Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics were one of the most successful teams in the 1980s. The legendary franchise secured three titles in five finals appearances. But could Bird and the rest of his gang have done well in today’s pace and space era?
Without batting an eyelash, the basketball legend said they could adapt and thrive, but with one little twist.
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“You’re right about the spacing,” Bird replied when asked if the ’80s Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers would have had a field day with an open floor. “We pounded it inside. If you came down the court and somebody threw the ball to your man and he was at the 3-point line, hell, you backed off two feet. You was worried about the drive. But it would give Kevin (McHale) and Robert (Parish) and Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and all them guys more space down there.
“But,” Larry added, “we probably wouldn’t have played as big, either. We might have gone smaller. You never know.”
Bird’s Celtics were versatile enough
Bird played as a power forward in his early years with the Celtics. The team had Chris Ford and Cedric Maxwell as its starting wings and featured a rookie, Kevin McHale, coming off the bench during its 1981 championship run.
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​That arrangement continued for a couple of years until Maxwell left for the Los Angeles Clippers, at which point McHale was promoted to the starting five.
​That kind of flexibility is exactly why Bird believed his Celtics could have adjusted to today’s game. He, McHale and Robert Parish gave Boston one of the most dominant frontcourts in NBA history, but they weren’t rigid in how they attacked. McHale could face up or post, Parish had a reliable mid-range jumper and Bird himself was already a stretch big before the term even existed.
On top of that, Boston’s guards were more than capable of pushing the pace. Dennis Johnson was a two-way stalwart who could defend multiple positions, while Danny Ainge was a ball-handler who could seamlessly slide into off-ball shooting roles.
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​Even Jerry Sichting, though undersized, gave them another option for running small. Add all that up, and the Celtics had enough interchangeable parts to play either big and physical or small and fast, depending on the matchup.
​But then again, how great a team they could become, regardless of the era, starts and ends with Bird. As one of the best all-around players of all time, he was the ultimate connector. His passing vision, rebounding and shooting would have made him an archetypal modern forward, someone you could run an offense through without sacrificing spacing.
Fan of the modern game
Several of Bird’s peers dismiss the modern NBA, insisting that the product isn’t what it used to be. Bird, though, sees it differently. Given his penchant for living on the perimeter, it was not exactly surprising that he loves the direction in which the game is going, from a fan perspective and personal point of view.
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​”The way the game is changed is, I think, better for the fans,” he said. “I watched Portland play a lot this year, and them two kids (Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum), when they get it going, they’re unbelievable. The court don’t look as small as it used to to me. They’re using the 3-point line so much, it looks like a bigger court.”
​”Remember when they used to talk about widening the lanes? But we didn’t. We brought in guys who could shoot the three-ball. And you don’t hear the talk anymore. But I do, I really like it. I think it’s only going to get better. Look at the last 10 years, and the jump that we’ve made. What’s going to be (in) the next 10 years? I’m a fan of it, yeah,” Bird admitted.
​Bird’s open appreciation for today’s NBA says a lot about his confidence that his Celtics would have fared just fine in it. He knew they had the versatility to go big or small, and the skill sets to stretch the floor long if it came down to it.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.