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Speaker 1: Hey, what I welcome in. I'm dog GOLLI. This is

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Speaker 1: all ball. I wanna get a little nice street here.

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Speaker 1: Dan Shaughnessy has a new book out. It's about the

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Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, and uh there, I think their greatest team ever, right,

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Speaker 1: And when you say greatest team ever, oh man, why

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Speaker 1: do I care about, you know, going back to the

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Speaker 1: old days? And yeah, that's not We're not going back

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Speaker 1: that far. Dan Shaughnessy has written a book about the

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Speaker 1: new about the Boston Celtics, but we're talking about the

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Speaker 1: ones in the eighties. And in the eighties it was

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Speaker 1: called Wish It Lasted Forever Life with the Boston Celtics.

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Speaker 1: Simon and Schuster put it out. You can pick it

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Speaker 1: up at at Amazon, and it talks about um, the

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Speaker 1: arguably the best Celtics team ever. They went fifty and

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Speaker 1: one at home, they won sixty five games. So I

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Speaker 1: thought we'd sit down and and talk about the book

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Speaker 1: and talk abo what what we will learn about a

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Speaker 1: team that kind of gets glossed over in terms of

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Speaker 1: the all time great teams, and Larry Bird kind of

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Speaker 1: gets glossed over as one of the greatest players in

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Speaker 1: the history of the game. Like five greatest players ever.

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Speaker 1: You know, when you hear all these debates and you

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Speaker 1: hear Jordan's and you hear Lebron, somehow we don't talk

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Speaker 1: about magic enough. We don't talk about Bird enough. So

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Speaker 1: here's I sit down with Dan chaughnessy. Then, um, this

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Speaker 1: is a book that you told me in your radio show.

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Speaker 1: It's a it's a quarantine book. It's a COVID book. Right,

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Speaker 1: everything was shut down. But take me through. What was

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Speaker 1: the epiphany that I got to write a book? Is

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Speaker 1: I know so much about this team like this fast

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Speaker 1: makes me I want to do? What was there? Was

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Speaker 1: there a moment that you're sitting at home and the

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Speaker 1: last dances on and this epiphany came to you. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: and you know, during the last dance, I'm seeing my

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Speaker 1: thirty year old self sitting at the court side and

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Speaker 1: remembering what that was like. And then, you know, without

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Speaker 1: games being played locally, they were broadcasting selfest classics of

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Speaker 1: the eighties, and I'm watching those and you know, eighties

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Speaker 1: six Celtics, and there I am sitting there again, I'm thinking,

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Speaker 1: I've been telling these Larry Bird stories for thirty years,

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Speaker 1: bars may as well put them in a place, and

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Speaker 1: when they resumed it had the COVID bubble. You know,

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Speaker 1: the reporters who went there had to pay sixty dollars

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Speaker 1: to get in quarantine for two weeks and sign a

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Speaker 1: waiver saying they would not approach any athlete or coach

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Speaker 1: if they saw them away from the gym. And I'm

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Speaker 1: thinking that's what we did all of our best work

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Speaker 1: because the league was so small in that time, and

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Speaker 1: and really, Doug, I mean, everybody knows who won and

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Speaker 1: what the stats were, and who's in the Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 1: And this is no attempt to uh, to elaborate on

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. What this is is to take you

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Speaker 1: back when the NBA really exploded, because the league was

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Speaker 1: down when Burn and Magic came into the league and

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Speaker 1: it needed a boost. The finals run tape delay. It

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Speaker 1: just was small time league. I mean, Cedric Maxwell gotta

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Speaker 1: SAKEO watch for being m v P of the Finals

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Speaker 1: in one. There was no cars then, and of course,

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Speaker 1: being a beat guy for the Boston Globe with these Celtics,

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Speaker 1: we traveled with them, so we stayed in the fleabag,

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Speaker 1: holiday ends, flu commercial change planes, did connections. Nothing five

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Speaker 1: star about this, but we were with them all the time.

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Speaker 1: We were able to tell the readers and the fans

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Speaker 1: what they were like. And this is a very unique

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Speaker 1: group of guys that that had, you know, competitiveness and

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Speaker 1: greatness and security and how great they were. They were

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Speaker 1: not petty and jealous and who's getting more touches, who's

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Speaker 1: getting more money, who's more famous. It was really the

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Speaker 1: collective and the practices were fun, dug. I mean just

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Speaker 1: watching these guys go at each other in practice. And

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Speaker 1: Bill Walton gives great voice to this in the book

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Speaker 1: just about how great it was, the greatest year of

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Speaker 1: his life. They went fifty and one at home six

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Speaker 1: and my view, the greatest team of all time, five

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Speaker 1: Hall of famers. So this is just sort of a

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Speaker 1: love letter to that time when the league really exploded.

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Speaker 1: I mean the Larry Magic Finals of the eighties. Those

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Speaker 1: are like the Alie Fraser fights for the NBA and

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Speaker 1: just put the league on the map and made the

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Speaker 1: league important to the point where by ninety two, when

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Speaker 1: when Birds wrapping it up to global ens to you

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Speaker 1: with the Dream Team, you know, it's the Larry aspect

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Speaker 1: of it is fascinating to me because you know, I've

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Speaker 1: worked at three different networks and two of them do

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Speaker 1: all these debate shows, and so much of it is

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Speaker 1: about you know, Jordan and Lebron. I'm like, did I

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Speaker 1: did I fall asleep? And through the most magical decade

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Speaker 1: of basketball like Magic Johnson and and I don't Magic

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Speaker 1: Johnson is not great on TV, UM, but he's he's

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Speaker 1: done some amazing he did. The one thing he said

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Speaker 1: which people want to quote all the time, is he

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Speaker 1: Kobe is the greatest Laker ever. Like that's just magic

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Speaker 1: being matched Magic the greatest, right he was. He and

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Speaker 1: dominated the league. They not just say the league, they

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Speaker 1: dominated the league. But somehow now we're you know, thirty

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Speaker 1: years removed from them being in the league, and they

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Speaker 1: don't get mentioned as the greatest of all time. Um,

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Speaker 1: you can speak specifically to Larry how how dynamic was

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Speaker 1: Larry and how much did he change the Celtics from

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Speaker 1: the moment he got there. Well, again, the Celtics had

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Speaker 1: been you know, obviously when Russell was there, they were dominant.

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Speaker 1: They won eleven championships in thirteen seasons. But but they

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Speaker 1: didn't have the level of popularity and neither did the league.

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Speaker 1: You know, they weren't selling out the games, and they

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Speaker 1: weren't the hot ticket. When Bird got there in seventy nine,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, every game was a sellout, and

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Speaker 1: that the team was revived. It was the greatest single

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Speaker 1: season turning around in franchise history. They went from twenty

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Speaker 1: nine to sixty two wins, I think, and a year

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Speaker 1: later they win the championship. But it took four years

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Speaker 1: before he and Magic faced each other in the finals.

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Speaker 1: They were both in finals, but not against each other

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Speaker 1: until four and in my view, still the best finals

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Speaker 1: of time. You know, seven Hall of famers up and

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Speaker 1: down to to one on one format. You're flying coast

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Speaker 1: to coast every day. It changed a lot of rules.

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Speaker 1: That was when when Rambis took down was taken down

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Speaker 1: by Kevin McHale and he his foot almost hit the rim.

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Speaker 1: He was upended to such a degree and that changed

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Speaker 1: rules because now you get your your path to the basket,

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Speaker 1: your flavrant follows you're that day it was there was

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Speaker 1: two shots, it went down the other ends. Micale in

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Speaker 1: the book told me I'd be suspended for a year

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Speaker 1: if that happened now, So different league then, But it

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Speaker 1: was really important what these guys did and full Larry,

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Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't trusting of new people. I understood

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Speaker 1: that I was a new person on the beat when

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Speaker 1: I came in. He was already an NBA champion. He

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Speaker 1: took a while for him to warm up. But you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm from a small town. I played varsity basketball. I

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Speaker 1: understood the culture of basketball. I wasn't good like him,

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Speaker 1: but I understood having converse all stars for your high

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Speaker 1: school team was a big deal. You'd get a pair

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Speaker 1: before the season and another pair for the tournament. You know,

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Speaker 1: I knew that the Friday nights with the gym and

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Speaker 1: local hometown, that was a big deal. He had that.

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Speaker 1: It just felt you know, these guys were very, as

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Speaker 1: I said, secure in their greatness. Didn't mind sharing that.

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Speaker 1: And a lot of this back and forth comes out

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Speaker 1: in this book where you really get to know what

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Speaker 1: they were like, what the individuals were like, and that

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Speaker 1: cast of characters. They were colorful, they were trash talkers,

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Speaker 1: they were confident, and they liked each other. It was

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Speaker 1: a very joyous, fun time. Um. But but Larry himself, Um,

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Speaker 1: what was what was he like? I mean, I know

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Speaker 1: he was kind of closed off to you because you

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Speaker 1: were new what what was What was he like? You know,

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Speaker 1: because they don't magic Magic had that smile. He had

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Speaker 1: a great relationship with the owner, and he was kind

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Speaker 1: of bigger than life Lebron, you know, kind of came

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Speaker 1: in as a refined guy. Remember him at the NBA draft,

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Speaker 1: Like this guy feels like he's been in the league

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Speaker 1: for ten years. Jordan was fairly quiet and shy, great smile,

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Speaker 1: but his personality didn't come out for several years. What

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Speaker 1: was Larry liked? So he got better with us and

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Speaker 1: again being able to you know, he liked his beer.

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Speaker 1: So you're talking the hotel lounge a little bit late

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Speaker 1: at night and talk about, you know, having older brothers.

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Speaker 1: He had two older brothers and he worshiped them growing

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Speaker 1: up and had older brother was a great player, and

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Speaker 1: you wanted to be like them. And I think for

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Speaker 1: Larry that's where he learned to be great. He'd go rebound.

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Speaker 1: They'd be taking the clothes to the launder matt because

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Speaker 1: they didn't have a washer, and they'd be carrying the

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Speaker 1: stuff with their mom and there was an outdoor court

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Speaker 1: across the street. He would rebound for Mark Bird, who

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Speaker 1: he looked up to because he's four or five years older.

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Speaker 1: He said, I couldn't believe how he could switch the

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Speaker 1: ball every time, and I just never have to move

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Speaker 1: to rebound. And I wanted to know, how do you

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Speaker 1: do that? And says, because I practiced all the time.

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Speaker 1: So Larry put his mind to that, and he was

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Speaker 1: a guy who held his teammates accountable. They had a

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Speaker 1: they had a practice group in the morning, six thirty

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Speaker 1: in the morning. High school basketball got keys to the

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Speaker 1: gym go practice our free throws. It was one teammate

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Speaker 1: too big for it, slept in missed it. Larry said,

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Speaker 1: someday that's going to come back to bite us. Sure enough,

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Speaker 1: they get to the Indiana State Tournament, which is no

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Speaker 1: small deal there, especially when you're in high school, and

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Speaker 1: his friend bees are Carns. He missed three one and

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Speaker 1: once the front end of three one and ones. They

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Speaker 1: were bouncing the tournament. The rest of his life, anytime

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Speaker 1: anybody wasn't working at their free throws, Visa Carns would

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Speaker 1: come up. He never forgot it. He said. I didn't

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Speaker 1: say anything to him. I just looked at him, and

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Speaker 1: he knew Larry was capable of carrying all these thoughts

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Speaker 1: in his head while he was compete in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: Let's say to him, how do you not get intimidated

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Speaker 1: by these pogo sticks, these physical specimens. James Worthy, Dominique Wilkins.

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Speaker 1: He said, I've never been in I've never been intimidated

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Speaker 1: on a basketball court. I used to be in college

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Speaker 1: warming up and they'd be guys the other end trying

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Speaker 1: to intimidate my teammates and throwing down dunks and yelling

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Speaker 1: at us, and I'd go down there and I say,

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Speaker 1: when this game is over, I'm going to own your ass.

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Speaker 1: And then I did. That's how he felt. He just

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Speaker 1: wasn't not bothered by that, and he got real cocky,

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Speaker 1: as you know. Doug. He his master trash talker. He

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Speaker 1: would tell them what he was gonna do, then execute

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Speaker 1: the play after the inbounds and go and do it,

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Speaker 1: and then points say you should have done that because

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Speaker 1: I told you what I was gonna do. He was

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Speaker 1: banking his three pointers towards the end. Remember the trainer

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Speaker 1: of the New York Knicks, Mike Saunders, said, what are

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Speaker 1: you doing? He's watching in practice for the game, and

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Speaker 1: he says, you couldn't do that in a game, Larry says, well,

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Speaker 1: if you give me five bucks, I'll do that tonight.

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Speaker 1: Sure enough, Celtics got a big lead. Larry Banks the

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Speaker 1: three pointer runs down by the Nick bench with his

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Speaker 1: greedy hand extended. Where's my five bucks? I mean, he

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Speaker 1: was able to hold these thoughts in his head while

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Speaker 1: he was playing. That was the level of his greatness

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Speaker 1: and his cockiness. How was he with? How was he

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Speaker 1: to be coached? Casey Jones? Was his coach? Was he coachable?

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Speaker 1: Really good question, because not only was he coachable, he

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Speaker 1: was the only one. When Bill Fitch came on. You know,

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Speaker 1: Bill Fitchers, the first outside of the red outback ever

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Speaker 1: hired a coach of Celtics. He had hired Bill Russell,

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Speaker 1: Tom Heights, and Tom Sanders, Dave Collins. The first time

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Speaker 1: he goes outside the family brings in Bill Fitch. You

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Speaker 1: know whose claim to fame was Cleveland Cavaliers. Nine years

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Speaker 1: he had coached Bob Gibson and baseball and basketball at Creighton.

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Speaker 1: He was a charming irishman. He's in the Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame now. And Fitch got Robert Paris straightened out, had

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Speaker 1: him running the floor, made him a Hall of famer.

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Speaker 1: But He was very hands on, very much, yelling at

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Speaker 1: guys all the time. And that was good when they

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Speaker 1: were young. But by the fourth year they were done

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Speaker 1: Maxwell Parrish McHale. They had stopped listening to that. Larry

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Speaker 1: Bird never did. He kind of went with the authority figure.

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Speaker 1: He never spoke badly about a coach, and when everybody

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Speaker 1: else was hooting on pitch, Larry was disappointed that the

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Speaker 1: teammates were going hard on him, but it taught him

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Speaker 1: a lesson. When Bert came back to coach in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: which surprised us, did the three years with the Pacers.

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Speaker 1: He said at the start, I'm going to do three

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Speaker 1: years and out because that's the statute of limitations on

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Speaker 1: coaches in the NBA. He did his third year, he

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Speaker 1: got him to the finals and he walked. That was it.

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Speaker 1: He honored that. So when Casey Jones came in, Doug,

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Speaker 1: it was easy because Casey did not over coach, did

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Speaker 1: not get in the way. He knew what he had.

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Speaker 1: He was a player. He rolled the ball out and said,

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Speaker 1: go get them guys, and uh, that was a dream

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Speaker 1: for the rest of him and for Larry. He just

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Speaker 1: knew what to do out there and he became kind

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Speaker 1: of the coaching captain on the floor. Um, yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we got to know some form of Larryders

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Speaker 1: and books. Robert Paris is kind of a mysterious thinking

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Speaker 1: what was he like? Well, unfortunately, I'm not gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to uncover a lot for you there. That all

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Speaker 1: I know is he hated me, and right from the

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Speaker 1: jump there was no relationship there and to the point

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Speaker 1: where I would I sat with him at the airport

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Speaker 1: in Detroit one time and tried to find out what

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Speaker 1: the problem was, because you know, his teammates liked him.

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Speaker 1: He was a quiet guy. His backstory is really interesting.

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Speaker 1: Went to Sentinary team was on probation the whole time,

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Speaker 1: probably because he went there he was not academically eligible,

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Speaker 1: and and you know, Bobby Knight and other big recruiters

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Speaker 1: had told him, you're not going to be able to

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Speaker 1: play for a year, but a Satinary they took him

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Speaker 1: right away and paid the price. So he was like

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Speaker 1: an invisible seven footer in college. And uh, that was

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Speaker 1: not lost in the Warriors who took him in the

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Speaker 1: first round. He had kind of a you know, not

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Speaker 1: bad first three or four years, but not great and

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Speaker 1: Bill Fitch saw something in him and wanted him acquired,

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Speaker 1: and read hour back, carried out the order and brought

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Speaker 1: him in with Michale together for the start of the

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Speaker 1: d eighty one season, and they went a championship right away.

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Speaker 1: And of course Robert Robert played more games in the

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Speaker 1: NBA than anyone in history to this day, and uh

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Speaker 1: got one extra ring by playing with Jordan at the

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Speaker 1: end at the end of the bench. But in his

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Speaker 1: time in Boston he was a great teammate. He subjugated

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Speaker 1: his ego like a lot of them had to Uh

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Speaker 1: to not get all the touches. Bird gave him great shots.

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Speaker 1: He could catch the ball in traffic and throw it down.

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Speaker 1: He came up short in a few playoffs, but then

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Speaker 1: got good. He way out played Moses Bologne for him

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Speaker 1: in five and again. He was quiet guy. Maxwell named

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Speaker 1: in the Chief because he was like the chief character

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Speaker 1: and one flew over the cuckoo's nest and got along

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Speaker 1: very well with his teammates, less so with us. He

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Speaker 1: was a sensitive guy. Remember Sports Illustrator came around once

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Speaker 1: and they said they wanted to do a feature on

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Speaker 1: Robert Parrish, and the writer said, yeah, we already did

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Speaker 1: our Kareem story for the week, and that really annoyed him,

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Speaker 1: and you wouldn't talk to him just because of this

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Speaker 1: little off hand joking remark. So in my case, I

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Speaker 1: came out hard on him when he he held out

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Speaker 1: one year because he was not getting paid as much

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Speaker 1: as McHale. I came to out hard on that, and

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Speaker 1: I would sometimes tweak him if he came up short

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But he hated me. I asked Maxwell

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Speaker 1: about it for the book. I said, Max, why did

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Speaker 1: she hate me? He said, he just had a disdain

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Speaker 1: for your ass. So that's sort of an ongoing thing.

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Speaker 1: Even his wife hated me, Doug. After the Celtics won

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Speaker 1: the championship in eighty four, Boston Garden, they win, they

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Speaker 1: beat the Lakers in Game seven, the hot Old Garden,

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Speaker 1: and I'm just carrying my computer back to the press

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Speaker 1: room and Nancy Parish chased me down. She gave me

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Speaker 1: their full well. Bird loved that. As soon as Bird

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Speaker 1: heard about that, he said, yeah, I heard Nancy Parrish

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Speaker 1: hit you with a purse. So anyway, that's the way

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Speaker 1: it was back then. But I cannot give you the

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Speaker 1: inner workings of Robert Parrish's mind because he did not

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Speaker 1: share them with me or many other media folks. Fox

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Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

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Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot

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Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f

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Speaker 1: s R to listen live. Okay, what about Kevin McHale.

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Speaker 1: He's a guy who you know, Larry said, but you

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Speaker 1: know Larry would say he's the best spaying league for

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Speaker 1: a couple of years. Um, we have got to know

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Speaker 1: him because he's been a broadcast, he's been a coach.

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Speaker 1: He's a colorful personality. But what was he like then?

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Speaker 1: He was great. You know when we travel commercial, we're

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Speaker 1: always waiting for you know, airplanes and delays and whatnot.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever said to Kevin mckel hey, Kevin, buy

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Speaker 1: your breakfast? Do little interview? Did do that for the

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Speaker 1: free breakfast he's he loved. He loved getting free food

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Speaker 1: and uh, he was just a big puppy. He was

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Speaker 1: sort of a genetic mutant Doug. He was the only

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Speaker 1: person in his family at like outside because his his

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Speaker 1: brother was six ft tall and his dad was like

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Speaker 1: five ten. He had some distant cousins on the Croatian side,

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Speaker 1: they were a little bit bigger, but it just sort

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Speaker 1: of happened. And of course he grows up in the

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Speaker 1: Iron Range in Minnesota, everybody plays hockey. Well, they figured

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Speaker 1: out pretty early it was going to be basketball for

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Speaker 1: him because he was six ft ten with really long arms,

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Speaker 1: had the great drop step, move up and under. It

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Speaker 1: was really hard to cover in the low block. But

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Speaker 1: he never he never liked cared about it as much

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Speaker 1: as Larry. He didn't dive on the floor, was a

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Speaker 1: little more of a cruiser out there, and that bothered

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Speaker 1: Larry a little bit. But he was a very much

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Speaker 1: of a people pleaser, very much a you know, good

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Speaker 1: guy from the Iron Range, same home as Bob Dylan's

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Speaker 1: great pride in being from Hiving, Minnesota, home with Bob Dylan.

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Speaker 1: So he came to Boston and Fitch wrote him hard.

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Speaker 1: He didn't respond real well to that, so he would

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Speaker 1: give a little bit back to the coach and and

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Speaker 1: he was very humorous about it most of the time.

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Speaker 1: We loved him. He was always a great quote and uh,

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Speaker 1: he was a great teammate. And you know, you'd ask Kevin, well,

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Speaker 1: if you were on another team, you'd probably score more

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Speaker 1: points and be more famous and say, yeah, but I'd

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Speaker 1: have fewer championship ranks. He understood that, understood his role,

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Speaker 1: raised a big family with his wife who was his

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Speaker 1: college sweetheart, and really dedicated to the folks back home

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Speaker 1: in Minnesota. Um relocated to Arizona, had a good career

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Speaker 1: in the NBA as a as a GM and a

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Speaker 1: head coach. Finished up with the Rockets. I always thought

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Speaker 1: James Harden got him fired and kind of hold out

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Speaker 1: against James Harden. I don't like that. Why was it

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Speaker 1: one home lost hip? The Portland Tulane has got him

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Speaker 1: by like eighteen points. It was like December. It was

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Speaker 1: Jerome Kersey, Clyde Drexler, Jesse Coulter. They had the I

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Speaker 1: call him the Flying Burrito brothers said get up and

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Speaker 1: down the floor, and they just ran them up. They

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Speaker 1: really beat him thoroughly. And that was in one regular

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Speaker 1: season and tendant o in the playoffs fifty and one

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Speaker 1: at home. You know, it's it's interesting, Um, It's it's

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Speaker 1: interesting that that people go back now and they say, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, Jordan's he got swept out of the playoffs

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Speaker 1: his first two years, Like do people understand one it

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Speaker 1: was a three game Playoff Series. Two, he had nothing

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Speaker 1: around him. And three. I mean those Celtics were in

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Speaker 1: the conversation of the best teams in the history of

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Speaker 1: the NBA, right, yes, and everybody gets beat by those teams. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean he did score sixty three, which is of

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Speaker 1: course the playoff record. I mean, yeah, it was crazy.

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Speaker 1: Larry Bird I was surprised at this because Larry was

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Speaker 1: not one to blow smoke. And uh, you know, Jordan.

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Speaker 1: There was a lot of controversy about that draft because

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Speaker 1: you know, everybody knew Keim was gonna go first. That

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Speaker 1: was fine, but then Portland, you know, they had Drexler,

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Speaker 1: they had Percy, they had six five swing guys, and

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Speaker 1: they didn't want the duplication of skills, and they took

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Speaker 1: Sam Bowie, figuring, you know, we didn't always gonna be

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Speaker 1: hurt his whole life, like Greg Oden later and sure enough,

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Speaker 1: and then it just Jordan falls Chicago with the third pick,

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Speaker 1: and he he was all about it when the league

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Speaker 1: started that year. He was gonna be a Rookie of

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Speaker 1: the Year and he had his own brand and his

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Speaker 1: own shoe, and it was the rage. I didn't I

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Speaker 1: just saw a really good young player. I did not

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Speaker 1: see what was this was going to be, but Larry

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Speaker 1: Bird did the first time they played in the garden,

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Speaker 1: Celtics beat him pretty thoroughly. And after the game, Bird

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Speaker 1: he said to me, he said that guy is gonna

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Speaker 1: be the greatest player ever. I said, come on, and

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Speaker 1: Larry never blew smoke. I didn't think he'd do that falsely,

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Speaker 1: but he said, no, you wait, you watch see what happens.

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Speaker 1: And of course he saw something that I couldn't see. Okay,

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Speaker 1: who's the Who's the When I opened this book, well,

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Speaker 1: what player will supply me the most in terms of

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Speaker 1: you know, um, not necessarily on the fourt but off

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Speaker 1: the floor in the personality and how people gather out

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Speaker 1: with an angel like who was the off the court leader?

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Speaker 1: If you will, well, I mean I'm about leader. But

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Speaker 1: Cedric Maxwell come off the off the page for you

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Speaker 1: in a good way because he's such a good quote

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Speaker 1: and he was fearless and he felt a little bit

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Speaker 1: disrespected because you know, Parish Bird, Michael Hall of famers.

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Speaker 1: But you know, Max was m VP of the Finals.

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Speaker 1: In one in the greatest series ever against the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: Max had his his high game of the season in

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Speaker 1: game seven, he tells him hopping my back boys and

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Speaker 1: in a game that had Worthy magic, Kareem Bird, Michale Parish,

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Speaker 1: Dennis Johnson, seven Hall of Famers. The guy who is

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Speaker 1: the m v P of Game seven is Cedric Maxwell

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Speaker 1: gets twenty four points and just dominates the low post

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Speaker 1: owns James Worthy, who was a much better player than Maxwell,

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Speaker 1: but in the big moments, Max could do it, and

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Speaker 1: he could back it up with his to man, he says,

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Speaker 1: great stuff in this thing, and and very helpful to

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Speaker 1: the voice of the book. This that group, and you

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Speaker 1: and I have discussed this before, but I'm not crazy

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Speaker 1: to think that group is far more beloved than the

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Speaker 1: Garnett Pierce team, not just because they only won one,

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Speaker 1: but because so many they played, you know, so many

428
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,000
Speaker 1: years with the team. Is that? Is that why you

429
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,800
Speaker 1: think there's so much more below? That's totally true what

430
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,480
Speaker 1: you say, And I think that it was just it

431
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,919
Speaker 1: was a it was a more kind of innocent time,

432
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:36,200
Speaker 1: like the way the thing ended with the Garnett Pierce

433
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,920
Speaker 1: Allen thing. You know, they all got mad at Ray

434
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,360
Speaker 1: Allen for going to the Miami Heat the next year

435
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,800
Speaker 1: and they're still not speaking to each other and all

436
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,439
Speaker 1: this petty stuff. And I mean Gardnett, you know, I

437
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,320
Speaker 1: mean he played here I guess five or six years,

438
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,200
Speaker 1: which is nice, but he wasn't never thought of as

439
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,440
Speaker 1: a lifer the way most of these guys were. I mean,

440
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 1: you know, Paris got there a few years later. DJ

441
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: came in a little late, but they were all thought

442
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: of his Celtics forever, and as much his Garnet, you know,

443
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: had the great run there. He was a t wolf

444
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,199
Speaker 1: like twice as long as he was the Celtics. I

445
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 1: just think it it's never gonna take hold. And I

446
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,160
Speaker 1: don't know. The old Garden was a little more charming

447
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: and intimate and kind of nostalgic and historic than than

448
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: today's garden. So something was lost with that, and that

449
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: was a great you know, but they should have won more,

450
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,159
Speaker 1: like you say, I mean, they should have won more

451
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: than one. And uh yeah, these guys remembered much more finely. Okay,

452
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,200
Speaker 1: So give me your best garden story, best garden so well,

453
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: the garden stories were all I mean, you know, everybody

454
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,440
Speaker 1: thought Red was cranking up the heat and turning off

455
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: the hot water in this Lakers locker room and all

456
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,840
Speaker 1: that stuff, right, they didn't really have control over because

457
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,159
Speaker 1: the bruins on the building. And I don't think that

458
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,480
Speaker 1: was all true. And it was a kind of a

459
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 1: ratty dumpy place. And uh, Larry's Larry loved that place

460
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:50,600
Speaker 1: because it just spoke to his work ethic and the

461
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 1: grittiness of it. He had come to the garden at

462
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,439
Speaker 1: four in the afternoon practices shooting, you know, and if

463
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,439
Speaker 1: he missed one, he'd been by himself out there with

464
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,400
Speaker 1: one equipment guy rebounding four. If he missed one, he'd

465
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 1: yell at the bull gang for not putting the bolts

466
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: down correctly, or when they when they took up the ice,

467
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,520
Speaker 1: put down the floor, all that stuff, and and uh,

468
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: he loved his shooting drill in that old garden in

469
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 1: the afternoon. And then he'd run laps in the lower

470
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 1: bowl in the upper tier beyond the court and you'd

471
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 1: see you know. I remember the next coming out with

472
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,680
Speaker 1: Hube Brown and they were like, yeah, where's this bird

473
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 1: guy doing his laps? And Hubie Brown said, there he

474
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,360
Speaker 1: is right there running laps upstairs in the gym. So

475
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 1: I just a lot of fond memories for that place.

476
00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 1: And I mean when you have polls, Doug, your place

477
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,159
Speaker 1: goes vertical and you can hang over the court in

478
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,639
Speaker 1: that place to just like the old Chicago Stadium. Yeah,

479
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: both of those places were. And it's interesting that, you know,

480
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: you have all these new arenas and no one's really

481
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 1: I think Indies probably the they're doing the best they can.

482
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 1: Nobody's able because they want the sideline, because they want

483
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 1: so many seats in the boxes. No one is able

484
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 1: to recreate those old place. Whereas baseball has done a

485
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,679
Speaker 1: great job to recreate a nostalgia with their places, it

486
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: hasn't been done yet really in the NBA, I agree,

487
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: and that's a very good cop. Indiana is the closest

488
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: one to be given that old time he field. They

489
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: tried to capture that I thought did a pretty good job.

490
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,280
Speaker 1: But yeah, these things now that they're just they're all

491
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 1: kind of the same and there's nothing really individual intimate

492
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: about them. Um okay, So you mentioned Corbett, Maxwell, you

493
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: mentioned all these guys. What about Bill Walton. So Bill Walton,

494
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 1: and he's a really interesting one because he was a

495
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 1: one arguably the best college player of all time. He

496
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: was the best player in the league. You know, he's

497
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,440
Speaker 1: the m V p then he went through these injuries.

498
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: What was Walton like on this team in terms of

499
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: his play, but then in terms of his personality because

500
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 1: I just remember, I know Bill a great deal. I

501
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,919
Speaker 1: grew up playing with his son. But but Bill was,

502
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 1: you know, famous for waving the town and having a

503
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:50,719
Speaker 1: big smile on his face. But what was he like

504
00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 1: on the day to day. This was a big gift

505
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 1: to everybody here, including Bill. And he'll still I know

506
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 1: he tells you that. But so you know all the

507
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,639
Speaker 1: injuries in Portland's been in Clipper jail all those years,

508
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 1: and and he basically he was semi healthy in the

509
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 1: eighty five season and saw a chance to get out.

510
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: And he had to give up a lot of money

511
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: for the Clippers to do it. Once they knew he

512
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 1: wanted out, they extorted money from him to give up

513
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 1: some guaranteed deferred moneies and he would do anything to

514
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 1: get his freedom. He got it, and the Lakers had

515
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: no interest. Jerry West has seen the X rays of

516
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: his feet. But Red Aurback said bring him on, because

517
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,639
Speaker 1: Larry Burden said, if you can get him, bring him on,

518
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,439
Speaker 1: will be three times a team. And uh, Larry had

519
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: worshiped him as as a young man, you know, as

520
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: a high school kid, when Bill had it going at

521
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: U c l A like a lot of us did.

522
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: So they were just excited to have him, and then

523
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: found out that Bill was more excited to be there

524
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 1: because he had this secret love for the Celtics and

525
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,159
Speaker 1: the parquet floor and red are back and Bill Russell,

526
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,119
Speaker 1: and he brought that with him to Boston. And I

527
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 1: know he's told you this, He'll say, the Celtics gave

528
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,880
Speaker 1: me my life back. And it was this one magical year.

529
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: It was almost like he made a pack with the

530
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,399
Speaker 1: devil and got one last year out of those feet

531
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,880
Speaker 1: and got eighty games in where he was six Man

532
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,639
Speaker 1: of the Year. He would come in and block like

533
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 1: seven shots in thirteen minutes against the Lakers, banking shots

534
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 1: from the from the right corner. It was just amazing

535
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 1: what he was able to do on that body one

536
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: last time. So and then in practice, you know, he

537
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 1: was playing against Robert Parrish and he had the Green

538
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: team with with Jerry c Sting and Scott Wedman and

539
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: Rick Carlisle, and they took great pride and the practices

540
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 1: were great. He'd stay after practice and work out with

541
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,160
Speaker 1: McHale and Bird. He just he gave me the best

542
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: quotes for this book about He named it wish It

543
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: last Forever. That's Bill Walton talking about eight six season,

544
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 1: I mean and and he had this like watch the

545
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 1: beauty of the giving goes the passing he would do

546
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 1: with Bird, I mean, Danny Age would beg Casey Jones

547
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: to put him in the game and Garbage Science would

548
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,360
Speaker 1: get out there with Walden catch some more of those

549
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:48,919
Speaker 1: great passes and would build through him to these guys.

550
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: He knew they were going to catch him. He loved

551
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,640
Speaker 1: Birds so much. When they were playing the Pacers in Indianapolis,

552
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: he asked coach Casey Jones for a hall pass that

553
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 1: they could go down to French Lique for the day,

554
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: and Jase he gave him the let him go and

555
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,199
Speaker 1: they drove over nighton State cop and Quinn Bucker and

556
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 1: Bill Walton and Larry Bird. They got to French Lick.

557
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: They camped over in Larry's new house down there, and

558
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: the next day they went to Georgia Bird's house where

559
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: Larry grew up, and Bill asked Georgia for a canning

560
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: jar went out to the driveway and scooped up some

561
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: sacred dirt from where Larry Bird grew up shooting baskets,

562
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,920
Speaker 1: and then he would spread that dirt on his body

563
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 1: for inspiration during the course of the year. And then

564
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 1: at the end of the year it goes back to Lemsa,

565
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,239
Speaker 1: goes to Lemza, to the driveway where he grew up,

566
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: spread the dirt there and as Bill will tell you,

567
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 1: it's now sacred ground. That's how much you love Larry Bird. Um,

568
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,160
Speaker 1: here's what I remember about the final, right, I remember

569
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: uh ceasing getting in a fight with Ralph Sampson and

570
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: they and they both got going out of the game,

571
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 1: and then uh Ralph Sampson as t D called it bullshit,

572
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: But I just I remember, like that's when I figured

573
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: out Jerry, who was a great player Ford Well, um,

574
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 1: that that backup point guard role was to just be

575
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 1: the toughest sucker on earth, and he fit that role.

576
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: What else about the Finals? Because what's interesting is here's

577
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: arguably the greatest Celtics team of all time, one of

578
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: the great teams of all time, and I think the

579
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 1: only playoff game that ever gets mentioned in Jordan's What

580
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 1: else about those finals? It was not a remarkable playoff front.

581
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 1: They were almost too good for everybody, and of course

582
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: they all wanted the Lakers didn't happen. Ralph made that

583
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: goofy shot, uh, and they beat the Lakers, which was disappointing,

584
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 1: and some people liked it because it was an easier path,

585
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: but we all wanted to see Ali Frasier again. It

586
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 1: was just it was it was what the league was

587
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: was best at it that time. So anyway, a little

588
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 1: disappointed to get them. They managed to win two games,

589
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 1: the second one reference, you know, Game five in Houston,

590
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 1: and that the Celtics were just they were angry about that.

591
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: They came back and they had a practice on Saturday,

592
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:52,920
Speaker 1: and Casey Jones he sent him all home because he

593
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: was afraid somebody was going to get hurt. They were

594
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: so aggressive and feisty. They just wanted to get this

595
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 1: thing over with and they knew the next day it

596
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,439
Speaker 1: was a tour to force by Larry Burn and all

597
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: of them, and just just blew him away on a

598
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,920
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, and that night, you know, everybody went party

599
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,119
Speaker 1: in and Larry had enough and went back to his

600
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: house and shut her down. And Bill Walton's at his

601
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: ringing his doorbell like eleven thirty at midnight, and Larry's

602
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:17,920
Speaker 1: wife gets up and says, you have Bill Walton's here,

603
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: And Larry gets he says, tell him on to sleep,

604
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 1: see you later, and Bill Walton and this they both

605
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 1: verify this. He just he wouldn't take no for an answer,

606
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: so he sat in Larry's kitchen, got out a bottle

607
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,640
Speaker 1: of wild turkey, listened to The Grateful Dead all night

608
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: and just regaled in this championship, this gift that he

609
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: had had. And well, Larry get up in the morning,

610
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 1: Bill Walton was still sitting there in his kitchen, waiting

611
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:45,480
Speaker 1: to relive the moment. That's awesome. That that that amazing,

612
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 1: amazing stuff. Hey, Dan, I can't wait to see some

613
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 1: of these stories. Give me, give me one story. There

614
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 1: we go, one story that people don't know that you're

615
00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: gonna walk away, Like, give me your own expert, Like

616
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,400
Speaker 1: if you could take us worry that you think kind

617
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: of speaks to this group in this book, what would

618
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: it be? Well, you know, Larry took me for a

619
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,960
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty dollars at a free throw contest. But

620
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: everybody knows that now and Larry still remembers the exact

621
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 1: amount if you see him, he'll say, yeah, hunting sixty

622
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 1: dollars in my pocket, thanks very much, Scoop. But when

623
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: he was warming up, when he was warming up in

624
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 1: the garden, those those those late afternoons, if you buy himself,

625
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: the garden be dark except for the little bit of

626
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 1: light where they were shooting, focused on the court, and uh,

627
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: I'd be I'd be there early, setting up my computer

628
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: right next to the bench because we had those seats

629
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 1: they now sell with thousands of dollars. We used to

630
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: be the media sitting right there next to the bench.

631
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:36,959
Speaker 1: And he came over and said, what are you working on, Scoop.

632
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: I said, well, you're getting near Calvin Murphy's record for

633
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 1: eighty eight consecutive free throws made, so you're in the sixties.

634
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna write about your free throw streak for

635
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: the early editions of the Boston Globe, which will be

636
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: delivered to Maine and Cape Cod And I said, Joe,

637
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 1: don't make me look bad by missing one, because then

638
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,960
Speaker 1: someone's gonna pick up the paper tomorrow and say, well, Jesus,

639
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: he missed one last night. So in the first half

640
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: of that game he lines up for two, he makes

641
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: the first one, and he turns and winks at me

642
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,800
Speaker 1: before making the second one. That's how it was. That

643
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: was the closest of the proximity that we had, and

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00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: the fact that he could hold these things in his

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00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: head while he was playing NBA basketball made amazing player.

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00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 1: It's an amazing book, an amazing team. Dan, thank you

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00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 1: so much for joining me on the All Ball Podcast.

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Speaker 1: Really enjoyed it, Doug, take care, thank you. Pretty interesting team,

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00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 1: pretty interesting book. The thing about Bird is I do

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00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 1: think his game would transfer marvelously. Now think about it.

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00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: Here's a guy who people said he couldn't defend. Then

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00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: he was always a good defender. He's a great rebounder,

653
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 1: an incredible pastor incredible score. It's like, well, Dirk Navitsky

654
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 1: was one thing. Yeah, he's Dirt Novitski, only a better

655
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 1: rebounder and better passer Outside of that, and Dirk Navitsky

656
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,240
Speaker 1: was the MVP of the league for a year. That's

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00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 1: how good this guy was. He made teammates better. He

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00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: was tough, he could rebound, he could defend. Look is

659
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 1: he guarding? Is he chasing staff around? No, but lots

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00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 1: of guys don't chase stuff around and they're still great players,

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00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: you know, good stuff. Match up with him, No, this

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00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: dude could score everywhere, finish around the basket with either hand,

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00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 1: had had the ability to. I know, if you want

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Speaker 1: to call it the clutch, geene whatever. Remember the Steel

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00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:28,520
Speaker 1: against the Celtics, but Larry Bird was the ship quite

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00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: frankly anyway. The book is called Wish It Lasted Forever.

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00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: Check it out. My thanks to Dan Shawn to see

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00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 1: My thanks to you for listening. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This

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Speaker 1: is all ball