Not me
Same. It's not even close. The approach to the game is so incredibly different. After watching tonight's game, what astonishes me is how mentally drained he looked, especially when people are comparing him to Larry. Lebrick was never really into it, in game 3 or 4. Where was the intensity, the competitiveness, the leadership? Bird made the finals 4 straight years as well, and yet even in 1987, after coming off back to back grueling 7 game series, he gave everything he had. That team couldn't field 5 healthy players, McHale had the fracture, and they were facing that loaded Lakers squad, but there was no quit in that team, and that's largely, if not solely, due to Bird's leadership. If they didn't get screwed by double free throws and the fact that that ball went off of Thompson and not McHale, that battered team almost tied that series. Even Larry's shot at the buzzer missed by a millimeter. Yeah, he was probably tired, but you know what, he kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting; and yet when I watched Lebron in these past 2 contests, it almost seemed like, as soon as things started to get tough, he and the rest of those clowns wanted no part of it. That's not the mentality of a champion, imho.
On another front, if anyone on this thread hasn't visited one entitled Calling All Music Lovers yet, http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=70754.0, I'd strongly encourage you to do so. Wait until you hear her sing!
You are the only person I ever met-- who agrees with me---that the ball was knocked out of bounds by M.Thompson....Magic would have never made or took that junior sky hook-if they had replay back in 1987...!!! That C's team had ZERO quit in them...they deserved better.
+1 to both you guys.
I was in the overhang in the corner to the right of the Cs bench, Section 77, Row D Seats 1 and 2 (Had season's from 1979 to 1990).
Saw it firsthand the same way. Killed me.....but at least we lost to a Championship team in their prime.
TP's for both of you guys as well. You're so lucky to have been around at that time, and at that game csfansince60s! I am so jealous! I'm in my early 20s, so I wasn't even around, but thanks to Youtube, guys with dvd collections on the web, and Larry Bird and Celtics dvds, I can at least see a bit of #33. I saw the end of game 4 on youtube, and what astonishes me is how obvious it was. You can see Thompson's hand in there to start out with, and if it's just Chief and McHale going for the ball, the angle of their hands indicates, to me at least, that they would have pushed it against each other, so there's no way that that ball should have gone out of bounds. It was probably going to be a brief volley or tap before one of them controlled it, but whatever.
The other thing that stands out to me, in terms of the differences between these guys, is how Lebron, last year, in game 6, repeatedly turned the ball over and didn't even hit the rim on his first attempt on one of his initial 3 point attempts. Just a bit outside. In game 4 in 87, Bird and McHale messed up on a pass off a play for Kevin, which is the first time I've ever seen Larry throw a bad bounce pass, especially at that point in the game, and I think Parish and Bird messed up on when the Chief was going to slip a pick and roll, but you know what, Larry made up for it when it counted the most. How in god's name was Worthy allowed to hold Bird by his jersey? That's a foul. Period; and yet, he breaks away on the rotation and around-the-horn ball movement and swishes a 3 to put Boston up 2. Amazing. How many crap calls did LA get in that game, as always? Byron Scott's layup was blocked clean by Bird, but a foul, Parish got fouled dunking an offensive rebound off of the trap, Magic throwing himself into people, whining, and getting the fouls. What a great actor he was
I believe he taught Pierce how to draw fouls that way (I read it in an article after the 08 finals on espn but couldn't find it again later).
At the same time, let's be realistic - even if they had won game 4, game 5 would have been even tougher. I'm not saying that Boston could have won the series, because winning a game in LA is just against the rules haha, but it sure would have been interesting. If Bias is on that team, we don't have nearly as many injuries, he can guard Worthy, McHale wouldn't have gotten hurt or played as many minutes, and hey, with a few minor moves, they could have beaten that Laker team, with or without home court, but that's just me. What do you guys think?
I can't believe I almost forgot something, but another huge difference is rebounding. Did you guys know that Lebrick has never had a 20 rebound game? Ever. Not one 40-20 game. He has had a few 19 rebound games, but only in must win situations. It's almost as if the guy says, "Don't we have people for this?" He's built like a tank with a jet engine, and yet he doesn't understand positioning or anything rebound-related. In the playoffs, his high, per game, is 9.7, which is very good, but in the regular season, he set a career best last year in rebounds per game with a whopping 8. 8? Seriously? It's pathetic. And now everyone (including me, to an extent) is saying how mentally fatigued he looks, and to that I say, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there - with the world's smallest violin, because this is what I hear when he talks." Sorry. It's just too easy.
Topic: So do people still think Lebron has passed Bird???? (Read 9450 times)