“Larry Bird Returns to Boston Celtics as Head Coach, Ready to Lead Team to Victory Once Again”
While former NBA players who are older and retired frequently criticize the modern game, C’s Hall of Famer Larry Bird is not one of them. Over the weekend in Indianapolis for the NBA’s All-Star weekend, the C’s legend made a few uncommon public appearances, which is how guys like Jayson Tatum got to meet him for the first time.
The National Basketball Retired Players Association also awarded Bird “Legend of the Year.” In his acceptance speech, Bird gave credit to the contemporary NBA.
With the current offensive explosion—where 3-pointers go up every night and points are scored in large quantities—the NBA receives a lot of flak. With 211 points in their victory over the West, the East set a new record for the All-Star game. In real life, there are situations where it makes financial sense to shoot a lot of 3-pointers.
Changes in regulations throughout the years, such as the elimination of hand-checking and other things, have contributed to that in part. The game was utterly transformed into what it is today by the 3-point revolution of the previous ten years, spearheaded by Stephen Curry.
Bird is not one of the former players who have critiqued that style of basketball, though.
He made the point that there have been instances in the past when games between teams like the Pistons, Knicks, and Celtics have been extremely rough. But in contrast to previous years, there is more movement now, and the NBA’s skill level is rising as even role players are incredibly talented.
