BIRD DROPS 47 SHOOTING LEFT HANDED "I'm saving my right hand for the Lakers"
You're a 2x NBA champion. You're about to win your third straight regular-season MVP award. You've accomplished pretty much everything the NBA world has to offer. So how do you keep things fresh and exciting? If you are Larry Bird, you play a whole game left-handed.
It was Valentine's day of '86, and Bird made sure to shower the Trail Blazers with his love. The Celtics came into Portland winning 14 of their last 15 games, despite McHale being injured for 9 of those games. At this point, no one was challenging the Celtics. They were cruising through the regular season, waiting for the playoffs to start.
Bird being Bird got bored with the team's and his own individual dominance, so he decided to spice things up. In a situation where no one presented a challenge for Larry, he decided to set one of his own.
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At the end of one of the trips, he had accomplished every goal, we hadn't lost a game on the trip, and Larry told all of us players and the media too, we were all standing around waiting to leave, he said, 'Tomorrow night's the last game of the trip, I'm going to play this one left-handed, at least through three quarters.
Bill Walton
And how did he do? Well, Bird dropped 47 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished out 11 assists, while shooting 21-34 from the floor and 3-for-3 from behind the line. In terms of shooting with his left hand, Bird did it. Every shot he took, that wasn't a jump shot, Larry shot left-handed. To make his performance even more impressive, Kodak hit a game-tying shot to send a game into overtime, and than hit a game-winning mid-range jumper to secure Boston's 120-119 win against Portland.
When asked by reporters in the postgame press conference, why he decided to score so much with his left-hand Bird replied, 'I'm saving my right hand for the Lakers.' The Celtics faced the Lakers two days later. Bird put up 22 points, 18 rebounds, and seven assists, as he led the Celtics to 105-99 victory over their rivals.
It made saving his hand worthwhile, and it gave us one of the most incredible stories in NBA history - the ultimate flex by Larry Legend.
