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View Full Version : Poetry in motion (the best passing you will ever see)



JasonEvans
05-13-2010, 08:57 PM
A 15-minute compilation of Larry Bird's best passes can be found here. (http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2010/05/larry-bird-enjoyed-passing-basketball.html)

Sick and beautiful. He had eyes in the back and on the sides of his head. I think the game also moved at a different speed for him because he saw things while he was falling down that no human should have been able to see.

--Jason "should be required viewing for all your basketball players" Evans

dukeballboy88
05-13-2010, 09:34 PM
thank you for that, i love anytime i get to see bird play. to me he was the greatest player ive ever seen. watch how half of the passes are after he has crashed onto the floor ripping it away from an opponent then flipping it down the court for a lay up. thats what seperated bird from anybody else. alot of people talk about jordan being the great but its a big difference in being a great athlete that is good at basketball and being a great player. dont get me wrong, jordan was great but bird was the best "player" ive ever seen.

ElSid
05-13-2010, 09:49 PM
the legend.

can't believe how much pace he gets on the ball on every pass. his "flick" is like me throwing it as hard as i can. miss seeing that kind of artistry in tonight's ugly one with the celts and cavs.

SupaDave
05-14-2010, 09:19 AM
the legend.

can't believe how much pace he gets on the ball on every pass. his "flick" is like me throwing it as hard as i can. miss seeing that kind of artistry in tonight's ugly one with the celts and cavs.

I was actually noticing the same thing and wondering just how well those behind the head and back passes would work today. He seems to use angles very well (even on the touch passes) which leads me to believe that it wouldn't matter who was on the court when it comes to defending these passes. Oh and you couldn't play the pass against the guy - he'd light you up.

cspan37421
05-14-2010, 04:20 PM
That was the first NBA highlight reel I've seen in a long time that was more exciting than an ordinary college game. We're pretty good at sharing the ball - but how thrilling would it be if we could do it within shouting distance of that level of mastery? Wow.

14duke
05-14-2010, 04:28 PM
Bird and Magic are the two players that actually made every player they played with better. They did it not by drawing the defense to get average players open shots. They knew their teammates strengths and weaknesses, because of this they were able to get the ball to the right player at the right time. Jordan made others better, because the defense was so worried about stopping him that they would let the other Bulls run free. Bird and Magic were worried about the team and Jordan was worried about Jordan.

I wish basketball was still played this way all the time. Unselfish basketball is the most fun to watch. This year's team resembles those teams with their unselfishness. It proved to be the reason they hung # 4.:D:D:D

JasonEvans
05-14-2010, 11:36 PM
Someone should count how many uncontested layups/dunks McHale gets from bird on just those two videos. Kevin was a truly great player, but he must have gotten an extra 4-6 points per game (at least) from Bird's ridiculous ability to make his teammates better.

Bird and Magic were the two best at that -- far better than Michael. They made everyone around them a lot, lot better.

--Jason "DJ and Ainge were decent passers too ;) " Evans

CDu
05-15-2010, 12:48 PM
A 15-minute compilation of Larry Bird's best passes can be found here. (http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2010/05/larry-bird-enjoyed-passing-basketball.html)

Sick and beautiful. He had eyes in the back and on the sides of his head. I think the game also moved at a different speed for him because he saw things while he was falling down that no human should have been able to see.

--Jason "should be required viewing for all your basketball players" Evans

Bird was one of those rare players who did pretty much everything extremely well. He could shoot. He could score off the dribble. He could score from the post. He could rebound. He could handle the ball, he could pass. He could defend. And he had phenomenal court awareness and made great decisions on the floor. He had the skill set of literally EVERY position on the floor, and he was 6'9". The only thing he couldn't do was jump or run really fast. But he was so good at the other aspects of the game that he could dominate in spite of that.

Magic was a little less of a shooter and scorer (though he could score too), but the two were very similar in their size and unbelievable versatility (and skill, obviously). You could have played those guys at any position on the floor, and they'd have been dominant. In fact, Magic illustrated that when he started at center in the playoffs with Abdul-Jabbar injured.

Cockabeau
05-15-2010, 02:00 PM
Wow, I couple of things really stick out for me.
1)I never realized how physical Bird was.
2)Pro basketball in its purest form was beautiful to watch.Right now even in the playoffs,the NBA is unwatchable. the NBA died along time ago, imo.
3)As much as I respect Kyle Singler there are some plays in this video that Kyle quite simply could never do. I am saying this because KS has said publicly that he patterns his game after Bird. In that video, I see unbelievable dexterity and the peripheral vision of a seahorse which allowed him to see the court almost in 3-d.
Sorry Kyle. You are a great person and you are a most beloved/cherished player in our program but you are not Bird(who is?)

ElSid
05-15-2010, 02:19 PM
Wow, I couple of things really stick out for me.
1)I never realized how physical Bird was.
2)Pro basketball in its purest form was beautiful to watch.Right now even in the playoffs,the NBA is unwatchable. the NBA died along time ago, imo.
3)As much as I respect Kyle Singler there are some plays in this video that Kyle quite simply could never do. I am saying this because KS has said publicly that he patterns his game after Bird. In that video, I see unbelievable dexterity and the peripheral vision of a seahorse which allowed him to see the court almost in 3-d.
Sorry Kyle. You are a great person and you are a most beloved/cherished player in our program but you are not Bird(who is?)

saying someone is not like bird is like saying you respect mother theresa's kindness and look up to her, but will never be help out as many people as she did.

bird's a unique force of basketball. i do see similarities, though, specifically in kyle's aggressiveness. diving for loose balls, complete lack of concern for his physical well being. they're similar in size. but bird had handles and passing ability that no one other than magic could meet or exceed in combination. hence the two posts about magic and bird.

LSanders
05-15-2010, 06:57 PM
Thanks very much for this!! (The link is saved ... :) )

Basketball, when played like this, is art. Absolutely amazing. It is sometimes easy to forget what an extraordinary talent the man From French Lick turned out to be.