From the day he stepped onto their parquet floor nine years ago, the
Boston Celtics knew there'd come a time when they would have to do
without Larry Bird. That day has come sooner than they expected.
Bird, who has not missed more than eight games in any NBA season,
will have bone spurs removed from both heels immediately and will be
sidelined a minimum of three months.
The bone spurs created severe pain in both Achilles' tendons, and
after trying to play with the injury since the start of training camp,
Bird yesterday sought one additional medical opinion before approving
the surgery.
The Celtics said the operations would be performed as soon as
possible at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, by Dr. Roger Mann
and team physician Dr. Arnold Scheller.
Bird didn't play in a Boston victory over the Golden State Warriors
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Wednesday night and he probably will be in the recovery room by the time
his teammates play the Washington Bullets tonight at Boston Garden.
"I would say three months is the minimal time we could expect" Bird
to miss, Celtics General Manager Jan Volk said.
Bird, who will turn 32 on Dec. 7, was first bothered by the bone
spurs last season, but played despite the pain and hoped a summer of
rest would return him to normal.
It did not.
Although he missed only one game, he has barely resembled the player
who set a standard for excellence in his first nine seasons. This fall,
he had only one offensive rebound in 189 minutes and didn't try a
three-point shot in any of his six games. And offensive rebounding and
long-range shooting ordinarily are two of his fortes.
"I don't like to blame my play on my injury, but I don't want to play
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like I played tonight," Bird said after a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks
last week.
The loss of Bird is the latest blow to a team that lost four of its
first five games before beating expansion Miami and then nipping Golden
State on the final shot of the game. It was only six months ago that the
Detroit Pistons eliminated the Celtics from the playoffs, the first time
in five years they hadn't made the NBA finals.
"In the long run, it's going to be much better for us because I don't
think the chances of Larry being healthy down the stretch and continuing
to play seemed too good," Celtics guard Danny Ainge said. "The
possibility of surgery and of getting Larry back toward the end of the
season will be beneficial to everybody."
Getting Bird back at full speed for the playoffs appeared to be what
concerned several Celtics because, as Ainge said, "We're good enough to
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make the playoffs" without him.
Celtics Coach Jimmy Rodgers used 6-foot-6 guard Jim Paxson at Bird's
forward spot against Golden State, and he responded with 20 points.
Rodgers could use a third guard in the starting five because Paxson was
matched against 6-7 Chris Mullin.
However, Rodgers said 7-0 Brad Lohaus and 6-7 Reggie Lewis could also
start some games depending on how the Celtics match up with the
opposition.
"Each team that we play has different strengths up front and
weaknesses up front," said Rodgers, who is in his first season as K.C.
Jones' successor. "We just move along and hold practice and set a game
plan. If Larry's not going to be with us for a while, I don't think you
can dwell on it."
Lewis, a former Baltimore Dunbar High star, came off the bench to
score 10 points in 25 minutes against the Warriors, and said he tried to
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be unaffected by taking the place of a three-time NBA most valuable
"It's a good chance for me," Lewis said. "I just have to make the
best of it, go out there, don't force anything and play some good solid
Meanwhile, Bullets Coach Wes Unseld used several different
combinations in four practices this week, but announced no changes in
his starting lineup.
"As of now, there aren't any," Unseld said. "But I still haven't made
up my mind. We'll see."
Although he could change some faces, Unseld probably couldn't change
the bottom line -- that the Bullets are too small and too young to be
competitive with many other NBA teams. Unseld reminded his team of the
importance of not giving up easy layups and of rebounding.
However, theories won't overcome the fact that the Bullets are a team
of small forwards and have no solid shot-blocker or rebounder. His hope
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has been for a high-speed offense that would get the ball up the floor
before opposing defenses (especially centers) could set up.
Part of that has worked, but the Bullets are shooting only 45 percent
from the floor.
"We're getting the shots we want," Unseld said. "That's not the
problem. The problem is we're not making them."
Of the rebounding problems, Unseld said, "That's a fact of life. Can
I produce a rebounding mentality in a player? No. You try to emphasize
it, but it's something a guy has to do on his own. If you have to think
about what you're going to do, you're going to be a step behind. It's
got to come naturally. You can work on getting better position and
working harder at it, but that's about it."
Did it help?
"We'll find out," forward John Williams said. "We worked on
everything, and we worked hard. It was just like training camp all over
again. Personally, I would rather have kept playing games, but I don't
write the schedule."
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