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If you are thinking of buy an NBA jersey then check out the official retailers of the NBA below. Washington Bullets 3-1, 1984 Conference Semis: Celtics def. The NBA unveiled two new postseason awards on Thursday morning: the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Western Conference Finals MVP. Even when he found fame and fortune, the NBA star never forgot his humble roots. His accolades are countless, with the former Indiana State man being an NBA legend. I write about games, players and seasons from the past. A year later, the Pacers would not have to worry about Michael Jordan as they returned to the playoffs, this time as the second seed in the east. He won his second NBA Finals MVP. All-NBA First-Teamers NOT in the Hall of Fame, Basketball Positions 101: Understanding the Different Roles on the Court, The Best NBA Players to NOT Make the Hall of Fame, The Best All-Defensive Team in NBA History, The All-Time Worst NBA Finals Performances by a Superstar by Position. That went to Birds teammate. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Boston's most crucial addition was Dennis Johnson, whom they acquired from the Phoenix Suns in the offseason in hopes of addressing their porous back-court defense. How Many Championships did Larry Bird win? The expected CelticsLakers finals, however, never happened. Or write about sports? Boston Celtics, 1st round (6th pick, 6th overall), 1978 NBA Draft, Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1998 (Full List), More Larry Bird pages at Sports Reference. The series was not a close one: the Cs took a 3-0 lead before Milwaukee won their second home game to stay alive. The Celtics won the Finals convincingly 4-2. The Bucks took them to seven games before they were able to advance and the Pistons took them to seven in the Conference Finals. Larry Bird Net Worth. Since then Bird won a championship in 1981, then Magic led the Lakers to the finals in 1982 and 1983, winning in the former. Game 4 of the 1984 Finals marked the last Finals game to go into overtime until Game 2 of the 1990 NBA Finals. Larry Bird | Net Worth, Salary, And Career Earnings The Indiana-born was the highest-paid rookie of the year, with $3.25 million an average of $650,000 a year in a 5-year contract with the Celtics.Bird had played 879 games in his career until his retirement in 1992.. Chicago Bulls 3-0, 1986 Conference Semis: Celtics def. The rules shift was a big factor . The 86 Celtics are in the conversation for best team ever with Bill Walton joining Bird, Robert Parish and. The Bucks, coached by Celtics legend Don Nelson, won the Central Division title in 1984. Bird won their first meeting in seven games, winning the NBA Finals MVP. Tatum and the rest of his team are eager to avenge the loss in the Finals . All rights reserved. At the end of the season, Bird was named Coach of the Year. Who Did Larry Bird Lose To In the NBA Finals? The Eastern Conference Finals were much more difficult. James has as many series losses in the Finals as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird combined. After altering wins with the Lakers, the Celtics won Game 7 and the series with a score of 111102. Jayson Tatum passed Celtics legend Larry Bird (1987-88) last night with his 34th 30-point game of the 2022-23 season. Larry Bird won the NBA Finals MVP two times. Game 7 at the Boston Garden was one for the ages! Larry Bird's NBA Finals record is 3-2. This series prompted Bird to quote, Thats God disguised as Michael Jordan. Michael averaged 43 points through the three-game series. The Celtics made short work of the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, winning in five games. His performances included scoring 60 points against the Hawks which is still a Boston record to this day. Boston had lost the previous two matchups to the Cavs and they were hungry for revenge last night. And, as if that wasnt enough, Bird found success after hanging up his sneakers. It featured the first time that Larry Bird met Magic Johnson in the NBA Finals, their first head-to-head championship meeting since the 1979 NCAA title game. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Johnson won 11 of those games, posting averages of 19.4 points, 11.5 assists and 6.8 rebounds in their head-to-head matchups compared to 21.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game for Bird. As with many teams in the 1990s, the Pacers were stopped by the Chicago Bulls, losing the series in seven games as the Bulls did not lose a home game in the series. Two years after his first finals loss to the Lakers, the re-match was on. By the end of the 1984 season Bird had won his second NBA title, both with the Celtics. The 1987 NBA Finals again saw the Los Angeles Lakers up against Birds Celtics. Birds mother, Georgia, once said that she couldnt fathom he sons NBA salary and, despite his earning power, insisted that she wasnt out buying expensive clothes. Fitch went on to say that Mangurians decision to sell the team was the backbreaker and that he would have reconsidered his resignation had the team not been put up for sale. In the game the Lakers answered the Celtics' rough tactics when Laker forward James Worthy shoved Cedric Maxwell into a basket support. Larry Bird's career NBA stats. The 1984 NBA Finals was the first championship meeting between old rivals Boston and Los Angeles since 1969. He joined the Celtics a year later. The games were close enough but never really in doubt. Before the season began, the Lakers traded long-time guard Norm Nixon to the San Diego Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to Byron Scott. Which player is ultimately better all-time is a different conversationbecause that includes a lot more than their individual matchups. Despite a back injury in the 1985 offseason, Bird averaged 25.8 points, 9.8 rebound and 6.8 assists per game and for the third straight season, the Celtics finished top of the Eastern Conference. The Celtics swept the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the beginning of one of the most legendary basketball rivalries in the history of the NBA, with Bird and Magic Johnson facing off against each other for the first time. "Wilt . If you click and purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. In total, Larry Bird went to five NBA finals in his career. Two-time National Basketball Association champion Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell points to the pillars of the game when it comes to the question, "Who is the greatest NBA player of all time?" "I measure it by those who changed the game," said the former Boston Celtics standout on Sunday afternoon while taking part in the Legends & Stars Sports Expo at Batavia Downs Gaming. Data runs from 1946-47 to present unless otherwise noted. In other words, he noticed that some . Born: December 7, 1956 in West Baden, Indiana us College: Indiana State University High School: Springs Valley in French Lick, Indiana And, to be clear, he came by it honestly. As one of the greatest players to ever step foot in the . Bird did not technically average a triple double for the series because both his rebounds and assists were slightly below 10 and Ive rounded them, but, still, those stats are unreal. Carr revealed that the motto of the 1983-84 Celtics was Dont be denied, and the team ended up winning the championship that no one thought they would win. Learn more and register, International Stats at Basketball-Reference.com, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. Magic led the Lakers to victory at home in game 6, setting the stage for a Boston Garden Game 7. Coming off the back of a disappointing loss to the Lakers in the finals, many people saw Bird taking a step back going into the 1985-86 season. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. If you were wondering about his career numbers while we wrap this up, he averaged 24.3 points, 10 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. The Pacers had two pretty comfortable series to begin the 1998 post season with wins over the Cavaliers and the Knicks. . At the macro level, the famous won three titles with the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, the team was defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers in five games and they were sent home. Larry Bird Reacts to Eastern Conference Finals MVP Trophy Named After Him. The Bucks were led in the series, as they had been in the regular season, by wing Marques Johnson and Hall of Fame guard Sidney Moncrief. 1981 was against the Houston Rockets where Cedric Maxwell was the NBA Finals MVP. Those same Lakers defeated Bird in both his finals losses. I have been a Boston sports fan for more than forty years. Despite good performances from Bird, Magic Johnson outplayed him as the jumbo sized Lakers guard won finals MVP. The Western Conference Finals also led to one of the greatest game-winners ever. Sadly, after that Finals loss, Bird never made it into another Finals series. His performances helped to take the Celtics to 62 wins in the regular season, topping the NBA. Maxwell later claimed he said something like that but not quite so family friendly. In Game 5, the Celtics took a 3-2 series lead with a 121-103 victory, as Larry Bird scored 34 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. The Bullets were the 8th seed in the East winning only 35 regular season games and finishing last in the Atlantic division. The Bucks were no match for the Celtics, and this spelled the end of a competitive Bucks team that fizzled out after this season. Despite home wins in games three and five, the Pacers lost the series in six games, with Shaq and Kobe just being too much for Indianas stars. The Celtics did not warm up with their sweat pants on because of extreme heat, and an oxygen tank was provided to give air to an aging Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers were coming off a four-game sweep by the Philadelphia 76ers in the previous year's finals. The game was also marked by Celtic forward Kevin McHale's clothesline take-down of Laker forward Kurt Rambis on a breakaway layup which triggered the physical aspect of the rivalry. As for their averages, Johnson posted 20.7 points, 13.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game in their head-to-head matchups in the Finals compared to Bird's 25.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists. His first MVP award was in 1984. Atlanta Hawks 4-1, 1986 Eastern Conference Final: Celtics def. Larry led the way and averaged 27-14-4 to lead the team to the championship, along with his first Finals MVP. Larry Bird averaged 24.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game for the series. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first . Larry Bird then married Dinah Mattingly on September 30, 1989, who he met while studying at the Indiana State University. Magic Johnson had an 11-8 record in the NBA Finals versus Larry Bird in his career. He averaged 15.3 points, 15.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists for the series. The Lakers fell in the Western Conference finals to a new team that sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3, Larry Bird Championship #3: 1986 Boston Celtics, 1986 First Round: Celtics def. This was the Celtics' first appearance in The Finals since their 1976 championship winning team against the Phoenix Suns.The Celtics were not quite the same team as five years before, as they added the likes of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale, a trio that would come to be known as "The Big Three." M. L. Carr, Cedric Maxwell, and Nate Archibald were also capable players off the . In MVP voting, Bird dominated the competition as he took home his third straight MVP award. When discussing his legacy with Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press (h/t the Daily Hampshire Gazette), Bird didnt take much time to sing his own praises. . The Celtics swept the Bulls after getting a bye in the first round for winning the Atlantic Division. The Celtics-Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. In 1974, Bird received a scholarship to play basketball at Indiana University but struggled to adapt to the large student population. Bird averaged 25.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game for the series. Larry Bird Stats and news - NBA stats and news on Boston Celtics Forward Larry Bird. He averaged 27.4 points, 14.0 boards and 3.6 assists per game for the series. One of the most exciting 3-0 series in league history, the Celtics made quick work of the up-and-coming Bulls featuring a young Michael Jordan. The number two-seeded Bucks went down in a series sweep, with all five Celtics starters averaging double-digit points. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Featuring prime Larry Legend, apex Kevin Mchale, Robert Parish, and Dennis Johnson. Bird only averaged 15 points per game throughout the series but he did drop a series high 27 points in Game 6 to officially send the Rockets packing, as Bird won his first chip. Bird won Finals MVP in 1984 when his Celttics defeated the Lakers in seven games. Safe to say he absolutely dominated in every facet of the game for that second ring. The Celtics won the series, with Bird getting a triple double in the deciding game six. The first happened in 1985, a year after the Celtics had defeated the Lakers in the finals. Despite this, Bird did not win any championships during his college career. The Celtics were led by Bird, who won his first MVP award, and was complemented by 1981 Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell, first-time all-star and Sixth Man Award winner Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Gerald Henderson and Danny Ainge. Bird's 2 Finals losses both came against the Lakers and Magic Johnson , 1985 & 1987. The Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals in 1984, 1985, and 1987 with Bird and Cooper going at it. Larry, to his credit, was phenomenal. In Game 4, the Lakers had a five-point game lead with less than a minute to play, but made several execution errors, including Magic Johnson's bad pass to Robert Parish late in the fourth quarter, and missing two crucial free throws in OT as the Celtics tied the game and then came away with a 129-125 victory in overtime. These Knicks really were Bernard Kings team. He averaged 23.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 6.0 .