Leave it to Larry Bird to defy something as sacred as the ”Sports Illustrated jinx.”
For years, superstar athletes and championship-caliber teams have shuddered at the thought of gracing the cover of this national publication. Almost without fail, baseball`s best would slump, football`s finest would fumble and basketball`s hottest shooters would freeze up after posing for Sports Illustrated.
Not the cocky, swaggering Bird, whom the Bulls will face Friday night when they confront the Celtics in Boston Garden. Just after appearing on the magazine`s cover and being hailed as the game`s best ever, Bird went on perhaps the best shooting spree of his career.
In a six-game stretch after the ”jinx” should have taken hold, Bird averaged 37 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists while shooting 65 percent from the floor. Even more amazing, he hit 19 of 26 three-point shots–that`s 73 percent from 24 feet out. He had 50 points against Dallas March 10 and 43 against Cleveland last Tuesday, including 34 by halftime.
”Larry Bird is so good that sometimes he seems bored out there,”
teammate Kevin McHale said. ”He`ll be wide open for a shot, but instead he`ll drive the lane, draw three guys on him and see what happens.”
Bird appeared to take that casual approach in the Celtics` easy 122-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night, passing up open shots all night. No one knows for sure, though, because Bird never talks to the media after a home game. But Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan, who has covered the Celtics for 16 years, provides some insight.
”He is so happy to be healthy after what he went through at the beginning of the season,” Ryan said. ”He is re-establishing how good he is. He had back problems so severe that he said in private that training camp was hell. We knew something was wrong when he would drive the baseline and not be able to extend his arm to shoot. But he wouldn`t say a thing.”
That`s the way Bird acted with the elbow and index finger miseries that plagued him throughout last season`s championship finals. Bird`s back problems cleared up about the time of the All-Star Game, after he saw an orthopedic physical therapist.
What makes Bird so rare? How is it that a 6-foot-9-inch forward can win a long-distance shooting contest by burying 11 three-point shots in a row? How can he be among the league leaders in five statistical categories?
There is a fanaticism to his game, a pride that drives him to take 300 practice shots before every contest. There is an indomitable will to dominate, to intimidate every opponent. There is his vision of the game. Bird foresees what others merely see.
”I call Larry `Kodak,` ” Houston coach Bill Fitch said. ”When the ball goes up, I know Larry is already taking a picture of where the other nine guys are.”
”He is 6-9, nasty, with a football-hockey mind set,” Ryan said. ”He`ll rub it in a little bit. Sometimes it even becomes a bit condescending. His refusal to shoot against the Pacers the other night, it was like there wasn`t enough competition.”
”I`m not intimidated by him, but there are guys in the league who are,” Bulls` guard Kyle Macy said. ”He is so good because he worked so hard on all parts of his game. He is a complete player.”
