Larry Bird Essay

Larry Legend

Larry Bird has the appropriate nickname of Larry Legend. This nickname explains itself. He was a legend, and since he was a legend he is a household name sort of like Michael Jordan but not as recognized. Flashy dunkers and playmakers like Jordan get recognized and remembered but Bird is known for his shooting and only true NBA fans will know how great he truly was. In a video game called “NBA 2k15”, there is a training section available called “legends camp” and Larry Bird is the trainer for shooting. Larry Bird is arguably the best shooter of any legend.

Larry Bird was born in the city of West Baden, Indiana. He was born on December 7, 1956. Bird attended Springs Valley High School in French Lick, Indiana. After high school

he signed with Indiana State University and played basketball. In the 1978 NBA draft Larry Bird was drafted in the first round, sixth pick overall, to the Boston Celtics. He debuted on October 12, 1979. He was inducted into the hall of fame as a player in 1998. He coached for three years as the Indiana Pacers head coach. Birds’ record as a coach was 147-67 in three years.
Larry Bird was a superstar. Over his thirteen season career with the Celtics, Bird showed a love for the game and more hustle than most players of that era. His jump shot was spot on from the offensive end of the court. Birds stats include ten rebounds a game, 5,695 assists, 1556 steals, 755 blocks, and 21,791 points. At a huge six foot nine 220 pounds, he was a hard man to guard and could push many small guards around when they tried to guard him. He went to the all star team every year but his rookie year.
Larry Bird was enrolled at Indiana University on a basketball scholarship and was set to play under a legendary coach named Bob Knight but he was intimidated by the size of the school so he transferred to Indiana State where he would be more comfortable. At Indiana State he started on the basketball team and led them to the championship game of the NCAA tournament against Earvin “magic” Johnson in his senior year but lost in a tough but close game. This sparked a friendly rivalry throughout their NBA careers. Bird earned rookie of the year and won his first NBA championship in his second year with the Celtics. Over the ten year reign of Bird and Johnson, either one of the teams or both of them were in the NBA finals championship every year. Bird led his team to the playoffs for twelve of his thirteen seasons with the Celtics. They fell short in 1989. The Celtics won three championships in 1981, 1984, 1986. In 1992 the USA sent athletes for the first time to the Olympics in basketball. The “dream team” starters were Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing.
Larry bird worked in the front office for the Celtics for five years until he was offered a coaching position that took him home to Indiana with the Pacers. He set a record at the time with fifty eight wins and twenty four losses. Bird was inducted to the hall of fame in 1958. From a thirty three consecutive win season in his senior year of college ending in a loss to Magic Johnson’s team, to being rookie of the year, three time NBA MVP, Coach of the year, and Executive of the year.
Birds family was very poor growing up. He had six brothers and a father and a mother. His father was an alcoholic and worked by fixing organs and pianos. In birds’ teenage years his father committed suicide. The reason he committed suicide was because him and Claude, the mother divorced and he could not provide child support payments so he took his life in order that his family can profit from his life insurance. Sports were big in his life and especially in his families lives, they all played basketball. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. Sports helped him get away from all the problems in life.
NCAA rules made it so Bird could not play in his first year for ISU.

When he joined the team for the 1976-77 season, he led the Sycamores to a 25-3 record and created much interest in the Indiana State basketball team. Home games sold out as soon as tickets became available. Although he was drafted by the Boston Celtics when he was a junior at ISU, Bird wanted to complete his senior year. The Sycamores ended up winning thirty-three straight games and would have had an undefeated season had it not been for the 75-64 loss to Michigan State University in the 1979 NCAA finals led by Magic Johnson. The game received the highest ratings ever for a college sporting event and made media stars out of Bird and his friendly rival, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who dropped out of college to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bird finished his degree in physical education at ISU in 1979 and received the John Wooden Award as Collegiate Player of the Year from the Los Angeles Athletic Association. When he completed his college athletic career, Bird ranked fifth on the NCAA list of all-time scorers. Before leaving ISU, Bird also began dating Dinah Mattingly. The couple got married on September 30, 1989 and had two children, Connor and

Mariah.
Bird signed a $3.25 million, five-year contract with the Celtics in 1979. With a record of 29-53 the year before Bird joined, he joined a team at the bottom of the NBA. With Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale, Bird turned the team around drastially. The Celtics went 61-21 in Bird's first season with the Celtics, an accomplishment that helped him win NBA Rookie of the Year in 1980. The following year the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers and then went on to the NBA finals, where they faced the Houston Rockets. The Celtics won the series, the first of its three NBA championships in the 1980s.
Along with Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers, Bird's Celtics were the dominant team in the NBA in the 1980s.

The two stars increased the popularity of professional basketball like no other players during the decade, with Johnson defining the meaning of a superstar and Bird demonstrating the value of hard work, hustle, and endless practice. Although the two players were very different, they maintained a friendly relationship off the court and a sportsmanlike rivalry on the court. When the two teams met up in the finals in 1984, the Celtics came out on top with four games in the seven-game series. Bird was getting his revenge for the loss of the NCAA Championship in college. The following year the Lakers won the championship in six games over the Celtics and in 1986 Boston won the finals for a third time with Bird. It was the last championship Bird claimed. In 1987 the Lakers beat the Celtics again in six

games.
In addition to his three NBA championships with the Celtics, Bird also earned the MVP for the playoffs in 1984 and 1985 and was named the NBA's Player of the Year three consecutive times, from 1984-86. In 1985 he picked up Man of the Year honors from the Sporting News and was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.
In 1997 Bird got an offer to join the Indiana Pacers as the head coach. Based on Magic Johnson's experience as the coach of the Lakers after his retirement, some observers predicted that Bird would find the role of a coach to be not as great as he thought it would be. Bird proved them wrong by taking the Pacers to their best-ever season with fifty-eight wins. At the end of the season Bird won the NBA Coach of the Year. In 1998 he was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bird was an all time great. He doesn’t get as much recognition as he deserves. When Bird played against the household name Michael Jordan, Bird was victorious most of the time and had better stats most of the time. In comparison Bird played at a higher level than Jordan and also shut him down on the defensive end. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were both better as solo players but Jordan thrived with a good team behind him. Larry Bird is possibly the best player in history and is definitely in the top five.