coastalmarker99
07-10-2021, 08:54 AM
In Bird's last season in 1991-92, His back limited him to even fewer games - 45 than the year prior and he somehow put up slightly better stats than the season before despite being a year older and his body having that much more mileage on it.
He put up 20.2ppg, 9.6rpg, 6.8apg on 46.6% FG, 40.6% 3P, and 92.6% FT, flirting with another 50/40/90 season. His +1.6% rTS equates to 58.8% today. .
He recorded 24 double-doubles - meaning he had a double-double in over half the games he played. He even recorded one triple-double, putting on a 49 point, 14 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 steals, 1 block performance on 54.3% from the field in 54 minutes in a 4 point double-overtime win against Portland near the end of the season on March 15, 1992, in the absolute twilight of his career.
His 5.5 BPM was the highest on his team(and in the top 2.8% of the league!), and his .159 WS/48 were the second-highest(I've thrown out Kenny Battle's .196 because he only played 46 minutes all season) on the team and in the top 8.3% of the league.
His 26.9% AST% was in the top 11.9% of the league, and the second-highest among SFs after Joao Vianna(who?) who only played 9 minutes that season.
His 14.4% TRB% was in the top 19.9% of the league and was the second-highest among SFs.
In the 45 games he played, the Celtics were 31-14. The margin of victory in those 31 wins was 15ppg. In the 37 games he missed, they were 20-17. The margin of victory in those 20 wins was 9.1ppg. That's a nearly 15% increase in winning percentage - .688 vs .540 - and +5.9ppg in MOV.
What's more, if you include the losses in the MOV calculations, the Celtics' MOV with Bird was +5.822, while without it was +0.946, nearly a 5ppg, and over 600%, difference. The team's SRS for the season was +3.41(8th of 27) as compared to 0.93(13th of 27) the next season after Bird was gone. To the very end, he made his team better.
He put up an all-star statline, made the all-star team for the 12th and final time(though he didn't play), and made his own team substantially better, and he did all of this while in constant pain.
The team doctor, Ed Lacerte, and Bird's physiotherapist, Dan Dyrek had their hands full, and Bird had to undergo much treatment just to be able to play the 45 games he did play. There were reportedly times where Bird was in traction before the games he played in.
When we talk about the most memorable instances of players playing through injury or illness, we're usually talking about single games, like Jordan's flu game, or even parts of games, like Isiah's sprained ankle third quarter, but in terms of season-long instances of perseverance through injury, I'm not sure there's a more impressive story than what Bird did in his last two years and the last one in particular.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to see playoff success. He missed the last two weeks of the RS and the entire first round vs the Pacers with back pain and didn't return until midway through the second round series vs a very good Cavs team featuring Daugherty, Price, Nance, etc.
Bird played as decently as he could through the pain - including a 16 point, 14 assist performance in 37 minutes in Game 6, his last career double-double in his last game at the Boston Garden, to help the Celtics to a 31-point series-tying victory to force a Game 7 in Cleveland - but he couldn't get them into the ECF.
That Celtics team was comprised of a declining McHale and Parish and younger guys like Dee Brown, Kevin Gamble, and rookie Rick Fox; Reggie Lewis was playing like a star, but it was asking too much for Bird to lead this group to a playoff series victory over perhaps the best Cavs team of that era(and they certainly wouldn't have gotten past the 92 Bulls in the ECF if they'd gotten there). The team just didn't have enough.
He put up 20.2ppg, 9.6rpg, 6.8apg on 46.6% FG, 40.6% 3P, and 92.6% FT, flirting with another 50/40/90 season. His +1.6% rTS equates to 58.8% today. .
He recorded 24 double-doubles - meaning he had a double-double in over half the games he played. He even recorded one triple-double, putting on a 49 point, 14 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 steals, 1 block performance on 54.3% from the field in 54 minutes in a 4 point double-overtime win against Portland near the end of the season on March 15, 1992, in the absolute twilight of his career.
His 5.5 BPM was the highest on his team(and in the top 2.8% of the league!), and his .159 WS/48 were the second-highest(I've thrown out Kenny Battle's .196 because he only played 46 minutes all season) on the team and in the top 8.3% of the league.
His 26.9% AST% was in the top 11.9% of the league, and the second-highest among SFs after Joao Vianna(who?) who only played 9 minutes that season.
His 14.4% TRB% was in the top 19.9% of the league and was the second-highest among SFs.
In the 45 games he played, the Celtics were 31-14. The margin of victory in those 31 wins was 15ppg. In the 37 games he missed, they were 20-17. The margin of victory in those 20 wins was 9.1ppg. That's a nearly 15% increase in winning percentage - .688 vs .540 - and +5.9ppg in MOV.
What's more, if you include the losses in the MOV calculations, the Celtics' MOV with Bird was +5.822, while without it was +0.946, nearly a 5ppg, and over 600%, difference. The team's SRS for the season was +3.41(8th of 27) as compared to 0.93(13th of 27) the next season after Bird was gone. To the very end, he made his team better.
He put up an all-star statline, made the all-star team for the 12th and final time(though he didn't play), and made his own team substantially better, and he did all of this while in constant pain.
The team doctor, Ed Lacerte, and Bird's physiotherapist, Dan Dyrek had their hands full, and Bird had to undergo much treatment just to be able to play the 45 games he did play. There were reportedly times where Bird was in traction before the games he played in.
When we talk about the most memorable instances of players playing through injury or illness, we're usually talking about single games, like Jordan's flu game, or even parts of games, like Isiah's sprained ankle third quarter, but in terms of season-long instances of perseverance through injury, I'm not sure there's a more impressive story than what Bird did in his last two years and the last one in particular.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to see playoff success. He missed the last two weeks of the RS and the entire first round vs the Pacers with back pain and didn't return until midway through the second round series vs a very good Cavs team featuring Daugherty, Price, Nance, etc.
Bird played as decently as he could through the pain - including a 16 point, 14 assist performance in 37 minutes in Game 6, his last career double-double in his last game at the Boston Garden, to help the Celtics to a 31-point series-tying victory to force a Game 7 in Cleveland - but he couldn't get them into the ECF.
That Celtics team was comprised of a declining McHale and Parish and younger guys like Dee Brown, Kevin Gamble, and rookie Rick Fox; Reggie Lewis was playing like a star, but it was asking too much for Bird to lead this group to a playoff series victory over perhaps the best Cavs team of that era(and they certainly wouldn't have gotten past the 92 Bulls in the ECF if they'd gotten there). The team just didn't have enough.