Bird Goes for 24, 8, 7, & 6 in Win over Sixers

Celtics Improve to 20-4
1990-91 Boston Celtics
Remembering the 29-5 Start

Maybe he has slipped off the mountain top, but Larry Bird is still the man every coach in America wants to watch.

"They say he's a step slower," says Philadelphia assistant Fred Carter, an ornithologist of the first rank, "but his game hasn't changed any. He's still got great eyes and great hands, and he's able to do all the things he's been doing. His game never was built on speed."

"I was always a Bird fan," added Dave Gavitt, "but after watching him every night, I'm in awe. He sees things in the game nobody else sees. He's three or four plays or moves ahead of everybody else. And now he's doing new things. Maybe some of the things he used to do, he can't do anymore. So he's coming up with new stuff. The tapping. He taps all the time now. He taps to himself, he taps to Chief. The stat sheet may show he has nine rebounds, but it doesn't mention he's had three taps."

The stat sheet of last night's game did, in fact, show a lot. It showed that Larry Bird had played a game-high 44 minutes. He had 24 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and a season-high 6 steals. No mention of taps, but the Gavitt estimate seemed accurate.

There was one other interesting number. Larry Bird, who roughly three weeks ago publicly swore off 3-point shooting, took an astounding 10 3-point shots. And this does not count the two downtown baskets he made that were originally ruled as threes, but which were subsequently changed back to twos. They say that in some fields everything old becomes new again, and so say hello to an old friend, Larry (Three Point) Bird.

The three he made were daggers. He made two in succession to key a first-quarter Celtic run (the Celtics went from 8-4 in arrears to as many as 16 in front before the period's end) and he threw in a biggie late in the game, highlighting a vital 12-2 run with a straightaway job that boosted the lead to 107-96 with 3:45 remaining.

Suddenly, Larry is back bombing away. "In warm-ups, the ball was just flying off my hand," he explained. "I was just in good rhythm tonight."

The 3-pointer has been a vital part of the Bird mystique from the beginning of his legendary career, and it came as something of a shock to his public when he swore off the bomb. His coach, meanwhile, swears he wasn't concerned, one way or the other.

"I never told him not to shoot threes," said Chris Ford. "I had no control over him. Either he would, or he wouldn't. No alarms or red flags went up. He just gets a feel for the game, and I guess the way things were going earlier in the year he felt he didn't need to put up any threes."

After attempting four 3-pointers in the first 13 games of the season, Bird has fired up 43 in the last 11. Rivals once again have to fear him as a trailer on the break, or as a spot-up man when a play breaks down.

"He has great instincts of how to get himself to spots on the floor," contended Sixers coach Jimmy Lynam. "Now that the Celtics get up and down the floor better, he is even more dangerous. I don't want to say he doesn't have great instincts against a set defense, but this adds another dimension."

Bird said the key to last night's long-range onslaught was an overall team determination to work from inside out. "Every time I got the ball I was trying to get it into the post, create a double-team and swing it around," said Bird. "Then I was spotting up a lot." There have been nights this season when Bird has not been individually dynamic, but last night he was totally aggressive from the start. His first shot attempt was a right wing 3-pointer that spun out at the last instant. His next shot was a successful three. The shot after that was vintage Bird, as he drifted into the left corner on a fast break and swished one as he was falling off the court. It was a shot he definitely would not have taken a month ago.

"I never worry about Larry's shot selection," explained birthday boy Kevin McHale, 33. "Larry just hasn't been feeling in rhythm before this. He shoots the ball as effortlessly from that range as anyone I've ever seen. And when he's in his rhythm, he actually shoots the long ones better than the shorter ones, because he may try to guide the short ones, whereas the long ones just roll off his fingers. He's made a lot of 'em, and if they're going to play off him, he's gonna shoot 'em."

The threes obviously got everyone's attention, but for true Bird aficionados there was a lot more to savor. He hauled in cleverly-positioned rebounds, he threw a 70-foot touchdown pass to McHale after a Sixer make, he beat Charles Barkley to a loose ball with a ferocious dive at midcourt, he ran the pick-and-roll, he guarded passing lanes the way meter maids patrol Canal Street and, yes, he tapped away rebounds.

This is Larry Bird at age 34. Still a bombardier. Still a rebounder. Still a passer. Still a competitor. Still the smartest guy around. Still the man who puts on a coaching clinic every night. Still the best reason to come into the Garden.