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Do you want to play with us, Larry?

2023-04-17T03:25:25.485Z


The autobiographical book of the Boston Celtics legend offers, in addition to anecdotes about the three-pointer, interesting reflections on rivals, stadiums or on the fact of having a statue without having died


Cover of Larry Bird's autobiographical book.

Larry Bird fell in love with basketball the same day he discovered what it was like to be admired.

He happened in Hobart, an Indiana town three hours from his home.

They had gone to visit an aunt of theirs.

She was walking down the street and some kids asked her if she wanted to play basketball with them.

Without a great passion for the sport of the basket - his favorite sport was baseball - he said yes.

The first pitch went in.

The second, too.

"You must be the best player there," they told him at the end.

But he didn't play for any team.

Still.

Two years later, he discovered that what he liked the most was giving assists to his teammates.

After joining the high school team, in his second season he broke an ankle.

He spent his recovery time practicing free kicks on crutches and working on the pass after realizing he could juggle the ball around the cast.

"I realized that the key to everything is in the passes [...] I like to see how a teammate's eyes shine when he goes down to defend after scoring thanks to an assist from me."

Larry Bird: My Life

(geoPlaneta) is the title of the memoirs written in 1989 by four hands by the historic Boston Celtics player and sports journalist Bob Ryan, recently published in Spanish.

A story of peculiar beginnings -with test matches in jeans and tennis shoes, months working in an urban maintenance crew, a wedding, a divorce and the appearance of Dinah, the woman of his life-, which culminated in the

draft

1978: The Celtics took him sixth.

He decided to stay one more year at the university.

Then came his 13 years as a professional defending the green jersey, three NBA titles, three recognitions as the best player of the season and Olympic gold in Barcelona as one of the stars of what is considered the best basketball team in history. .

Bird joined the Celtics without being a fan of the team and without having followed them at any time - "I didn't care in the slightest" - but in that summer before turning professional, he began to read about the history of the city of Boston and the idiosyncrasy of the team.

All of this was internalized as he became a club legend.

The book also offers interesting reflections on rivals, stadiums or some of the great NBA players, triples -they appeared in the competition in their first year-, free throws or the fact of having a statue without having dead.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2023-04-17

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