That night, in addition to putting on a fantastic individual effort, Bird guided his team to a victorious championship.
It would be an enormous undertaking for a legendary player like Larry Bird to identify the most important game of his career. Despite having starred in many memorable NBA moments throughout the years, “The Hick from French Lick” was able to choose one particular game that sticks out above the others.
Bird claimed that he finished with an incredible 29 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds in Game 6 of the 1986 NBA Finals, earning him the title of legitimate MVP.
“I’m not sure if it was my finest game, but the 1986 NBA Finals’ Game 6 was the one I liked the most. I was in charge of the game, so I could do whatever I pleased. “It was a significant match,” Bird said to ESPN in 2015.
Larry underwent testing.
If we take a brief trip down memory lane, we can easily understand why Bird found Game 6 of the ’86 Finals to be a genuinely memorable game. In addition to his flawless triple-double effort, Larry Legend led the Boston Celtics to victory over the Houston Rockets 114-97, which resulted in their 16th NBA title. Bird remembered that series as being very draining, but his winning mindset carried through.
“I knew we would win the championship if we prevailed. The series was difficult. During that time, you lose a lot of sleep. You’re worn out. However, in that particular game, the Hall of Famer continued, “I always felt like I played at a high level in a big situation like that.”
A fantastic game need to have everything.
When the Boston Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks at home in 1985, Bird set a career best for points scored in the NBA with 60. Despite his outstanding performance, Bird never considered that game to be among his finest ever. Larry Legend always brings up the game earlier that season, when he came within a hair’s breadth of recording a rare quadruple-double, when someone approaches him about it.
As it happened, Bird would have a great game if he could control the ball both inside and outside of the paint and just score points.
Sixty points is quite a few. Do not misunderstand me. I can’t remember ever making shots against the Hawks until that particular game. It is not a simple task. However, there was a game against the Jazz a bit earlier in the season where I finished with a triple-double and several steals in around thirty minutes. That was complete. That was a fantastic game, in my opinion,” Bird said.
