Bird casually revealed why Dennis Johnson had a stronger postseason performance.
The Boston Celtics gained a major scoring boost during the playoffs in addition to addressing their need for perimeter defense with the signing of Dennis Johnson. In light of his apparent increase in shooting efficiency and rate during the postseason, Larry Bird thought the five-time All-Star used a special tactic to deflect all focus from him during the regular season, leading opponents to believe he posed no danger to score.
Bird’s hypothesis that DJ would turn everyone’s focus away from him
Johnson’s ability to score points has significantly increased during postseason action since he joined the Celtics in the 1983–84 season. He averaged 13.2 points per game during the regular season and 16.6 points per game during the postseason. In the same way, he increased his point total from 15.7 per game during the regular season in 1984–85 to 17.3 points per game during the postseason
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He averaged 13.4 points per game even in the 1986–87 campaign, and he scored 18.9 points per game in the postseason. Last but not least, DJ scored 12.6 points per game on average during the 1987–88 regular season and only increased his output to 15.9 points per game during the postseason.
Bird was certain that this pattern was not a coincidence after noticing it. Rather, the native of Indiana thought that Johnson purposefully played down his ability to score in order to trick rival teams into thinking less of him throughout the regular season.
