,1985,1988,1990, and 1991 all losses with HCA. Some of those losses were with stacked teams too. Not acceptable.
is that Jack Corrigan announcing? Old Indians broadcaster and current Rockies announcer
Larry Legend!!
"Ben Poquette? Are you fckn kidding me?"
@MerkinMuffly I mean 89
What an ending.
WOW! What an ending!
Its not an excuse its a legit reason. How'd LA do in 81, 83,89 with all their injuries? How'd they do in 92 with no JOhnson? Same thing. Boston only played 6 players in 85 and bird was hurt and we only played 6 players in 87 and all but Bird and Johnson were decimated by injuries and had no buisiness being on a basketball court. Have some common sense Jr,.
@usnate1 How is it a joke? Nuggets had the best offense in the NBA at that point, Seattle was still good with DJ, San Antonio was excelent and of course Houston who crushed the Lakers twice.
That's announcer Howard Chizek on the PA system.Great voice, especially when he says the players name for Thareeeee only when the Cavs players make them,any road team sometimes ,.One thing confused me,why are the Cavs on top and Celtics name at the bottom if the game at that time was at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland,Ohio?If it was at Boston Garden ,that would be a different story altogether.
@TheBrainMachine78 Yeah that '88 team which had Worthy as the FMVP was soo weak. Kareem was still an All Star that year and they aquired Mychal Thompson to fill the void.
@MerkinMuffly Solid. Yea, the Lakers only losses were to the Rockets and one of those teams was under .500 lmao. I heard about Bird's bar fight, not the broken hand. What year was that?
The Cavs would have won the series if they had held onto leads.
Yep. That's how it usually happens.
excellent
At 1:00 world shoots a long two and the commentators say it's from downtown lol
1988 stacked with who? Besides Larry/Robert/Kevin some decent play from Ainge an aging D.J. there bench was HORRIBLE. Mchale missed 18 games that year. Bird nearly played 3000 minutes. 1990 team was even older. In D.J's. last year he averaged 7.1 points. Ainge was gone and besides Reggie Lewis getting better there wasn't much bench support for the aging Big Three. Oh wait they had the great Joe Kleine... 1991 Bird only played in 45 regular season games.
I wanna see more Free footage with the Cavs!
he traveled @ 2:15 but still a great performance
this cavs need lebron james
They were a very solid team actually.. the Celtics were just loaded as hell
@@HiNRGboy yes but cavs was better in period 1989 -1992
Should post game 1 from this series
Pause at 4:58. What is up with Bird's face? Looks like Jason from Friday the 13th or something. Scary
What?
+KJam206 Larry dont fuck around. HE WAS JASON!!!
@LuigiLaker Maxwell gave them toughness, he wasn't a scorer like Worthy, but if you watch that 85 series, the Lakers beat the crap out of them, Maxwell would have went a long way to stopping that. Wedman was a terrible defender and had no physicality, he came in game one and hit a bunch of shots, but Celts were already up by about 11 when he started hitting them.
what was wrong with birds elbow?
+whatthehellimbored He hyperextended it at some point during that year. Didn't seem to bother him that much though. Tough dude
I believe I read that it was bone chips. He had bruised it badly.
I've got an interesting story and question about this Celtics-Cavs series!! In the mid or late 90's I heard a sports radio host mention that George Karl(the Cavs head coach in this game) told him that the Refs Rigged Every Game In This Series To Make Sure The Celtics Won. I didn't believe that at all until I looked up the scores and saw that all 4 games we're very close. It also looked as if the Cavs got fouled on the final 2 or 3 possessions of this game, but the refs didn't call anything.
George Karl has become a distinguished head coach since the mid 80's and is in good standing with the NBA so he won't say that games were rigged, but does anyone else remember Games 1 and 2 of this series?? Did the refs screw the Cavs in those games?? I know this is an obscure series that only hardcore fans would remember and it was just the 1st round, but it would be interesting for someone to review the games of this series. I know the NBA wouldn't have wanted Boston to be eliminated in the 1st round.
Someone else has uploaded video from Games 1 and 2 of this series, but he didn't show the final seconds of those games.
seeehorn
You can call a foul on almost any possession in the NBA. I watch the last play and I don't see anything that I'd want a whistle to decide the game. Cleveland missed good looks to win. This is why teams with finishers win much more often.
did the refs also make sure Legend Larry make all those shots also?
@MerkinMuffly That's still the excuse you Celtic fans make for losing to the Lakers in the Finals that June..Bird's elbow, Cedric Maxwell's injury..L.A. beat Boston, period.
Bird had three other HOFers in the starting lineup. Look at the the '88 Lakers. It was basically Magic, Worthy, Scott, 41 Kareem and role-players. Bird NEVER won with a team that weak.
That's still really good though, Magic, Worthy, Scott, an old Kareem.. not bad not bad at all
You're just making excuses, particularly with regards to '87 and '88. They finished with the top record in the East both years, they had HCA in both series vs Detroit. They hit an injury bug in '87, but they weren't beating L.A. at 100% anyway. And what devastating injuries did Boston have in 1985? Bird's elbow. That's hardly an ACL injury.
The ultimate matchup would have been the 86 Celtics vs the 87 Lakers.
And one the changes that started in 1985 was 2-3-2 game format instead of the 2-2-1-1-1 previously. If the Celtics had went home for game 5 like they did in 1984, it would have made the series more interesting to say the least. Cedric Maxwell was a big factor for them in 1984. He had a minor knee operation in Feb. 1985 and wasn't the same. There's an article I read that some in the Celtics organization felt he didn't try as hard. He played very sparingly in the playoffs. His presence was definitely missed. And I've seen Bird had "floating chips" in his elbow and other injuries as well. But Bird didn't give excuses. But his coaches felt otherwise. articles.latimes.com/1985-06-04/sports/sp-6609_1_larry-bird As for 1987 if they had the exact same healthy roster from 1986, I think they would have beaten LA again. No question.
@@Larryeffect Great article. Thanks for the link.