Bird Buzzer Beater Beats Bad Boys

January 30, 1985

Bird Does it Again

Sshhh! Larry Bird has a secret. The Celtics have a great go-for- broke play to win games in the final seconds, but he isn't saying what it is.



"Our coach (K.C. Jones) has told us to stay away from (talking about) what we're doing in the last two seconds under pressure," said Bird when asked to explain yet another amazing shot at the buzzer, which this time gave Boston a 131-130 victory over the Detroit Pistons. "If I do, other players might pick it up in the press and may be ready for us. From now on, they might be using me as a decoy."

But Bird was as much a decoy last night as Custer was an Indian at Little Big Horn. It didn't take a mind reader to figure out that he would be the man to get the ball in the final four seconds, and the man to take the pressure shot that sent a full house of 15,685 home happy.

There was a play. Jones said Danny Ainge and Bird were the options. But history seemed to repeat itself. Once Bird got the ball - again on an inbounds pass from Dennis Johnson - he headed toward the left corner, exactly where Kent Benson wanted him to go. But instead of stopping - as he had on Sunday when he beat Portland at the buzzer with a 20-footer from the left corner - Bird shifted into second gear and swooped past Benson for the game-winning, 6-foot onehander that rimmed around and finally dropped.

"On Sunday," said Bird, "I had looked pretty good, even though the angle I had wasn't great. Tonight, I had a good shot at it, but I thought it was a little short.

"If you don't have fun, or start saying this shot or that shot has to go in, you're just putting pressure on yourself. I've never played like that. You know you're going to hit some good shots, you know you're going to miss some. What I try to do is play for perfection. To do that, I know I have to concentrate and help my teammates."

Benson said he did his best, but that often isn't enough against Bird, whose final two points gave him 32 for the night. "He just made a great shot," said Benson. "Fifteen thousand people knew it was going to Larry. And so did I. There are five or six different ways you can play him. You pick one and hope it works."

It didn't.

Bird's basket followed a dramatic five-point Pistons run, including a three-pointer by Isiah Thomas. His basket with four seconds left had given Detroit the lead, but he knew it wasn't over.

"I knew I wasn't going to miss when I put my shot in," said Thomas. "But there are a lot of guys in this league who can do it at the buzzer. Give a guy a chance and he'll kill you. I've been around long enough to know that it's not over until the buzzer rings, no matter how many points you're down."