When the Game Was Ours - Larry Bird [137]
"So this is it for you?" Magic asked his friend.
"Yeah, it probably is," Bird answered.
The two superstars, who spent their entire careers affixing their signatures to pictures, posters, papers, and sneakers for complete strangers, each pulled a ball from their gym bag and signed it for the other. Then they turned and walked away, leaving the game just as they had come to it—together.
11. AUGUST 18, 1992
Boston, Massachusetts
LARRY BIRD STRODE into Dave Gavitt's office on a humid August morning. He had been home from Barcelona only nine days, and there was one unfinished piece of business that had been nagging him.
"Dave," Bird said, "I'm done. I'm retiring."
"Larry, are you sure?" Gavitt said. "I think you should take a few weeks to think it over a little longer."
Gavitt, who had watched Bird suffer in Barcelona, knew better than anyone that his star couldn't physically play anymore. Yet there was a reason why he wanted to put off Bird's announcement. If the franchise forward waited two more weeks, his contract for the following two seasons at $5 million each would kick in, and the Celtics would be obligated to pay him, even if he did retire. After everything number 33 had done for the Boston Celtics, Gavitt felt he deserved the money.
"I know what you are doing," Bird said. "I don't want the money. I didn't earn it, and I won't take it. Let's just get this over with."
Although there had been rumors of Bird's retirement for months, no one save Dinah and a few select Dream Team teammates could say for sure whether Bird was really done.
His final game at Boston Garden was on May 15, 1992, against the Cleveland Cavaliers. At the time, the Celtics were down 3–2 in the second round of the playoffs, and Bird steeled himself to face the fact that any game from that point on could be his last. His friend Reggie Lewis was turning into a star before his eyes, and it was Lewis's young legs (not to mention some critical free throws) that extended Bird's career. Lewis dropped 28 on the Cavs, while Bird had 16 points and 14 assists in his final game on his beloved home court.
He went to Cleveland firmly believing Boston could win Game 7, but as the Cavaliers put the finishing touches on their 122–104 victory, Bird glanced around the Richfield Coliseum and said to himself, "Well, I guess this is it."
It was a markedly subdued ending to a superlative career. Coach Chris Ford, aware that Larry was in constant pain, played his forward 33 minutes. Bird submitted 12 points (on 6-of-9 shooting) with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, but the box score was reflective of his lack of mobility. Larry didn't attempt a single free throw or three-point shot.
"I wasn't myself," Bird admitted. "If I was, maybe I would have felt worse about stopping. But I knew it was time. Hell, I should have retired after the first back surgery."
There were no grand pronouncements when the game ended. Although speculation swirled that Bird was considering retirement, no one in the locker room mentioned it—least of all Bird himself. He just quietly slipped the game ball into his gym bag and went home.
Larry would have preferred an equally low-key retirement celebration, but Gavitt had already hatched an idea to hold a tribute celebration at Boston Garden in Bird's honor and donate the proceeds to local charities.
"Let me do this for you," said Gavitt. "Let me do it for your fans. You deserve a proper sendoff."
"I don't know," Bird said. "Why would anyone want to come see me if I'm not playing ball?"
"You still don't get it, Birdie," Gavitt laughed. "You have no idea what you mean to these people."
Bird finally agreed to holding a Larry Bird Night, and the tickets sold out within an hour.
But first Bird had to make his retirement official. After he met with Gavitt, he called his attorney, Bob Woolf, who tried in vain to talk his client out of the hasty press conference.
"Larry, let's do this right," Woolf said. "Give me some time. You want this announcement to get the proper attention it deserves.
"Nope, Bob," Bird said. "I'm done now. Today.