This was easy to see when you noticed Bird's basketball stats. Larry Bird Stats: NBA Career Averages by Year - LandOfBasketball.com The guy had absolutely nothing. "All that shooting off the side of a barn turned into Bird becoming a high school star. Both Dinah and Larry studied at Indiana State University. When talking about per game stats, Bird sports an average of 6.8 assists as well as 9.6 boards. In 1975, he enrolled at Indiana State. He led the league in free-throw percentage four times. Knight said(to the effect).."I didn't handle that well, I just let him goI had a lot of good players(at the time) who were happy to be where they wereto me, we had a great team shaping up and I didn; envision Bird playing much for us until he was a junior, anyway. In the last 7 years, I've been covering everything related to the career and job seeking world. I didn't say that Bird was the best college basketball player of all time. He even plays defense, although that's not what's causing the NBA Boston Celtics to salivate over him.". Hoosiers survive Big Ten tournament quarterfinal test. Larry Bird was originally in the recruiting class of 1974. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Larry Bird. Larry Joe Bird, "Larry legend", fdd 7 december 1956 i West Baden Springs i Indiana, r en amerikansk fre detta basketspelare och fre detta baskettrnare.. Draftad av Boston Celtics r 1978, spelade small forward och power forward i tretton ssonger. Let me be clear, college basketball would look and feel the same if Bird never transferred from IU to ISU, but the 1979 national championship game Bird vs. Magic is still the highest-rated college basketball game of all-time, with a 24.1 rating for a game in which 38 percent of all TVs in the country that were turned on at the time were tuned into Indiana State vs. Michigan State on NBC. You can watch the full replay of the '79 title game below. The Orlando forward played only 11 games this season after missing two years with a torn ACL. Larry Bird - BR Bullpen - Baseball-Reference.com Larry Bird Career Stats | StatMuse Bird has four siblings' all brothers named Mike . But he has said many times over the years that he would have never been able to play for Bob Knight. Larry Bird has helped define the way a generation of basketball fans has come to view and appreciate the NBA, said Commissioner David J. Stern when Bird retired due to a painful back condition in 1992, after capturing a gold medal with the original Dream Team at the Olympics in Barcelona. . So it is a moot point. There is the Larry Bird people know, the Boston Celtics legend, the hick from French Lick, the Indiana State University basketball king. It wasnt until 1983-84, however, that the Celtics returned to the NBA Finals. IU would have definitely won 1 or 2 more titles had Bird stuck around and become the player he eventually did. 0:49. When he talks, you come into his world. Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend", Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.He was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.. His focus was on the court. Finally, with the Celtics in a decline that hit bottom in 1996-97, Bird decided to take the plunge. Larry Bird College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Like many great national championship teams, IU faced a rebuild or a reload or whatever you want to call it the next year. Despite being 6 feet 9 inches and 206 centimeters tall, he weighs just roughly 220 pounds and 100 kilograms. By that time Birds scoring average had reached the mid-20s, and he was averaging upwards of seven assists. Do you have a blog? UCLA beat Montana by just three points in its second tournament game, proving the Bruins were a resilient, but mortal, champion. They both finished their college playing careers in the spring of 1979. What if Larry Bird hadnt transferred from IU. Indiana State coach Bill Hodges, by the way, wasnt just in his first year as Indiana States head coach. There are lecture halls in Ballentine Hall that are bigger than Northwoods entire student body at the time, and the school briefly landed one of the 20 greatest scorers in college basketball history. That came in spite of Bird playing with a fracture in his left thumb in the Final Four after getting hurt against Arkansas. "By noon, Bird appeared at a press conference, a rarity in his scheme of things. The 1979-80 Celtics improved by 32 games to 61-21 and returned to the top of their division. No shit! "'You appear to be enjoying this,' one reporter commented. ; School Indiana State University; Born December 7, 1956 in West Baden, IN USA; Biographical Information []. ", The Evening Sun's Bill Tanton: "At the beginning of the season, Indiana State was picked third or fourth in its own conference. Thats what a coach has to do.. What if former IU football coach Clyde Smith hadnt resigned after an open and undercover campaign to oust him? NBA.com is part of Warner Media, LLCs Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network, *Translations are limited to select pages, NBA Legends: Profiling the league's greats, Ex-NBA player Morrow facing assault charges, Durant passes 'Big O' for 13th in career points, NBA Fantasy: Under-the-radar additions for playoffs, Magic's Isaac (torn adductor) out for rest of season, Triple-double win streak shows Jokic dominance, NBA DFS Picks: Yahoo plays and strategy for March 3. IU had three . Other notable performances by Bird include his career-high 49 points against Wichita State in February 1979, scoring 29 points in the first half against Butler in December 1978, just 10 months after he dropped 47 on the Bulldogs on the road. Here are some of Larry Bird's notable career achievements and statistics: Three-time NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986) Two-time NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986) . Bird nearly doubled the Sycamores win total year-over-year from 13 to 25 after sitting out just one year in 1975-76, rather than two, after IU signed papers for Birds release. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Regarding per game stats, Bird is averaging 6.8 dimes and 9.6 rebounds. Editors note: This is part of a series of stories revisiting the biggest what-ifs in IU history. Bird would typically start offensive possessions on the right block, where he would utilize the right corner of the floor, the fre-throw line extended and the opposite wing. Forward Larry Bird played 13 seasons for the Celtics. Larry Bird: Coaching Record, Awards | Basketball-Reference.com An undefeated IU team with a healthy Scott May or Larry Bird, let alone both, wouldve made for a compelling matchup with Woodens final UCLA team. If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. Wore the number 33 on his basketball jersey in high school, college and with the Boston Celtics. Larry used BB to escape from his family problems! Jobbade sedan i Celtics frn 1992 till 1997 och coachade sedan Indiana Pacers frn 1997 till 2000. The only thing that wouldve been more painful for some IU fans than briefly landing Bird, only to see him become a folk hero up the road, would have been losing him to Kentucky. Martin Fennelly Former Sports columnist. Larry Bird's Wife Dinah Mattingly. He just hammered him for being lackadaisical off of the screen and made him leave the open gym session. Bird finished runner-up to Moses Malone for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, as he would the following year. However, he was eligible to be drafted without applying for "hardship" because his original college class at Indiana University had graduated. 1 ranking. when they were picking teams! Bird was one of the best scorers in the country, a big forward who led the way for the Sycamores from the Missouri Valley Conference to the biggest national stage. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. He scored 136 points in five NCAA tournament games, leading the Sycamores to the national championship game, where they fell to the Michigan State Spartans. The Hoosiers went 14-13 in 1977, later having their record adjusted to 16-11 after Minnesota was forced to forfeit two wins. He definitely had a softball swing, Hayes recalled. 1988 Men's NCAA, 2019 Women's NCAA, 1940 Men's NCAA, 2006 Women's NCAA, 1981 Men's NCAA. No-Trouble Returns upon All orders. Finally, Bird enrolled at Indiana State, which had posted 12-14 records in each of the two previous years and where the pressure was not quite the same as at Indiana a perennial Big Ten power and national title contender. RotoWire names five under-the-radar players who could add value to your rosters as we approach fantasy playoffs. McHale just destroyed him. Even if we dont rewrite Mays season-ending injury in this post, could Larry Bird have gone from being snubbed by the 15-player AP All-State Team one spring to a March Madness hero the next? By. With five seconds remaining and the Celtics trailing 107-106, Bird stole an Isiah Thomas inbounds pass and fed Dennis Johnson, whose layup gave Boston the win. Larry Bird's greatest clutch plays with the Celtics Bird was so self-confident that he was known to waltz up to the opponents bench before tipoff and predict a 40-point performance for himself. In 1981-82, Bird made the first of his three consecutive appearances on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team even though he was relatively slow and not the greatest one-on-one defender, his anticipation and court sense made him peerless as a team defender. Bird was named a special assistant in the Celtics front office, with limited duties that included some scouting and player evaluation. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Bird enjoyed a phenomenal collegiate basketball career at Indiana State (30.3 points per game in a three-year career that included a trip to the national championship game). Note: at Spring Valley HS in his senior year., Bird averaged 31 ppg, 21rebounds per game and 4 assists). In addition to his three championship rings, Bird piled up an awesome collection of personal achievements. Larry Bird Turned a Painful High School Basketball Snub Into Lasting The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. All rights reserved. Larry Bird Facts for Kids - Kiddle Larry Bird stats. With Bird as the focal point of a well-rounded squad, the Celtics won three NBA titles and 10 Atlantic Division crowns. He was a 12-time All-Star, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and a nine-time member of the All-NBA First Team. The .500 batting average still exists in Indiana State history books as one of the highest ever recorded by a player for the team. When the doubleheader was over, hed finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs while recording nine putouts from first base in the second game. On The Players Tribune's "Knuckleheads" podcast, former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn said Rogers had talked trash to Bird after a day of practice between the 1992 College Select Team and the 1992 Dream Team.. After a practice, as a group of players were standing around, Mashburn said . At the time, Bird was a junior at Indiana State University and decided he wanted to play his senior year . They teamed with Bird and veteran Cedric Maxwell in a frontcourt that carried the Celtics to the championship in 1981. In Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals against Atlanta, Bird engaged in a memorable fourth-quarter shootout with the Hawks Dominique Wilkins. Bird received a scholarship to play for the Indiana Hoosiers in 1974, but he dropped out after only one month at Indiana . Scott Horner. Fans were filling not only Boston Garden, which sold out the final 541 games of Birds career, but arenas all over the country to witness Birds exploits. Larry Bird's baseball career: A lofty .500 batting average Odds & lines subject to change. As a senior, Bird became the schools all-time scoring champion and about 4,000 people attended his final home game. He was named the NL's Freshman of the Year after playing in his first All-Star game. He has accounted for 1,556 steals, as well as 755 blocks and 5,695 assists. The Sycamores went 81-13 during Birds three-year career. When Bird maximized his potential at Indiana State in the 1978-79 season, he took a Sycamores team that had a first-year head coach and was picked to finish third or fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference in 1979 and carried it all the way to the national championship game with an undefeated record and the countrys No. Or write about sports? Their 9-9 Big Ten record was bumped to 11-7, making a tough transition year appear a little less harsh in the history books. During his career he shot .496 from the floor and .886 from the free-throw line, retiring as the fifth all-time free-throw shooter behind Mark Price, Rick Barry, Calvin Murphy and Scott Skiles. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Not at the same time. Indiana womens basketball Q&A: HooplaWyatt on the Big Ten Tournament. Games. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. The internet said that Bird's mother worked 2 jobs to care for Larry and his 5 siblings. Larry Bird's College Career: Overlooked? | News, Scores, Highlights We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. He was a two-time consensus first-team All-American in 1978-79, the College Player of the Year in 1979, a two-time MVC Player of the Year in 1978-79, and had his No. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. 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Bird was nicknamed Larry Legend and The Hick from French Lick, after his hometown in Indiana. He's an impressive figure with incredible rivalries, but there are still tons of things that younger NBA fans should know about Larry Legend. Larry Bird was born on 7 December 1956, making him 64 years old as of today, 2 August 2021. In reality, he spent most of the next five years in Florida, playing golf and taking it easy. TV stations showed film clips of Bird instead of commercials. 2023 NCAA | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Larry Bird goes to the basket against DePaul in the 1979 Final Four. Benson was an all time great college player, but really just a servicable pro. Get to know Larry Bird: Stats, records and more - RSN What if Larry Bird hadn't transferred from IU? College: Indiana State. ", Indiana State teammate Carl Nicks: "It's a tremendous feeling to play with him he brings out the best in everybody. And Warn, firm in his belief Bird would look foolish on a baseball field, was willing to give him the chance to embarrass himself. After 897 games Bird retired with 21,791 points (24.3 ppg), 8,974 rebounds (10.0 rpg) and 5,695 assists (6.3 apg). Michael Jordan has compiled 41,011 minutes and has participated .
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