Larry Bird Is The Center Of A Boston Garden Storm
BOSTON — When would he smile? That’s all that was left. His team had the NBA championship in the bag — a 22-point lead with 2:20 left — and the Boston Garden fans were on their feet, shrieking like madmen, because Larry Bird, still looking deadly serious, was coming out of the game.
Celtics Roll Out Barrel Rolling Out Rockets
BOSTON — Larry Bird’s hair was dripping champagne. Kevin McHale was soaked to his shorts. Bill Walton was grinning underneath an NBA Championship cap and slapping hands with those high enough to reach him. The Celtics had just won their 16th title, the fans outside were mobbing the Boston Garden floor, and finally, finally, it was time for the big moment. Finally, it was time for . .
. a beer.
A beer?
NBA’S GAME 6 MAY HAVE TECHNICAL FOUL AND TKO
BOSTON — They will not jump it up today. They will ring a bell instead.Out will come the Celtics. Out will come the Rockets. They will circle one another, looking for an open shot, looking a rebound, looking for a . . .Fight? Who said fight?”And it’s...
CELTICS’ MOST VALUABLE IS THE ONE WITH THE TIE
HOUSTON — On a team with the likes of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson, the least likely hero is the Celtic who never averaged more than 9.1 points a game, who shot a dismal 39 percent for his career, and who just turned 54 years old, but still...
HOUSTON’S WIN TAINTED BY RALPH’S GIANT DISGRACE
HOUSTON — How can you reconcile this? How can you take a bloody disgrace and wrap it in a miracle? What Houston did Thursday night in an arena gone mad — defeating Boston in Game 5 of the NBA championship series — should stand as a monument to...
EVEN IN DEFEAT, AKEEM IS MORE THAN A DREEM
HOUSTON — He still remembers the last time it happened, three years ago, when North Carolina State tried a last-second shot that fell so short it landed in the hands of another Wolfpack player, Lorenzo Charles, who dunked it to steal away the NCAA...
HASTE TO MAKE PARK COACH MADE WASTE OF HIS CHANCES
Well, news of his firing caught a lot of people off guard, but the plain truth is this: Brad Park had a sword hanging over his head from Day One.Jimmy Devellano was never wild about Park as coach of the Red Wings, and he was the one who hired him....
ROCKETS REACH FOR THE SKY; FINALLY, THEY GET THERE FIRST
HOUSTON — Finally, it was time for giants. There were seven seconds left in the madness of this NBA championship series game, the crowd was roaring like a rocket blast, and the players loped out to center court, sweaty and ready. Big Ralph Sampson, 7-feet-4, was...
Today’S Thought: Bird’S Greatest Hits May Be Yet To Come
HOUSTON — I have this idea for Larry Bird. One more year and goodby. Quit. Throw the sneakers in the gym bag, grab a ball on the way out. “Where you going?” someone would ask.
“Not sure,” he’d say.
And he’d disappear forever.
How good is Larry Bird? That good. So good that, at 29, the only thing left is the myth-making exit. The kind that comes too early, that kind that makes him legendary, a cult figure, even bigger when he’s gone than when he was around. A James Dean, an Elvis, a J.D. Salinger.
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