DJ To Bird Tribute Video

Props to Redsarmy.com for pointing me to the video






bob



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Those passes were unbelievable!

Nothing fancy.  Just fundamental basketball executed to perfection and made beautiful in its simplicity.

What do all coaches tell their players?  On defense always know where your man is and where the ball is.   Bird and DJ perfected the art of exploiting the briefest of lapses from this most basic rule of defense.

If Bird's defender even thought of turning his head to look for the ball, Bird would blast to the basket and DJ would rocket the pass even before Bird began his move.

Those two guys had some kind of telepathy.

It seemed like Bird and DJ pulled off their telepathy two or three times each game.  Four to six points.  How many games are decided by four to six points?

The Celtics of that era specialized in simple plays. I loved Bird passing the ball inbounds from the sidelines. How often did you see him simply throw the ball to McHale in the low post and McHale drop in a jump hook? Bird was the best low post feeder I've ever see. Or, if the defense ganged up on McHale, Bird would just take one step inbounds, get the return pass and drain a three.

Or how many times did you see Parish slip the screen and finish with a dunk?

There was such a beauty in the simplicity of these plays.