During his third and final year as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Larry Bird had his squad struggling to win games in the initial months of the season. This prompted Bird to threaten Reggie Miller and the entire team that if things did not turn around soon, he would trade the entire team and start the rebuilding process.
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The Indiana Pacers were just handed an embarrassing loss by the Seattle Supersonics at home. Their record stood at 7-7 for the season as the team was preparing to host the Portland Trail Blazers next.
Though Bird had not forgotten the humiliating loss to the Sonics, he gathered the team minutes before tip-off with the Blazers. As the team came into the huddle, Bird’s threat ended up working as a boost the team so desperately needed. The following excerpt from the book, When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson explains how it happened.
In November 1999, in Bird’s third (and final) season as head coach, the team stood at 7–7 and had just been thrashed by Seattle on the road. With Portland up next, Indiana was looking at the prospect of its first losing month since Bird arrived. Bird had said little about the poor showing against the Sonics the night before. But when he gathered his team together minutes before tip-off against the Blazers, he let them know he hadn’t forgotten.
As per the Book, Bird then went on to put the fear of god in his players by letting them know that they weren’t irreplaceable, something that worked wonders for the team.
“Listen,” Bird said, “I’m going to give you guys one more chance tonight because what happened in Seattle was an embarrassment to the game of basketball. If you guys don’t play, don’t worry. I’ll find someone who will.” Indiana went on to beat Portland and won 15 of its next 17 games. It was the springboard to a 56-win season, a 25-game winning streak at home, and the elusive trip to the Finals against league MVP Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and the Los Angeles Lakers.”
After Larry Bird’s threatening speech, the Indiana Pacers went on to win 15 out of their next 27 games in the season. By the end of the year, the Pacers had won 56 games which also included a 25-game winning streak.
That was the same year that the Pacers made it to the NBA Finals under the reign of Larry Bird, led by Reggie Miller. However, the star tandem of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant took the series to win the NBA championship for the Los Angeles Lakers in the end.
Many remember Larry Bird to have been one of the greatest players to have ever laced up. However, in the process, fans can often forget that he was tremendous as a head coach too, as he impressively made the Conference Finals in all the three years that he was a coach, while also making the NBA Finals in 2000. However, the Celtics legend just never stuck to it long enough for fans to remember his brilliance, something that did not end with just playoff success.
Larry Bird’s bulletproof resume with the Pacers
Larry Bird took the head coaching position for the Indiana Pacers only under the condition that he would coach the team for no more than three years. But in those three years, Bird did an exceptional job with the team.
Having no prior experience in coaching, Larry Bird led the Pacers to the best franchise record in his first year as head coach. He even led the Pacers to two consecutive Central Division Titles and the franchise’s only NBA Finals appearance.
By the end of his three-year-long coaching tenure, Bird also managed to maintain a 61.5% winning percentage as the coach with the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. But Bird’s accomplishments did not stop there.
He went on to win the Coach of the Year award and was also awarded the Executive of the Year(2012) a couple of years later. Bird became the only player in NBA history to win an MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year award.
Clearly, Larry Legend did wonders for the team.
