Bird Says That He Is Back

Get excited. Get your tickets. Get a look at who’s playing basketball again.

Bird is back.

If you’re an opponent, get just a little bit scared. And if you’re the Boston Celtics, get off the NBA’s pile of mediocrity and get your sights set on another title run.

“I feel good,” Larry Bird said, “and when I feel good, I’m usually going to play good.”

Like Streisand with a sore throat, the show couldn’t go on for Bird with two bad heels that throbbed with ever stride. The superstar who hates to lose finally admitted defeat and gave in to the pain just six games into last season.

The NBA lost one of its top gate attractions and the Celtics lost more games than they had in any of the previous nine seasons. They also lost respect. Teams no longer viewed them as invincible invaders.

Boston was 10-31 on the road and its 40 losses for the season were five more than its combined total in its last two title years, 1984 and 1986.

Next Friday night, 353 days after Bird’s last regular-season game, the Celtics begin their season at home against Milwaukee. Barring a late setback, he’ll be starting.

“It’s going to take time,” he said, but “I feel like I’m going to make it.”

If he does, the Celtics also should. Last season, opponents laid off Boston’s outside shooters and double-teamed inside threats Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. They can’t do that now that Bird is one of those outside shooters. And his creative passes should set up easy baskets.

“If we play well, there’s no question we can win a title,” he said.

Bird has shown progress with each pre-season test.

Through the first six games, he averaged 30 minutes, 16.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. He’s not happy, though, with the 3.8 turnover average.

The Celtics beat Houston 119-101 Wednesday night and improved their exhibition record to 6-0. Bird played 27 minutes, scored 18 points and led the Celtics with 8 rebounds. He made 7 of 9 shots, his best shooting performance to that point.

He got a high-decibel welcome when he was introduced before the game, his first at Boston Garden since last Nov. 11.

“I waited for this game for a long, long time,” Bird said. “I’m still trying to work myself into shape but I’m feeling better and better out there.”

Flashback to last Nov. 15, when he felt, and played, much differently: In an ugly 84-65 win over hapless Miami, he played just 16 minutes and scored just 6 points before the pain became too much. Four days later bone spurs that had been irritating his Achilles’ tendons for a long time were removed.

His recuperation took longer than anticipated. He practiced a few times with the Celtics, but his stamina and his heels held him back. He missed all 79 post-operation games, three of them in the playoffs.

But Bird felt well enough to attend the Celtics’ summer camp for rookies and free agents. He went because he was eager to see how he would handle full-tilt workouts.

On the night of July 29, a few minutes into his first scrimmage, he crashed to the floor and spirits sank. He fractured a bone in his back. The initial estimate was he would be sidelined four to six weeks, and coach Jimmy Rodgers, usually dispassionate, was shaken.

Then there was some good news for a change. The injury was less serious than originally thought and Bird was practicing with the team two days later.

When healthy, Bird, with his fierce determination, blind passes, unique shots and clutch plays was one of the NBA’s best and most entertaining players.

“He’s an enjoyable player to watch,” Rodgers said. “When you see him out there, it’s a thing to behold.”

All that is coming back, although Bird admits that his timing, defense and decision-making arent what they were. Philadelphia’s Charles Barkley isn’t sure Bird can ascend to his usual level.”I don’t think a guy can sit out almost a whole year and come back where he was,” Barkley said. “But if anyone can do it, he might be able to because he’s not a regular player.”

After nearly a year of frustration--Rodgers calls him “a caged tiger”--Bird is confident he can come back all the way.

“There’s never been any doubts in my mind. There’s always been doubts in other people’s minds, but I always overcame them,” Bird said. “I came from high school to college to the pros where they never thought I was going to make it and here I am again, going into my 10th year.”

He’s not counting last year, the lost year.

“When you don’t have Larry Bird around, you don’t have the Excitement

What WILL he do next?

Will he be able to run up and down the court for 35 minutes, night after night?

Will he still dazzle fans and befuddle foes with his superior skills.

Will he last more than six regular-season games?

The Celtics are taking his return in stride. There is no special air of excitement as they hustle through practices. The mood is serious, and Rodgers is unusually demanding as he tries to blend nine players who have never been in a Boston pre-season camp with the six who have.

Bird runs hard and doesn’t avoid crowds under the basket.

“I feel like I’m learning basketball all over again,” he said after the second pre-season game.

But after the fifth game, Parish said, “he’s getting back to the way he was before the injury. He’s not as hesitant to drive to the basket.”

After Bird had 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 35 minutes as the Celtics beat San Antonio in his third pre-season game, Spurs rookie center David Robinson was in awe.

“I’ve never played against a player like Bird and there he is, coming off screens,” Robinson said. “What do I do? Should I go out to him? Lay off him? If I give him any room he’ll hit the shot.”

“Last year teams didn’t care if we shot (from outside) in the fourth quarter. They’d lay off” the shooter, McHale said. “But the other night, Larry passed inside a few times and that opened up outside shots later on.”

Reggie Lewis, who blossomed as Bird’s replacement last season despite being closely guarded, expects to benefit this season as well.

“He’s going to be double-teamed so I’ll get a lot of shots,” said Lewis, who is switching to shooting guard. “All I have to do is just find the open spot and he’ll give me the ball.”

If his teammates are happy he’s back, imagine how the competitive Bird must feel.

“The last two years I spent most of my time going to doctors and that got old,” he said. “Basketball is definitely fun again.”

Now imagine how opponents must feel.