Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Sadly, after that Finals loss, Bird never made it into another Finals series. Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games (4 wins, 3 losses) * 1985: Los Angeles Lak. The seeds of the 1984 Finals were first sown five years earlier, during the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.In the final game of the tournament, Larry Bird and his erstwhile unbeaten Indiana State Sycamores lost to Magic Johnson and his Michigan State Spartans by the score of 75-64. It was the same matchup with pretty much the same teams. The Celtics were led by Bird, who won his first MVP award, and was complemented by 1981 Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell, first-time all-star and Sixth Man Award winner Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Gerald Henderson and Danny Ainge. Even when he found fame and fortune, the NBA star never forgot his humble roots. The Lakers and the Celtics met again in 1987 where the Lakers won in six games. The Bullets featured Jeff Ruland a really good, likely underrated, player who was at his peak. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first . I write about games, players and seasons from the past. Houston Rockets in 6 games (4 wins, 2 losses) * 1984: Boston Celtics def. Answer (1 of 2): Larry Bird has been in the NBA Finals 5 times as a player, all while playing with the Boston Celtics. Larry Birds First NBA Championship 1981. He won his second NBA Finals MVP. Larry Bird was one of the most polished rookies to enter the league and was great for the Celtics right from game one. Larry Bird reached 5 NBA Finals, wining 3 and losing 2, he played his entire career with the Boston Celtics. "[3] The teams met again in the 1985 finals, which the Lakers won 42. The game after setting an NBA finals record for made threes with eight in game 2 against the Lakers in 2010, Ray Allen . Bird outscored Dr. J 26.7 to 19.9 ppg in the series, led all players in rebounds and was second on Boston in assists. Birds missed game winner in game four turned out to be vital in the series as the Lakers did not let their 3-1 lead slip, winning the series in six games. Stephen Curry is now a career 21-4 (.840) in playoff series. It was yet again against the Lakers and they split the first two games 1-1. Instead of battling fatigue and exhaustion from their grueling Semi-Finals series, they went on to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Springs Valley in French Lick, Indiana, Draft: Larry wouldnt have been a controversial choice, but Cedric Maxwell was the emotional center of the Celtics and meant so much to the teams culture. Whether he makes an All-Defense team this season remains to be seen, but few wings in the association deserve more recognition than McDaniels this campaign. Boston entered the new decade by winning the 1981 NBA Finals. Michael Jordans Prime: The Greatest of All Time, Who has the most rings in the NBA? He scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, dished out 3.6 assists and had 2.1 steals per game. The Celtics swept the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Both these players were representing teams from their home States, adding extra spice to the whole thing. Regular season: PTS, FG, FT, 3P complete all-time. The Cs turned up the D and Bird was everywhere. But does that record provide a fair verdict on James' performance in the NBA Finals? Is it tied to championships? The first happened in 1985, a year after the Celtics had defeated the Lakers in the finals. Bird won Finals MVP in 1984 when his Celttics defeated the Lakers in seven games. Paul George: 'I still believe we're gonna be a tough team to beat in seven games', Gilbert Arenas on Ja Morant: 'When we young, we do stupid sh**', Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not on injury report, Erik Spoelstra refuses to comment on when Kyle Lowry will return, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala probable for Sunday against Lakers, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Jayson Tatum passed Celtics legend Larry Bird (1987-88) last night with his 34th 30-point game of the 2022-23 season. All the playoff action was documented on the 1984 NBA Season documentary Pride and Passion, narrated by Dick Stockton. (the Lakers) learned a valuable lesson. They quickly swept the Chicago Bulls, then marched down and knocked off the 76ers in a revenge series that wound up going into seven games. Dennis Johnson responded by sinking two free throws to seal the victory. It was the beginning of one of the most legendary basketball rivalries in the history of the NBA, with Bird and Magic Johnson facing off against each other for the first time. Click the links to read up on the Finals records of the best players in league history. more information Accept. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Featured Image Photo Credit: Adapted from:Bernard Cardinal Law, Larry Bird and Mayor Raymond L. FlynnbyBoston City Archivesis licensed underCC BY 2.0. It featured the first time that Larry Bird met Magic Johnson in the NBA Finals, their first head-to-head championship meeting since the 1979 NCAA title game. 0:00. The Bucks won a five-game series over the Hawks to start the playoffs and got by Darryl Dawkins and his NJ Nets in round 2. It brought Bird his third and final NBA Championship. 1983: Moses Malone: C: Head-to-Head Regular Season Stats. In other words, he noticed that some . The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. Bird's Pacers fell in the East finals in '98 and '99, then came up short in the NBA Finals in 2000 against the Los Angeles Lakers. As for their averages, Johnson posted 20.7 points, 13.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game in their head-to-head matchups in the Finals compared to Bird's 25.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists. FTA complete back to 1948-49. Bird won three titles with the Celtics in 1981, 1984 and 1986, earning Finals MVP honors in the latter two. . The Lakers, no slouch themselves, had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthey, and Bob McAdoo. Born in Indiana in 1956, Larry Bird began playing basketball at a young age. The series was full of things like that., We knew that we had to physically beat them because they had never played that kind of game. Birds Celtics also defeated a very different Rockets team in 1981. 0:49. The NBA Playoffs saw some change this year, with the tournament expanding to 16-teams and the four-round knockout we see today. 1979-80 Bird 1980-81 Bird 1981-82 Bird 1982-83 Bird 1983-84 Bird 1984-85 Bird 1985-86 Bird 1986-87 Bird 1987-88 Bird 1988-89 Bird 1989-90 Bird 1990-91 Bird 1991-92 Bird 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 82 82 77 79 79 80 82 74 76 6 75 60 45. After going 33-0, Bird led his team to the final of the tournament where he faced off against Magic Johnson and Michigan State. It didnt take the Lakers long to learn, but in that series, it was the element of surprise that we needed. The Celtics did not warm up with their sweat pants on because of extreme heat, and an oxygen tank was provided to give air to an aging Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Here are some of the records and historical rankings that Larry Bird achieved at Indiana State: A member of the 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound club: 2,850 points and 1,247 rebounds Indiana State's all . The top 31 players and coaches, In 1981, the Celtics beat a Houston Rockets team featuring, In 1984, Birds Celtics beat the Showtime Lakers featuring, In 1986 the Celtics defeated a pretty different Houston Rockets squad. Some notable games between the two of them: At least when it comes to how they fared in theirhead-to-head matchups. . Indiana took Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Houston had a tough road to the Finals: they beat the defending champion Lakers featuring both. . The Cs took game 5 at home behind Larry Birds 34 points and 17 boards. Johnson and Bird met at the NBA Finals three times in 1984, 1985 and 1987. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Fanatics.com and other companies linked to on this site. more information Accept. Those same Lakers defeated Bird in both his finals losses. This series was an eye-opener into how good the Celtics were this season. Keep reading to learn more about each championship win, the series leading up to the finals, and each Larry Bird championship season. The Celtics were led by Cedric Maxwell who had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as they came away with a 111-102 victory. The 86 Celtics are in the conversation for best team ever with Bill Walton joining Bird, Robert Parish and. Same ammount of titles, Lebron has more MVP's and FMVP's, played longer etc. The 1986 team is among the greatest teams to ever take the hardwood. The Larry Bird Finals Record is a statistic of the player who most often wins the NBA Finals. I wrote about his underrated defense here. The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Lakers in 1983 and the Detroit Pistons snuck by the Lakers in 1989. Your email address will not be published. When asked about what he remembers most about beating the Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals, Carrs reply was: The final seconds of Game 7. What surprises me more, though, is that former NBA player, 38-year-old JJ Redick, can't admit that the NBA of the 1980s was more physical than the game played today.. Nearly two weeks ago, Redick caused a stir by saying Bird shouldn't be considered . While everyone has their own favorite NBA players, its impossible to argue with Larry Birds position in the all-time basketball pantheon. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. He worked the first half, but was replaced by John Vanak for the second half. By: HoopsHype. Maxwell later claimed he said something like that but not quite so family friendly. The 1984 championship series scored high TV ratings. Nevertheless, it is rare to see a player dominate in so many areas of the game, theres no wonder why the Celtics made multiple deep playoff runs. us, College: Throughout the season, he showed that he was the reigning MVP and had an excellent statistical season. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Bird finished second in the MVP voting to Malone and was unable to lead the Celtics back to the Conference Finals. From a statistical perspective, he also averaged 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists across his career. The Celtics won the Finals convincingly 4-2. Meanwhile, the Clydesdales, AKA the Celtics, were coming off a season where they went 56-26 and were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in round 2 of the playoffs.