{"id":602599,"date":"2026-02-14T11:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602599\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:07:15","slug":"larry-birds-left-handed-game-edney-babb-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602599\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird&#8217;s left-handed game; Edney, Babb born"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 14, 2026, 5:01 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Today in Boston Celtics history, Larry Bird played one of his most historic tilts, the iconic left-handed game vs. the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/portland-trail-blazers\/22\/\" data-autotag=\"ebbd75c8-2661-4cdf-9293-f30f46f12e95\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Portland Trail Blazers<\/a>. The game was a 120-119 win in overtime on the road at Moda Center in Portland, and on a spur-of-the-moment decision, the Celtic Hall of Famer decided to shoot heavily with his off-hand, (for those of us who do not know, his left). The Hick From French Lick (as Bird is sometimes affectionately called for a nickname) put up a ridiculous stat line of 47 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks in 49 minutes of floor time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Larry Legend hit 21 of his 34 field goal attempts, 10 of which he shot left-handed, and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. After the game, the media asked Bird why he shot so much with his off-hand, to which he replied, &#8220;I\u2019m saving my right hand for the Lakers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Sure enough, when Boston played Los Angeles two days later, they won again, 105-99, with Bird scoring 22 points, 18 rebounds, and 7 assists.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:338px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/74495383007-USATSI_5329996-e1630675501362_1.jpeg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mar 10, 1991; Portland, OR, USA: FILE PHOTO; Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird (33) is defended by Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerome Kersey (25) at Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports\"\/>Birthdays<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Former Celtic shooting guard Chris Babb was also born on this date in 1990 in Arlington, Texas. Babb went undrafted out of Iowa State and was picked up by Boston on a 10-day contract after time playing with their G League developmental affiliate, the Maine Red Claws (now, Maine Celtics).<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">He parlayed that into a multiyear deal before being dealt to the Golden State Warriors along with Gerald Wallace for David Lee and averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 boards per game in the 14 games he played for the team.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:441px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/77136566007-39-57627.jpeg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Oct 11, 2013; Newark, DE, USA; Boston Celtics guard Chris Babb (52) is defended by Philadelphia 76ers guard James Anderson (9) during the fourth quarter at Bob Carpenter Sports Convocation Center. The Sixers defeated the Celtics 97-85. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It is also the birthday of former Boston point guard Tyus Edney, born this day in 1973 in Gardena, California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Edney signed with the Celtics in the summer of 1997, and played in 52 games for Boston, averaging 5.3 points and 2.7 assists per game before leaving in free agency to join the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/indiana-pacers\/11\/\" data-autotag=\"9c580fdc-190c-4799-8818-97e0f670368a\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Indiana Pacers<\/a> the following season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 14, 2026, 5:01 a.m. ET Today in Boston Celtics history, Larry Bird played one of his most&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[72400,7,45,75,3798,46,6,58,72493,72494,72404,72929,73607,72467,72689,72445,72405,73091,72797,72406,72403],"class_list":{"0":"post-602599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-boston-celtics","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-or","16":"tag-sstssportsnbaceltics","17":"tag-sstsnceltics","18":"tag-tagbasketball","19":"tag-tagevergreen-content","20":"tag-taghistory","21":"tag-tagindiana-pacers","22":"tag-taglos-angeles-lakers","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagoverall-positive","25":"tag-tagportland","26":"tag-tagportland-trail-blazers","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116068669575364939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}