The Ugly Truth of Larry Bird's Downfall

you know who

larry

bird

is, he's right, three time MVP, three time champion, an absolute legend, one of the best players to ever step foot on the court in the NBA, every story, every news article about Bird. glorified without end, everything, from its ridiculousness. He plays on the court with his baffling trash talking to countless players sharing stories and experiences with Larry that almost seem like a fantasy in the eyes of the NBA fan base. There is an aura that surrounds Larry Bird almost as if he were untouchable, However, there have also been some moments in his NBA career where he seemed vulnerable, in fact, towards the end of his career, in addition to the numerous injuries he suffered, he encountered many conflicts within the Celtics organization. and his teammates, as well as how it goes, friends, my name is Andy and in In this video we are going to take a look at the fall of Larry Bird.

What went wrong. What happened to the relationship between him and the rest of the Celtics. Was there more to your early retirements than justice back problems? The year is 1988. Larry Bird. just had the best statistical season of his entire career with a whopping 29.9 points per game along with a much lower turnover rate than usual at age 31 he was still absolutely killing it all season he earned a Lots of praise because as his longevity came into question, but for a short time he was crushing his doubters as a team the Celtics won 57 games but their playoff run came to a screeching halt in the conference finals they would fall to the pistons in six games with Bird having an absolutely terrible performance now, at this point Bird was still at the top of his game and nothing seemed wrong with him, he just had one off-the-charts series, that's where his career unfortunately fell apart Quickly over the summer, it was discovered that he had foot problems that went away.

Bird, who went unnoticed in previous playoffs, isn't exactly the person who wants people to know he's hurt or struggling, but it wasn't the first time either, a few years earlier in 1985, Bird suffered an injury to his right leg. back while helping his parents. shoveling and clearing his driveway, the worst part about this is that the

bird

never wanted the Celts to know, he always wanted to play hurt and didn't want to make a big deal out of it even though it was apparently a big deal. According to the quote in this article, the injury was so extreme that he usually needed to relax for hours at a time, either between games or, in some cases, even during all games, and after them, from 1987 to '88 onwards, he would have to straighten your spine before.

Several of the games simply to be able to participate piled up even more at the beginning of the 1988-89 season, after playing only six games, he underwent surgery on his foot and that forced him to miss the rest of the season, but once. Again, this was nothing new for him his sophomore year of high school, he also suffered a broken foot and was out for an extended period of time. The problem is the same as his back problems, he didn't want anyone to know. If he tried to hide it, which made it even worse, it definitely contributes to his reputation as a tough guy.

Honestly, it was stupid if he had sought treatment sooner, maybe his career would have lasted longer, so while this was all a terrible situation for the Celtics, it wasn't supposed to be a chronic problem, just like with his back problem, They expected Burr to ignore it and come back and play as well as before and return to his superstar self before the surgery, but what really happened was that Bird was never the same and after his return the following year, the drama within the organization began to develop at the beginning of the 1989-90 season. Bird was supposed to be healthy, but his actual game deteriorated severely and his scoring became much worse. less efficient, he began to settle for many more jumpers because the foot surgery hampered his athletic ability.

The way he used to easily pass players was hardly seen anymore, if anything the once agile smooth playing style became very resilient and predictable. He was also 33 years old. old at this point, which certainly didn't help this season, he still averaged around 24 points per game, but with the lowest field goal percentage since his rookie year, however, there was plenty of drama throughout the season within of the Celtics organization, primarily focused on the Bird's role in the team, everyone knew it was starting to slow down, so head coach Jimmy Rogers began moving away from a Bird-centric offense, instead that opted to move towards a more team-oriented style of play.

He picked up the pace on him and is now in the top half of the league. Unlike previous years when they were one of the slower teams, this proved to be a difficult adjustment for Larry and analysts at the time attributed their struggles to not being able to keep up the pace and the high-paced play took its toll on their already defeated team. . body, however, it was the addition of jim paxton as their new starting point guard that really was the last straw, not only was paxson 35 years old, which didn't really help his fast style of play, but he also had regular confrontations with At one point, Bird spoke publicly about Bird's poor shot selection and even said he was hogging the ball even though Byrd still led the team in assists.

He even quoted Paxson as saying that Bird was tearing the team down. This article by Nick Gelso in the stands report describes the situation is pretty good,

truth

be told, Larry was forcing poor shots as a result of the team's lack of offensive chemistry, as a result, Rogers was pushing an up-tempo style of play with a 35 year old point guard and, to the dismay, dennis johnson was forced to the bench being replaced by an overweight playmaker named john bagley confrontations between bird and rogers and the rest of the coaching staff became commonplace, eventually it came At the highest levels of management also some of his teammates were talking badly about him and that the team would be better off without him, which was an absolute joke, but even the Celtics fans were starting to get impatient, although his teammates and coaches could Having been a little harsh, it was true that Bird was no longer the same player he once was, either way, the Celtics would be done. the season with a record of 52 and 30 is still a respectable record for all the tension and drama that surrounded the team throughout the year the first round of the 1990 playoffs was a marvel the 4-5 matchup has always been the series more competitive and this time it was bar none, the Celtics took a 2-0 lead and then lost three in a row, losing the series and finally ending this tumultuous season overall.

His last two years were an absolute disaster when Larry played. The Celtics still looked like a top player. team, but when he sat out due to injuries, the team looked quite poor and he sat out quite frequently, back problems arose on numerous occasions, causing him to undergo another surgery in 1991, at this point in his career, the Bird was made and it was evident by his In the 1991 playoffs, the Celtics were on a roll, but Bird himself was having a horrible time, especially in the second round against Detroit. The pistons were always a thorn in his side, but this time they really defeated him.

Bird averaged a pitiful 13 points per game. Celtics analysts and reporters attributed this to his back problems, but it was a combination of that and his age and the pistons that were determined to knock him out in 1992. The bird officially retired at the age of 34. . He would become part of a small handful of players who retired despite averaging over 20 points per game in his final season at the end of the day, although Bird declined drastically compared to his best, he was still a star at his worst. years, he was in charge of the team. league and was still competing with the best of the best when he was invited to the 1992 dream team, the first American Olympic team to accept NBA players, the players joked about how washed up he was and, of course, he was not very effective in the Real Olympic Games.

Regardless, the latter part of Bird's career was a rollercoaster, but despite all that, despite his relatively short career compared to other all-time greats, Bird is still considered one of the greatest of all time. times, a legendary player who changed the game of basketball in an era dominated by fast-paced athleticism and quickness. Bird was calmer and dominated by his wit and cunning. He is arguably the best passer at the small forward position we have ever seen. Only Lebron James has an argument for being a better pastor than Larry, but it's arguable maybe it was his lack of longevity that really hurts him in the all-time rankings, if he lasted as long as someone like Lebron or Kareem or Tim Duncan and never suffered all those devastating back problems, there's a real possibility that Larry was the greatest of all time, he had all the talents, all the skills and the quirkiness to do it anyway, that's it, people that sums up the

larry

bird's unfortunate fall into the twilight of his career, let me know what you think of larry and how far his legacy would go.

His progress if he hadn't suffered those injuries is rarely talked about. The last few years of his career are rarely talked about because they are quite disappointing, but I wanted to shed some light on what really happened with his passing. Thank you all so much for watching, I hope so. Everyone enjoyed the video and as always see you next time, peace.