‘HE’S THE BEST PLAYER EVER’ : So Says Bucks’ Coach Don Nelson as Celtics’ Larry Bird Continues to Soar in Unbelievably Fine Feather

One week of attentive Bird watching allows enough time to get an ample sampling of the diverse abilities and peculiar habits that, in the view of many, have made Boston Celtic forward Larry Bird the NBA’s best player, and arguably, the best ever.

Hardly a game passes when Bird does not do something extraordinary on the basketball court, such as swishing an off-balanced, three-point shot or passing between an opponent’s legs. But it is the basic core of his game, which sometimes goes unnoticed but never unappreciated by teammates, that most assuredly will earn Bird his third straight most valuable player award.

At no time was Bird more valuable to the Celtics than in Boston’s Eastern Conference final series sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks last week. In the Celtics’ four wins, Bird averaged 25.5 points, made 54.5% of his field-goal attempts and 95.2% of his free throws, had 9.5 rebounds and 8 assists a game.

“He’s the best player ever,” Milwaukee Coach Don Nelson says. “The Celtics play on a different level. Bird? Well, he’s on his own level.”

In each game of the series with the Bucks, Bird contributed something different, depending on the Celtics’ needs.

In Game 1, Bird demoralized Milwaukee, defender Terry Cummings in particular, with accurate outside shooting. In Game 2, Bird penetrated the defense for layups or assists. In Game 3, Bird posted low and made precise and acrobatic interior passes to teammates. And in Game 4, Bird’s three-point shooting shot down the Bucks.

“What can you say, you think you’ve seen it all,” said Jimmy Rodgers, a Celtic assistant coach. “He has a way of coming up with unusual things, things that help the team.”

Nothing in Bird’s game stands out, but, at the same time, everything does.

Possessing a 6-9, 220-pound body that seems chiseled more for a bowler than a basketball player, Bird isn’t the best shooter, the best passer, the best individual defensive player or the best rebounder ever to play the game. What separates Bird, however, is that he excels in each area, as evidenced by the fact he finished among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, free-throw percentage, three-point percentage and steals.

Most of Bird’s ability is innate, but a good portion of it also is a result of hard work, an acute understanding of the game and tons of confidence.

Stories abound of how Bird spent much of his youth shooting hoops in his hometown of French Lick, Ind. To this day, he still is the first Celtic on the court before games--most times three hours before a game--and he still spends his summers in French Lick.

“I think Larry is as successful at his job as anyone in the country, like all those giant corporate heads,” teammate Kevin McHale said. “His job is basketball. Larry has done everything that every parent tells their kids they should do. I wish my kid could work like Larry Bird does.”

After his extraordinary 5-of-6 three-point shooting performance in Game 4, Bird was asked when he developed his long-range accuracy.

“I’ve picked it up the last couple of years,” Bird said last week. “It’s all routine. Shoot it enough, you get good at it. Three years ago, we got swept (by Milwaukee) and I was at a low point in my career. So, I went home and built a full court and worked on shooting and a lot of shots with my left hand.”

After two games in the Buck series, Bird had made all 10 left-handed shots he attempted. And not all were layups.

“Sometimes it’s easier to shoot left-handed,” Bird said. “It’s all in the flow of a game. If your balance is going that way, you have a better chance of making it than twisting your body to the right. A lot of people could do it if they worked on it.”

Bird truly believes hard work can overcome deficiencies. In Bird’s case, a few of his shortcomings sometimes work to his advantage.

Not known as a great leaper, Bird still averaged 9.8 rebounds this season by using positioning and surprising upper-body strength.

“I taught myself things like a fadeaway shot because I knew I wouldn’t be jumping over too many people,” Bird once said. “I just worked at it, that’s all.”

Also, because he is slow compared to many NBA greyhounds, Bird is able to see things others might have missed in their swiftness moving to the basket. When Bird has the ball, it seems as if he sees the game in slow motion.

Or maybe it’s just that opponents freeze when Bird has the ball because his shooting range is remarkable.

Three-point shots seem almost as casual to Bird as layups.

As Bird says: “It’s just like any other shot except you just have to shoot it a little harder. It’s easy as long as you have time to set and square up (to the basket).”

One time in Game 4 of the Bucks series, Bird didn’t have time to set before attempting a critical three-point shot. With only one second left on the shot clock, Bird took a pass while on one foot and swung around to shoot. By the time he released the ball in mid-air, however, Bird had squared his shoulders and swished the shot.

“That one was lucky,” Bird said.

Maybe so, but Bird has a knack of making pressure shots. He won a three-point shooting contest at February’s All-Star game, making 18 of 25 shots--even banking in one three-pointer from a difficult angle.

Bird attempts about only five three-pointers a game, so he mainly concentrates on working to get open shots. Bird is a master at it. On the perimeter, Bird holds the ball at eye-level and always keeps his right side of the body facing the basket. That way, he is able to pass, drive to the basket or shoot a jumper.

In the low post, Bird is even a deadlier triple threat. Although just 6-9 and not at all a good jumper, Bird almost always is able to release his shot without having it misdirected.

Bird is a master at head fakes, and many players claim that you can’t tell one of his fakes from one of shots. When the fake doesn’t work, Bird will simply shoot a fadeaway shot.

Example: Against the Bucks, Bird received a pass at the baseline with pesky Paul Pressey hanging all over him. Bird backed in on Pressey, then turned and feigned a drive without fooling Pressey before pulling back and releasing a jumper. Pressey nicked the shot, which nonetheless swished.

When defenders go for his head fakes, Bird heads for the hoop. Once airborne, Bird uses a variety of scoop shots with either hand or passes to open teammates. Several times against the Bucks, Bird, who is ambidextrous, switched the ball from hand-to-hand in the air, as if deciding which to use.

Sometimes, when Bird decides to pass, it catches teammates by surprise. Forever searching for the best shot, Bird can be too unselfish, not that the Celtics complain.

“He’s so alert out there,” Rodgers said. “He knows where the open people are. He’s the epitome of the team player. Whatever it takes. Larry has a great sensitivity to what’s needed.”

Said Bird: “We’re unselfish. You see some selfishness around the league, but teams that do that don’t get far.”

Bird was credited with 13 assists in Game 3, but he seemingly had a hand in nearly all of the Celtics’ second-half baskets.

Bird says one key to successful passing is not to hold the ball long.

A few times recently, he has passed the ball almost before he had possession. One time down the court in Game 3, Bird was about to receive a pass from Bill Walton under the basket for what could have been an easy basket. But Bird noticed that McHale, on his right, had a better shot. So, he made a volleyball-like punch pass to McHale for a basket.

Bird also showed during the Bucks’ series that he doesn’t have to have a good look at teammates to make a pass. In Game 3, Bird had the ball with his back to the basket and flicked a left-handed, over-the-shoulder pass to Robert Parish for a basket.

Asked afterward how he possibly could have known the whereabouts of Parish, Bird shrugged and smiled.

“I just seen him,” he said.

Part of Bird’s effectiveness and mystique is his cockiness and willingness to assume the responsibility when the game is at a crucial time.

“There are guys that are really competitors,” Bird said. “They’re winners, and they’ve been winners all their lives. They want to take the big shot at the end. Isiah (Thomas) is like that, and DJ (Dennis Johnson) is like that. . . . Kareem is one of those guys and so is Magic, although I’d have to say Kareem is probably the best.

“There are guys in this league that don’t want the ball at the end. They miss a few shots, and the crowd starts booing and they don’t want the ball. I would want them on my team.”

K.C. Jones, Boston’s coach, says Bird is the player the Celtics always look to.

Jones: “A player like (Bird) becomes a pied piper. He leads the team and everybody else follows. They become better with a guy like that around.”

In a Sports Illustrated article earlier this season on Bird, Celtic President Red Auerbach said that “the best I’ve ever had in rising to the occasion were (Bob) Cousy, (John) Havlicek and (Bill) Russell, and Larry goes beyond them in that particular phase of the game.”

After Bird sank the winning shot to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the seventh game of the 1981 Eastern Conference final, he bluntly said: “There was no other place in the world I wanted that ball except in my hands.”

The term money player certainly fits Bird. When he learned that the winner of the All-Star three-point shooting contest would receive $10,000, Bird vowed to win it. And he did, partially because he psyched out the other shooters before the competition.

“It was a mind game,” Bird said after the competition. “they had all of us in a room that measured 8 feet by 8 feet and I told everyone that they were competing for second place.”

Jones: “Larry has that Muhammad Ali kind of approach. He gets to you and your mind before the fight begins. By the time you step in the ring, you’re already 20 points down. And he’s able to back it up. That’s part of the beauty of Larry Bird.”