This is from the Boston Celtics blog:
Happy Birthday Larry Bird: Remembering the Legend's 12 Greatest NBA Championship Series Performances
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Does his epic "sauna" game in the classic 1984 Finals Game 5 win over the Lakers top the list?
With his 58th birthday coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day, it seems a good time to review and list the top 12 Finals contest performances in the storied career of Celtic legend Larry Bird.
Bird played in 31 championship series games over five trips to the Finals, leading the Celtics to three crowns and a 16-15 overall record.
Other than the 1984 seven-game classic victory over Los Angeles, the other four Finals he played in each went six contests, with two being injury-plagued losses to the hated Lakers.
With opposing defenses always geared up to stop him and Larry not benefiting from a big size and reach advantage at his position like rivals Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin Johnson, Bird occasionally suffered through some scoring struggles, at least by his lofty standards, in a few Finals contests.
But what set him apart was his ability to beat you in other ways if his shot wasn't as deadly as usual. Larry could defeat you with rebounds (21 in game one of the 1981 Finals, a series where he averaged 15.3 caroms an outing, and 21 again in game 4 in 1984), great passing, tremendous shooting from all angles and the foul line, creativity, and just incredible basketball smarts, will to win and determination.
The list of players could beat you as many ways as Bird could and did is very short: John Havlicek, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, perhaps Walt Frazier and Rick Barry.
And so without further ado, on to my dozen best of Bird in the Finals.
Bird played in 31 championship series games over five trips to the Finals, leading the Celtics to three crowns and a 16-15 overall record.
Other than the 1984 seven-game classic victory over Los Angeles, the other four Finals he played in each went six contests, with two being injury-plagued losses to the hated Lakers.
With opposing defenses always geared up to stop him and Larry not benefiting from a big size and reach advantage at his position like rivals Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin Johnson, Bird occasionally suffered through some scoring struggles, at least by his lofty standards, in a few Finals contests.
But what set him apart was his ability to beat you in other ways if his shot wasn't as deadly as usual. Larry could defeat you with rebounds (21 in game one of the 1981 Finals, a series where he averaged 15.3 caroms an outing, and 21 again in game 4 in 1984), great passing, tremendous shooting from all angles and the foul line, creativity, and just incredible basketball smarts, will to win and determination.
The list of players could beat you as many ways as Bird could and did is very short: John Havlicek, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, perhaps Walt Frazier and Rick Barry.
And so without further ado, on to my dozen best of Bird in the Finals.
For the article, "Best of Bird," go to:
http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/12/7/7347171/happy-birthday-larry-legend-top-12-finals-performances
http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/12/7/7347171/happy-birthday-larry-legend-top-12-finals-performances
POLL
What was the greatest single play of Larry Bird's NBA Finals career?
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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