Original subtitles

- Oh, no! - Get you on camera.

- No. - Get him on camera.

This competition thing is amazing--

what it does to you,

what you put your body through

The way I train and what I put my body through,

I knew I was gonna break down.

I mean, it was just a matter of time.

I dove all over the court.

I knew I wasn't gonna last long,

so I tried to get the most out of it.

Wants it. Won't go down.

Rebound. Akers kept it alive.

Ooh, tough collision there between...

Larry knew he was in trouble.

But he did not want to leave the tradition of the Celtics

without having somebody with an ability to take it over.

Len Bias really on fire.

I was very high on Bias.

He thought that he might have had that

somewhere along the way.

Alley-oop to Reggie.

Yes!

That's the beauty of the Celtic organization.

Paul Pierce.

It was all about preparation,

the new guard taking over.

Larry had been ready to pass the torch

but continued to play for Red and the Boston Celtics.

He doesn't regret it.

He just knows what the impact of doing that was.

That's Larry.

That's just Larry.

So anyway, what else you got?

The Boston Celtics are the world champions.

Oh, my, this place is going crazy.

Welcome to the 1986 NBA Draft.

Speculation has it that this will be one of the most

Red Auerbach may change things around.

Logic indicates he will take William Bedford, the center.

But Red has always had an affinity for Lenny Bias,

who he's known for a long time.

34, Len Bias.

Len Bias was a consensus all-American from Maryland.

He was a sure thing, a can't-miss.

With two minutes to go, alley-oop.

Bias with a dunk.

Let me tell you about Len Bias.

I live in Washington.

practice quite a bit.

I knew him well.

This young guy is gonna be the bridge

that sets up the next dynasty for the Celtics.

This is Bias.

My husband flew to New York with Len for the NBA Draft,

and I was back home with the kids.

The Boston Celtics select Len Bias,

the University of Maryland.

I saw the very moment that it happened in real time.

But it was unsettling for me because

though people kept telling me congratulations,

I never felt it.

As you can see, Lenny Bias made it.

We know a lot of you have some questions to ask him

or to interview him.

He's gonna be around awhile.

I consider myself lucky but more blessed,

having the opportunity to play here and be drafted here.

Afterwards he called, and we talked about what had gone on.

It was just so much excitement and all.

We'll see you when we get home.

The next day, Len came home and came over to the campus.

So here is the dorm of Washington Hall,

where Len actually stayed.

Crazy thing, it still looks the same.

Completely, completely the same.

We were just celebrating, talking,

I know we dapped each other up and gave each other a hug.

And I just said, man, congratulations.

I'm proud of you.

Just left, you know?

We thinking, hey, see you tomorrow.

Leonard Bias was brought to us at 6:50 this morning.

There was no cardiac function

during the two hours that he was here.

And he was pronounced dead at 8:50.

It's something that you'd never expect.

He'd been through a physical exam

and just came out perfect.

And now he's not here.

It was so shocking.

This amazing kid with this world in front of him,

That really hurt Coach Auerbach.

I was in his office the morning.

We just sat there for-- seemed like an hour,

neither of us saying a word.

He was just really exuberant because he achieved his goal.

He was a Celtic type kid in every essence.

It was kind of a dark cloud over us

after that time for a period.

Just don't get-- you just don't shake off

something like that real easy.

You really don't.

Now everybody's speculating, how did he die?

How could somebody that healthy,

somebody that young die?

Leonard Bias died of cocaine intoxication,

which resulted in the sudden onset of seizures

and cardiac arrest.

When you're gonna make a draft choice like that

and that investment of that choice,

you run some kind of check on a guy?

Well, a background check on a guy,

would you know that what you see and what you feel?

We didn't check Larry Bird.

We knew what kind of guy Larry Bird was.

After he died, it was all about cocaine.

It's all about drugs.

It's all about regulating drugs.

It's about drug laws.

Now is the time to reach our goal of a drug-free generation

in the United States.

Now all he is is a device to pass laws.

It's about telling kids,

hey, you don't want to end up like Lenny Bias

because Len Bias died doing cocaine.

Just say no.

Believe me, homeboy

This is no lie

Because if you use it, you just might die

Well, stop a moment and think of Lenny Bias

He wasn't even a person anymore.

He was a cautionary tale.

We never got to see what happened.

And even to this day, it's a huge what-if,

not even for what he would have done just as a player

but what he would have been to Boston.

His legacy is what could have been.

There are men and women that still

approach me with tears in their eyes about Len

almost 40 years later.

He never played professional ball,

but yet there's still an interest in him.

Why?

Because of who he was.

The Celtics just won the world championship.

That means they're the best there is right now.

Still, Bias' death means the team is suddenly minus

the first cornerstone in what was supposed

to be the next dynasty.

Ladies and gentlemen,

tonight is a very special evening.

The members of the 1986 championship team

will be presented with their championship rings.

All right.

You want him? You got him.

Let's raise that flag, get on with a great year.

Help us out.

The Boston Celtics have won three

NBA championships in six years.

People are calling Larry Bird the greatest

player of all time.

Used to be Bill Russell.

Now Larry Bird is pushing him pretty good.

You mean to start a franchise?

- Yup. - Are you serious?

I'm serious.

Bird for 3.

Larry Bird for 3 with four seconds to go.

Oh!

You now join Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain

as the only players to win the league's

MVP award three years in a row.

It was obvious Larry was the best player.

You know, he was the man.

There's no question that I feel, next year,

if I feel like I do right now, I can win it again.

together, as a team.

Yes, we were definitely the big dog in the house.

Blocked by Robert Parish.

On the court, we had good chemistry.

Robert opened up a lot of things for us.

Watch Parish run the court.

I played against a lot of great players

around the league at that time,

and I'm telling you, I wouldn't trade him for any of them.

McHale makes a move.

low-post player I ever played against,

Kareem at the top.

McHale got it!

McHale on the back end.

Scoop shot is good.

Unlimited moves and creativity.

brings it up and dishes to McHale, who slams it.

I thought, boy, we stay healthy,

we're gonna make a run here for another 2, 3.

I developed a stress fracture in my foot.

So now everybody else has to play more.

And then that took an untenable toll on all of them.

McHale is hobbling.

He is so, so important.

My foot's killing me.

But I kept playing.

And I was thinking, well, you know, just suck it up.

You got something going on in there, but it's nothing major.

But in the playoffs, the doctor

started holding my toes,

and he would move my foot around, and all of a sudden,

he goes, yeah, you got a fracture in your navicular.

And I thought, I got a couple more rounds to go.

I think I can play. I think I can manage.

Kevin McHale, the coal miner's son

from Hibbing, Minnesota.

real hard for everything they got.

And I think Kevin knew that.

My father worked in the mines.

McHale blocks it away from Pierce.

He just thought he had a job to do.

And...

To McHale.

And I figured that 80% of me was maybe better than 100%

of the guy that was gonna come in and play for me.

Lucas pushes the floor, comes inside.

Picked up by Lucas.

And that's it.

Boston wins it, 138-137 in double overtime.

Kevin McHale, today he went 55-plus minutes.

The Celtics have won another seventh game at home.

And now for the Celtics, the Detroit Pistons are next.

Everyone expects to battle the Celtics

all the way in the Eastern Conference Final.

Kevin, when did you get out of the hospital?

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about your foot.

Nah, it's fine.

feels great.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

Whose X-ray is this, then, huh?

Is that not yours?

I don't know. Let me take a look at it.

It says adult male gorilla.

That's not me. Could be Laimbeer, huh?

Bill Laimbeer.

Laimbeer, mm.

Why is it that everybody hates Bill Laimbeer?

You'd have to go home and ask his wife, I think.

Well, I don't want to talk about Bill Laimbeer.

It's my style of play that antagonizes people.

I don't give anybody any respect.

He deliberately tried to injure you

and took pride in it.

He wore that bad-boy image that they created

like a badge of honor.

He reveled in it.

The Detroit Pistons have become

the bad boys of basketball.

Sometimes that bad-boy image gets us into trouble.

Isiah Thomas picks up his fourth personal foul,

and Parish is hurting.

As much as we disliked the Lakers,

we disliked Detroit even more.

Most of the trouble they got into, Isiah started it.

Isiah is really talking to Sichting.

He was an agitator.

He seemed almost like a 6'1" version of Magic Johnson.

Isiah with one nice bounce pass.

There's that great smile of Isiah Thomas.

He started to sort of understand

that the way the Pistons played

was almost sort of kind of under his direction,

like as if he was some kind of, like, crime boss or whatever

and these were his henchmen.

From the Boston Garden, the Eastern Conference

Championship Series with the defending

And for the first time in the history of the franchise,

the Detroit Pistons

in a conference championship series.

With the Pistons, they knew who they were

and who they were going to become.

There was no fear of the Celtics.

We're still the guy climbing.

They've been there.

They're pretty much on the mountaintop.

You know, Detroit better figure out an early vacation.

I read it.

It had been proven through the NBA,

there's a little bit of a rite of passage.

The Celtics are always trying to beat the Sixers.

Now the Pistons were coming for the Celtics.

And the Celtics had their hands full.

Go off the glass.

Laimbeer, though, the follow, and Robert Parish just

picked up a technical foul.

Laimbeer just pushed him from one side of the basket

all the way under and no call.

Never had a lot of respect for the Pistons.

It's sad you had to play that way.

I mean, we're all out there trying to make a living

and do our best.

And they were trying to maim you most of the time.

97-81 Pistons.

And the 24-second clock goes down,

I don't remember Larry Bird getting

as angry as I saw him there.

That was a violent, violent knockdown

by Laimbeer, the yellow, gutless way

they do things here, where they have

been called a dirty ball club.

This is a typical-- a typical disgusting display.

Now Rodman goes after Bird after Bird threw the ball.

And he said, I was just trying to hand the ball

back to the ref, and Laimbeer's face got in the way.

Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer have both

I said, Birdie, I don't mind Laimbeer getting thrown out,

but you can't get thrown out with him because that--

that's not a fair exchange.

It's like, Larry Bird, Bill Laimbeer.

I said, you know, if you took Isiah

of a equal exchange.

I think the Pistons are in a lot of trouble,

Larry Bird is gonna make Isiah Thomas and Laimbeer

go home crying tonight.

Bill Laimbeer went up and offered a hand to Larry Bird,

Posted. Laimbeer blocks it.

right off the rebound.

He elbowed me in the throat.

Two plays later, I catch one in the chest.

I was like, Bill, watch your elbows.

So he called me an MF and told me to go eff off.

And that did it.

- He nailed him. - Parish nailed Laimbeer.

And Laimbeer is down, and he is hurt.

He nailed him.

Bill Laimbeer got a little rambunctious,

and Parish said, no, you don't.

And it looked like Laimbeer hit him with an elbow.

And he just let him have it.

No foul was called on the play.

People are sick and tired of this guy

with the baby face

with putting his hands up all the time.

Meanwhile, he'll-- he'll sucker punch you.

He'll do everything in the game.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Now we got trouble.

One-point ball game, 27 seconds remaining.

All right, it's 107-106, but there are 17 seconds left.

Boston down one.

It comes to Dennis Johnson.

Dumars has got him.

DJ, left side Bird.

Nobody home.

Rodman the block.

Out-of-bounds. Who's got it?

Detroit ball with five seconds to go.

They're gonna beat the Celtics at Boston Garden

in a playoff game.

And you got one of the smartest guys

in the league, which Isiah was, taking the ball out.

And now there's a steal by Bird.

Underneath to DJ. Lays it in.

What a play by Bird.

Bird stole the inbounding pass.

DJ laid it up and in.

Oh, my, this place is going crazy.

One way or another, Bird kills you.

The place goes absolutely bananas

Havlicek stole the ball.

Havlicek steals it!

Henderson stole the ball.

Bird stole the ball.

Now there's a steal by Bird.

The leprechaun has popped out from down the rafters again,

Like, people believed this crap because it kept happening.

I seen Laimbeer standing there by himself,

and all I did was run over there to try to foul him

and got my hand in there and stole it.

And just as I got it, I seen a white jersey streaking

down towards the basket.

And I turned, and it was DJ, of course.

Bird on the cut to DJ.

Johnson, layup Boston.

I remember how DJ instinctively

went to the basket.

Normally when something like that happens,

everybody freezes.

But for whatever reason, DJ didn't, because had he not

cut to the basket, we would be talking about

a different story now.

while we're out there, he can find me and I can find him

in any types of situations.

He would tell me at the end of games,

don't give anybody the ball but me.

And he says, I'll do the same for you.

It's not that we was trying to edge them other players out.

He didn't trust them.

And Detroit's valiant effort comes up

a point short on a critical inbounds mistake.

No, I can't.

Danny Ainge, 3-pointer.

Larry Bird has played the entire game.

The Celtics, as they always do,

find a way to win down the stretch at home.

The Boston Celtics will go to the finals again

After the game, I remember I hit both locker rooms.

And then I hurried back to start writing,

and a couple of other writers, friends of mine, came and said,

you better get back in there.

Isiah and Dennis just said something stupid.

I remember walking into the Celtics room

and hearing Larry Bird, and he goes,

well, I don't apologize for being white.

And that's when it clicked into me.

Oh, man, the shit is gonna hit the fan here.

I say it sarcastically,

if Bird was Black, he'd be just another good guy.

And I started laughing.

Isiah had called me and said, I was joking.

I was joking. We have the tape.

And I said, I don't think people believe you were joking.

I cringed when that happened.

And I said, oh, God, you just can't say that.

You cannot say that.

You just can't say it.

You got to remember, still, 99% of the fans

They don't want to hear that.

This had been rolling for a week.

And in hindsight, it just felt like we were

so ill-equipped to have an intelligent discussion

about race.

Following Larry's statements, he's gonna take off.

and they call this absurd press conference.

To this--unprecedented.

Isiah Thomas flies to LA, and Larry's already there.

It was crazy.

Isiah was in his hotel room before the press conference.

I'll never forget. He had a roll of Rolaids.

And he was biting the Rolaids off the roll

without unwrapping the paper.

And I thought, wow.

I mean, he grew up on the West Side of Chicago

in a tough neighborhood.

It was--he had seen a lot and done a lot,

and I think he was terrified.

Jokingly, I say it.

But I have to agree with Rodman, smiling,

laughing that if Bird was

Black, he'd be just another good guy.

And from that, shit, we got this.

If Isiah tells me that it was a joking matter,

I think it--we should leave it at that

because I don't think Isiah is stupid.

He knows I'm a bad player.

Now, here's the beauty of it.

Larry, you had my career right in the palm of your hands.

Larry did us a huge solid.

Do you understand that moment that he's talking about

- that you had? - Yeah.

Come on, Reggie.

We've been in them locker rooms taking tough losses.

You know, competition sometimes brings the best

out of you and the worst.

Mm-hmm.

Isiah was a great basketball player.

He had a big career ahead of him.

I wasn't gonna damage his career by saying

something I didn't mean.

He didn't need that in his life.

I didn't need it.

I was getting ready to go in the finals.

I'm doing a press conference, a packed place,

and they're trying to push this thing to another level.

You know, get out of here.

Because if it meant something, I would have said it.

But it meant nothing to me.

My motivation for the comment was simply joking.

The controversy is that Isiah said

that Larry Bird, if he was Black,

Larry definitely works hard to get where he's at.

I mean, if he didn't work, he wouldn't be a great player.

I worked hard, too, to get where I got,

or I wouldn't be here.

I wouldn't be as good as I am

if I didn't practice my butt off.

If Larry Bird were a Black player,

he'd be just another guy.

That's not just a basketball comment.

That is a comment about opportunities.

That's a comment about exposure.

For Larry, he didn't accept the reality of it.

The racial dichotomy existed in the audience

but not in the person.

I'm very proud of the fact that I'm a basketball player.

I worked very hard to become a good basketball player.

I'm very proud of the fact that I'm able to compete,

You know?

But I'm just--

I tell you, you was fast as shit the other night

in game five when you stole the ball.

Yeah, I forgot to thank you for that too, Isiah.

It just shows how little people understood

the full context of what they said and took it out

and blew it up into something.

If they fully understood what was going on there,

then they would have had the same reaction that Larry had.

Yeah, and?

OK.

Can we get past this shit and get back to basketball?

I don't think we should have to sit here

and talk about it all day.

So I'm leaving.

So...

You're trying to reconcile an event

that seems defined by race.

You think this guy is great, but his greatness

contradicts what we think a great player

is supposed to look like.

You already know what they did for me.

- What? - I walked away with the MVP.

who was in any way sort of used by the culture,

but I suppose maybe he was.

We'll never know what the '80s in the NBA are like

if, you know, it's Magic Johnson

and another Black player.

I heard Converse made a pair of Bird shoes

for last year's MVP.

Yup.

Well, they made a pair of Magic shoes

for this year's MVP.

OK, Magic, show me what you got.

The Lakers and the Celtics back in the NBA Finals.

Right now, this is a no-contest affair.

The Lakers and a big one.

126-113.

They just had a bit more firepower than we had.

Kevin McHale, who has been playing with a fractured foot

throughout much of the playoffs,

has learned that perhaps the injury is growing even worse.

and I'm gonna go out there and play.

It hurt. I mean, it hurt.

But to have four championships would have been well worth it.

I'd do it again.

I just don't know how this man is playing.

I told him it's not worth it.

He should not play.

McHale is shaken up.

I think he actually made it worse.

He never was the same.

Even when it healed, he never was the same guy.

But you know what?

Sorry, Kevin.

This is really not your typical LA-Boston matchup,

because for the first time, we have a clear-cut favorite,

and that's the Lakers.

Do you admit they're the better team?

First two games, they were, yeah.

McHale, offensive rebound.

Boston wins 109-103.

But now the series reads two games to one

in favor of the Lakers.

Wipe 'em up, Boston!

I mean, what's better than this one?

I mean, just a classic.

You have to understand, outside of the Boston Garden,

they have a kiosk where they have all the

"I hate effing LA," you know?

'87 finals, the Lakers were awesome.

We win game three, and then game four is the game.

But we had Bird.

I was confident.

I believe this guy can do anything.

This was John Wick.

It was like, I-- I don't care who we're playing.

We have Larry Bird. We're winning.

Cooper with a move around Bird.

Bird blocks the shot.

Great play by Bird.

McHale.

Celtics win.

It's a new series.

Bird.

We're up 6 with two minutes left.

They're coming back, and Cooper is right in front of us.

Magic sees him, and Cooper splits off.

And you knew it was gonna go in.

And all of a sudden...

Kareem does it.

And the Lakers jumping for joy.

They take the lead.

And we're like, oh, my God, we just--we blew this.

We all know that in the crunch,

number 33 for the Celtics, Larry Bird,

will try to do what number 33 for the Lakers

Bird goes for 3.

Larry Bird did it again.

Everyone's going bonkers.

Larry Bird, with a big 3-point bomb,

has given the Celtics the lead.

He's done it again.

That's the kind of asshole he is.

Going to the wire.

And by far, the best game of this '87 NBA Final.

It's Lakers' ball with seven seconds to go.

And the Celtics trail by one.

They go to Magic, and he hits some bullshit shot

Killed us.

But if my foot's not broken, I like

I almost got it as it was.

Hell of a shot, though.

You got to give him credit.

That was a big play.

But it was still time left on the clock.

I like to shoot that last-second shot.

You can tell when people are a little nervous,

but I just don't feel it.

And Larry Bird rode me up the lane with a little shove

and freed him up for that shot.

I think I peed on myself a little bit.

And the Lakers have won, and Pat Riley and the Lakers

dance off the court.

I just remember fogging out and you saying, we have to go.

We have to go.

Yeah, you were just like--

I was like, are you dead?

But the other thing, like, you have

those sounds in a crowd when it's, like, a big Bird 3

and be like, ah.

And then if you make it, ah.

And that one was a ah, oh.

I can picture it still.

He's shooting the ball, and he's going,

it's already in.

Like, he's already turned and going to the locker room.

He couldn't believe he got that good of a look.

I would have bet it was going in.

That one shot, if it goes in,

would it have been any different?

That's when I knew we was in trouble,

because how often do Larry miss a wide-open shot?

I knew we wasn't gonna win it.

I wouldn't say that out loud at the time,

but the writing was on the wall.

3, 2, 1.

What I remember in the aftermath of the '87 Finals

is Bird up at the podium.

And they asked him about Magic Johnson.

Magic is just a great basketball player.

He's the best I've ever seen, you know?

I--unbelievable.

I don't know what to say.

It was the first time I ever looked at Bird

and thought, man, he's beaten.

He looks beaten to me.

It felt different.

Like, maybe this dynasty is over.

The rivalry of the Lakers and the Celtics,

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

It was the best of the best.

Both teams in that decade

gave everything that they could give to winning.

You know, it's always tough to see

an opponent kind of fade away.

All you have is memories and respect.

The Detroit Pistons leading three games to two.

When I was a kid watching basketball,

the Celtics always somehow ended up winning in the end.

Like, if you believe in things like this, fate,

it's like, that's just how it's gonna work out.

It's just got to be close, and in the end, Bird will win.

But even by thinking that, it's like, you're sort of conceding.

Well, the Celtics are gonna go out like champions.

Make no mistake about it.

But hail to the new Eastern Conference

kings, the Detroit Pistons.

After that, you knew they was gonna

break up the team a little bit, move some pieces around.

- That's it. - Yeah.

OK, I can't go any further.

I don't need to stick around until I'm 65 years old

in this game that I love.

After KC left, bad things started happening.

For Larry, he had the double heel surgery,

pretty major surgery.

At this point, there's no way I can play at--

at this stage where I'm at right now.

So I'm just hoping to get back as soon as possible.

Didn't play all year.

You know, Kevin had his foot.

We played 12 years together.

We've been to the finals five times.

That's an extra season or two, you know, of hard basketball.

We were slowly deteriorating.

They never talked about their injuries, the Celtics.

I think that's how they all felt.

But I remember, after they lost,

Kevin McHale saying, you know,

I'm not gonna lie.

Now I can finally put my foot up and admit to you

it hurts like hell.

McHale was never gonna be the same.

That year, Bill Walton couldn't play at all.

In fact, he never played again.

I spent years chasing a dream.

But I got a broken foot.

And, you know, I am all by myself

in as lonely a place

I have yet to move forward.

I'm still stuck in that darkness.

Health is everything.

Looking back on it, you know,

I should have retired that year in '86.

I would--I would have enjoyed my career more.

Larry and I could still compete.

But it just felt like you were always just

swimming against the current.

You don't feel a part of the team.

You're out; you're in.

You get mentally broken down.

You have to fight that because it'll bring you right down.

I felt sorry for Kevin the most because he kept playing,

and we knew that he shouldn't have been doing it,

but he was trying to help the team.

How he managed that, I have no clue.

There was a point where either I got used to the pain

or got a little bit numb.

But then I was driving to practice,

and it just dawned on me that I didn't want to go to practice.

I didn't want to go through the pain anymore, the rehab

and everything else like that.

The first time in my life I ever felt like that.

And, you know, I just sat there after I cried.

I just sat in my car, and then I drove off

and went to practice.

But that feeling never left.

I always subscribed to the philosophy you should

walk away on your own terms.

I was actually sad because I know how hard they work

and struggle to try to rehab and get back to a semblance

of what they used to be.

And it just wasn't happening.

I remember it was a Christmas party of '88.

It's just Red and Kevin and Larry and myself.

And we're sitting at a table just shooting the breeze.

And we're going in there.

And Red said, hey, Kevin, come here.

I read this thing about me going to Dallas,

and I'm like, oh, crap.

I didn't want to go to Dallas.

I'm thinking, jeez, I'm getting traded at freaking--

at the Christmas party?

I'm like, really?

And--and he goes, I just want to let you know

that I told the owners if they trade you,

they fire me.

And I looked at him, and he just slapped me on the ass

and said, go enjoy the Christmas party.

And that's why you fight for the guy.

He was pretty--pretty amazing.

OK.

When I play or coach, no shootarounds at all.

Practice?

Mm, sometimes.

I said, Red, can we really get Herb Williams,

Chuck Person, Steve Stipanovich

for Larry right now?

And Red goes, yeah, I think we could.

I go, why aren't we doing it?

Like, look at him.

He's injured.

And I'm saying this right in front of Larry.

And we're just having fun.

And this is our-- our way of having fun.

I go, and we can get Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins

for McHale

and we're-- and we're not doing it?

He said, I would have traded both of you guys.

And I go, yeah, you prick.

Little rat.

Red goes, I'm not trading any one of you guys.

Like, you guys aren't going anywhere, and...

that always stuck with me.

I think that he should have traded him.

And you have a feeling

that has a lot to do with the development

of this Celtic pride.

That's what it's all about.

It's a family thing.

Well, I think he thought Bird, Parish, and McHale,

they won three championships.

And they turned around his franchise.

And they deserved to finish their careers together.

He was gonna let them retire Celtics.

They're Celtics forever anyway.

They were great players.

But I was smart enough to know

Father Time wins 100% of the time.

I was traded.

Yeah.

That's exactly what I was telling Red

to do that December,

because if I'd have been in his office, I'd go, Red,

we got to make that deal.

I'll definitely check the papers

and see how the Boston Celtics are doing

I'll be very curious and watching and cheering

for a lot of the people that are still here.

When Bird resumed his NBA career,

he did not look like the high-flying Bird of the '80s.

Didn't have his legs, and he didn't have his timing.

And you could see he was frustrated that things

weren't working well for him.

But all of a sudden, Larry's coming off the screen,

and he's not getting the jumper off in time.

All of a sudden, people are blowing by him defensively.

Anybody that watched him had to wonder,

is he ever going to be the same player?

I can remember going to practice back when

they were at Hellenic College.

And I can remember him running up and down

and grabbing his back and shaking his head

and then storming out of the gym.

Like, it was brutal to watch.

Bird misses the shot.

who dominated everything.

Now you're just another team.

And is that feeling ever gonna return?

Remember, part of the Celtics way

is continuity, consistence.

That required some nurturing and required some mentors.

Cooz and Russell and those guys made sure

they left the team in great hands

for stars who were coming up behind them.

So you look at the roster, and you're looking at Reggie Lewis.

Basketball's best-kept secret.

Reggie Lewis of Northeastern.

The brightest star to emerge during the '91 season.

And you started to wonder, like, could Reggie be it?

The first step towards moving into the future

began when the team looked to Reggie as their new go-to guy.

- And Lewis. - Oh!

Reggie Lewis showed the Celtics had

a star beyond the big three.

There was initially, I think, this feeling that's like, well,

he's not gonna replace Bird, though.

Like, it's never gonna be like that.

He's never gonna be that good.

And it's like, oh, my God.

Two baddest white boys in the league were now old,

and they were injured.

So it was now up to Reggie Lewis

to be the face of the franchise.

Do you think that there's been kind of

a passing of the Celtic mantle, if you will,

that has to carry the torch?

Well, I don't think so.

I don't think it'll just be myself.

I think you'll see more guys just helping to make

the team that much better.

When I got drafted by the Celtics, it was like--

it's like a dream come true because I knew the history,

playing in the old Boston Garden,

you know, having real, authentic,

personal conversations with Red Auerbach.

Those things, you can't just take away.

Organ music and hooping, that was it.

Every time you walk into the Garden,

you have shoes to fill,

and you want to make your impact

up there during your tenure.

I'm so grateful for Larry, Kevin,

Robert showing me the way.

Larry Bird would take the rookies out to dinner

and just talk to us about,

you know, just life and basketball.

Felt like I was a part of that history.

Oh, my.

Getting to the point right now,

we're getting-- growing very accustomed

to seeing Reggie doing it.

And it's very reminiscent of another guy

that I saw do it for years and years and years in Larry.

Larry was rejuvenated.

He'd go to practice.

You can't complain about anything.

Like, practice too long, practice too hard.

Wait a minute. We got 16 banners, dude.

Like, what you complaining about?

And guess what, rook.

You gonna shoot with me after practice.

It was more of a lesson.

for whatever was coming after they retired

and they left the team.

Seeing Larry every day try to play one game,

he did everything possible.

I mean, he would go to doctor appointments.

He would be in traction.

I don't know if you ever been in traction,

but you lay down there, and they tie these weights

on you and all this, and you're laying there.

You know, you drink so much water during a game.

I mean, I know I did.

Then of course, after the game, I'd drink a couple beers,

you know?

Ten minutes later, I'm pushing that button.

That nurse told me one night, she goes,

this traction ain't helping you if you can't stay in it.

I'd get up and go to the bathroom, come back,

and they'd do it all over again.

Everybody has back problems.

Obviously it's to a different degree.

The one thing about nerves is, when they start hurting,

that's a whole different ball game.

And that's--I had nerve damage and flared-up nerves.

Going through all that was a mess.

Larry Bird did not decide to play in this ball game

The man has had to fight all of his life.

You got people that don't believe in you.

So he is driving, driving, driving

because we have-- all have one thing.

I don't think it's any more or less in Larry.

We're all trying to prove we're worthy.

All of us have proven we're worthy.

All he ever wanted was for people to say

he played the hardest of anybody.

That was the most important thing to him.

And it has come down to this fifth and deciding game

My favorite Larry Bird moment

is the first round in '91 against Indiana.

Pacers downcourt in a hurry.

Larry Bird had some words

right in the face of Chuck Person.

It was one last moment of glory, of greatness,

Bird on a knock-away by Sanders.

Bird is down, and he's hurt.

Tries to go a loose ball, hits his face.

a concussion or something.

He cracked the bone in his face.

As Bird goes after the loose ball to try to save it,

he does, in fact, get it, keeps it in play.

But he paid for it.

While he was gone, the momentum completely changed.

Don't think the fact that Larry Bird is

in the locker room right now isn't

helping the Indiana Pacers.

They know the leader is not on the floor.

And here comes Larry Bird.

And everybody was like, Larry, Larry!

They have been standing and cheering

since Larry Bird made his way from underneath the tunnel.

He's giving away three inches to Bird.

Drew the foul. Yes!

And it counts!

That, to me, is one of my all-time

seminal moments because of how personal these things are.

How many times does he drive that spike through your heart

with shots like that?

There are certain sounds and certain games

that don't just take you back to the game.

They take you back to where you were

at that point in your life.

was the end of that era.

But Larry had one more piece of magic for us.

And it is all over.

The Boston Celtics have defeated the Indiana Pacers.

Larry! Larry! Larry! Larry!

I had some major problems after that playoffs

with my back.

So I had back surgery.

I couldn't believe I was still out there doing this.

Why would I go play, then go straight

and then go back?

And every time I would play, I was wondering if I

was gonna be in a wheelchair.

Was I ever gonna be able to walk on the beach

or hold my kids?

It's a very emotional day, but it's not really a sad day.

When I retired at the end,

it felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders.

Now I can go get-- get this stuff fixed

and move on with my life.

If you don't play for the Boston Celtics,

you never played professional basketball.

You want to be a part of a family.

You want to be a part of the team.

And the only way you can get that

is to play for the Celtics.

It was a really difficult ending

to a fantastic, incredible career

that should have lasted another five years, you know?

And, you know, if you go back and say to him,

all right, you have a time machine.

You can go back.

Don't dive for that loose ball.

Don't grab that rebound and get smacked in the head

and fall flat on your back.

He'd still dive for the loose ball.

He'd still grab that rebound in traffic.

That's who he is.

You can't change who you are.

And I think Bostonians embraced that.

I said this to Bird once, of the 25 best moments of my life,

I think you were involved in 20 of them.

You'd wait for these games all week, and we'd go.

And the crowd would be fucking ballistic.

There's no better night.

It's the best.

The great emotion of the fourth period

of a game seven in the NBA.

That was one of the best games we've ever been to,

Bird and Dominique.

Bird gets it in low on the turnaround.

Here's Wilkins.

This is the type of game of who's gonna blink first.

They just went at it, and it was awesome.

But Bird summoned everything and just was like,

And we were delirious.

And it's Bird.

Just listen to this crowd.

You are watching what greatness is all about.

That was a wonderful moment, though,

We had just seen something spectacular.

Yeah.

It was neat to have this common thing to go to...

Yeah.

That we both enjoyed watching.

We enjoyed being together.

And that was the most important reason

for me to have the tickets.

Larry Bird and Boston is a partnership that basketball

will never see again.

He was it.

In New England, I mean, it was like, John F. Kennedy,

Fans loved him.

They love him to this day.

And that's why Larry's retirement ceremony

filled the Garden for a night without a game,

which tells you all you need to know.

The whole run we had through the '80s, we had really

just a great group of guys.

And whenever I see those guys, I get a big smile on my face

because it just brings back being a young kid

and playing in the NBA,

and all the experiences we had together

were just, you know, phenomenal.

The one thing I miss: the locker room, my teammates.

I had my best time of my life in Boston.

And me and my wife, we absolutely adore that city.

We loved it out there.

I'm not just saying that because I played there.

We were out there, and we were thrilled to death.

You know, I just-- it's amazing to me.

Ladies and gentlemen, Larry Bird.

I listened tonight to all these things about Larry.

And I'm just proud to call him a friend.

And the only regret I had is that I never coached him.

The one thing I want somebody--you know,

they always talk about this and that--

that I came to play, because I came to play.

If you're playing and you put your uniform on,

you better play, and you better wear it proudly.

I can remember one time,

we was driving home after a game,

I say, did it look like I was playing hard out there?

She goes, you always play hard.

You just didn't play very well, you know?

And it makes sense.

But you can always give that effort,

and that's what I want to be-- I gave an effort.

I gave an honest effort every night.

Please welcome now the Laker player who, along with Larry,

defined a new level of competitive excellence

in the NBA,

Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

You only told me one lie in your career.

Larry Bird said that there will be

another Larry Bird.

And, Larry, there will never, ever,

ever be another Larry Bird.

I love you, I respect you, and I admire you.