When the Game Was Ours - Larry Bird [106]
In the ensuing scrum for the loose ball, possession was awarded to the Pistons. Pistons big man John Salley and Rodman raised their arms aloft in unison. All Detroit had to do was run out the final five seconds of the clock and they would take a 3–2 series lead going back to Detroit. The two young forwards turned to run down the floor, still yipping with delight. Thomas grabbed the ball and hurried to inbound from the sideline near his own basket before the Celtics defense was set. He never saw his coach, Chuck Daly, signaling madly for a time-out, which would have given Detroit the ball at half-court.
Thomas considered throwing it to Rodman at midcourt, but Rodman was a poor free throw shooter and the Celtics would surely try to foul. Isiah had just five seconds to inbound the ball, and already three of them had ticked away.
Thomas settled on floating a pass to Laimbeer, who was waiting along the end line less than ten feet away. By the time Thomas saw Bird bolt from the foul line (where he was guarding Adrian Dantley) down to the basket to intercept the ball, it was too late.
"I had been counting down the seconds in my head," Bird said. "I knew he was running out of time."
For a moment Bird considered shooting the ball, but his momentum was going away from the basket, and it would have been an awkward, off-balance attempt. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of white heading for the hoop. It was Dennis Johnson. Bird relayed the ball, and D.J. knocked in the lay-up, sending the partisan Garden crowd into overdrive. Thomas and Laimbeer stood motionless for a moment, hands on their hips, then walked over to Daly knowing they had just literally thrown away their chance at a trip to the Finals.
Former coach and NBA star Doug Collins, who was broadcasting the game, expressed disbelief at Detroit's blunder. "To not call timeout in that situation is just cardinal sin," Collins told the viewers. "A veteran team should know better."
The Bird steal was the turning point of the series. Although the Pistons recovered to win Game 6 while Parish served the first one game suspension in postseason history for his mugging of Laimbeer, Game 7 was back at the Garden, and Bird wasn't about to let the Bad Boys ruin his date with Magic and the Lakers. The Pistons encountered some colossally bad luck when Vinnie Johnson and Dantley collided and knocked heads, leaving a woozy Microwave unplugged for the rest of the day while Dantley was carted off to Massachusetts General Hospital in an ambulance. Boston finished off Detroit 117–114 in a win that left Bird pumping his fist with excitement.
All of the Lakers gathered at a team brunch to watch Boston eliminate the Pistons. Most of them were rooting for the Celtics, including Magic. And when Bird banked in an improbable lefty 15-foot bank shot, Magic turned to Cooper and said, "Here we go, Coop. We got 'em again."
In the aftermath of Detroit's incredibly crushing series defeat, Rodman spouted off about Bird being overrated. Thomas followed up with his observation that if Bird were black, "he'd be just another good guy." When apprised of Isiah's comments, Bird retorted, "It's a free country. He can say whatever he wants."
Bird maintained that stance throughout the controversy that followed, even as those around him hypothesized that he was deeply offended. When Thomas called to apologize, Bird's only request was that Isiah talk with Georgia Bird, who didn't understand why her favorite player had taken on her son.
"I really didn't care about it," Bird said. "I didn't know Isiah as a person. I liked to compete against him. Truthfully, what he said didn't mean a thing to me. I know what it's like to get beat in a big game. You get pissed off and you say things. No big deal."
Yet the fallout from Thomas's poor judgment was major news. The