Bird averaging 38 against Dr. J

January 21, 1985

BIRD - ARTISTRY AND ARTILLERY

The wonder of Larry Bird is that we have known him for six years and he still surprises us. When all has been said and certainly all must have been done, something new flashes across the parquet, maybe something big or maybe something small, but Bird is there doing what hasn't been done. Again.



And, again, more has to be said about Larry Bird. The bane of a novelist is to write his or her second book better than the first, the crux for the painter is to create a second or third original when the world fawns over the first masterpiece, the burden of all artists to be fresh and new with each effort. But Bird, the artist of basketball, continues to create and create and create.

Take note of the 38 points Bird scored yesterday against the 76ers, but that isn't original because Bird is averaging 38 points a game this season against Philadelphia. But what about that play in the second quarter, the Celtics leading, 32-28, the outlet pass coming to Bird along the left sideline, but Julius Erving sees the pass as well and the Doc swoops in for the steal? Maybe an easy steal.

But - pfffft - in one motion composed of equal parts lightning and grace, Bird takes the pass in his feathery grasp, instantly scoops the ball down a foot or so away from Erving's thievery and then - whoosh - all in one motion Bird's pass is now crosscourt to Kevin McHale under the basket for a two- handed slam. Poetry, artistry, chemistry and, most of all, the crisp symmetry of an original.

"Larry has such a fantastic imagination and creativity," said Celtics coach K.C. Jones. "Like the pass he hit Kevin with, the ball barely hit his hands and all of a sudden it's gone and there's Kevin with his hands in his pockets and now Kevin has to catch himself because the ball's there. That's just one example of what Larry does all the time."

All the time?

It seems that way, doesn't it?

There were Bird's 16 points in the fourth quarter when the Sixers and their 13-game winning streak were threatening; well, Bird has had other such fourth quarters. But consider the bounce pass in the third quarter from Bird to Cedric Maxwell on the break, a half-court bounce pass, mind you, Bird standing at midcourt and then one long bounce to Maxwell under the basket for a layup. Jams and slams and crams can be seen every night on the 11 o'clock news but list the last known sighting of a halfcourt bounce pass. When?

"He does everything with such ease," said M.L. Carr. "You see somebody do something unusual every once in a while, do what Larry does, but Larry seems to do it all the time. With such ease, too."

If the definition of talent is the ability to accomplish the difficult with ease, then we must merely go along for the joyride and Billy Cunningham can only grope onward for an answer to Bird. Last season, of all the NBA teams, Bird had his lowest shooting percentage against the 76ers, but now Bird has reached such a level and Erving has fallen to such a plateau that the Doc can no longer guard Bird. Two stars headed in opposite directions, Bird and Erving, 38 points a game for Bird against the Sixers.

The Doc plays Bird up-tight? One step, one easy step, and Bird is around Erving and closer to the basket. Erving plays soft, afraid of the drive? Bird merely steps back and lets fly with a 20-footer. Posting up close to the basket, Erving leaning on Bird? The Celtic either fakes one way and wheels the other toward freedom or else sticks a turnaround.

"I don't see it that way," said Jones, avoiding the inflammatory quote on the locker-room blackboard. "As far as I can see it from this game here, I think 'J' just had an off day and that's as far as I'm going to take it. This is a game where 'J' didn't have his best and that's it. Period."

The Sixers came into this game with their squad 10-deep, but it was when Cunningham rested four of his starters and came at Boston with George and Clemon Johnson, Sedale Threatt and Bobby Jones that Boston ran off a 14-2 buzz early in the second quarter, a string from which Philly never recovered. And the one constant was that neither Erving nor Charles Barkley could stop Bird. What's Cunningham to do? Play Bobby Jones for 40 minutes?

"What do you mean, it's easy against the Doc?" said Bird, also not taking the bait. "He gives me more problems than 90 percent of the guys in the league; the only guy who guards me better, I'd say, is Michael Cooper. The Doctor is a gambling-type defensive player and when you put the ball on the floor after you beat him, you've got to watch out because he'll come from behind and block it. He's got more ability than I do on the defensive end; he can block shots from behind, he's quick, he can move very well."

But it was 95-88, Boston, Doc just returning to the lineup with 4:47 left, when Bird posted Erving to the right of the basket, took the bounce pass and ran away from Doc with one quick step. Two free throws. Next, with just 5 seconds left on the 24-second clock, Bird turned away from Erving in the lane and buried a 13-foot fallaway.

Then, as if he were merely playing H-O-R-S-E with the guys, Bird stepped back in the right corner and put up a three-pointer. As the shot went up, said Jones, "I just said 'Amen' to myself; with all the work that Larry has done, playing defense, rebounding, diving for loose balls, all energy-draining stuff, if he wants to take a three-pointer, that's fine with me."

Swish.

"We were working the ball around, we were trying to get the clock down to 10 seconds and run the play and, all of a sudden, the clock's down to 8 seconds and whoever has the ball shoots it," said Bird. "If you got the shot you take it; that's always been my philosophy. If you got the shot and think you can hit it, you shoot it."

Bird, as usual, deflected all attention, saying that his 38 points came as much from the picks of Robert Parish and McHale that set him up, that the difference this year from last against Philadelphia "is that my shots are going in; they're not playing me no differently," and that Julius Erving can still defend him as he did last year.

But the Doc is a year older.

"I am, too," said Bird.

Yes, but the surprises, the new goodies, moves that haven't been seen, keep on coming. Truly, it's a wonder.