When the Game Was Ours - Larry Bird [153]
Bird didn't care what penalties were levied against the Pistons. His only concern was how he could salvage his team's season.
"I thought Artest deserved at least 30 games," Bird conceded. "I could have even understood the rest of the regular season. But then to hold him out of the playoffs after our guys worked so hard to keep it all together ... I thought that really was unfair.
"Jack's mistake was he should have gone into the stands as a peacemaker and instead he ended up fighting. You can't do that.
"One thing I learned throughout my career in the NBA was players cannot go in the stands for any reason."
Even though Bird was aware that he and Walsh needed to make some major changes, it wasn't without regret. He had grown to appreciate his Pacers players, warts and all. He had seen a side of Jackson and Artest he knew the public would never see. "There is a lot of good in those guys," Bird said.
Bird's private stance on Artest was at odds with the public stance he felt obligated to take. Bird was genuinely fond of Artest and identified with his uncommon intensity, but by stubbornly standing by him, he knew his own legacy would lose some of its luster.
"I knew all along it was a major gamble," Bird said. "But I felt sorry for the guy. Some days he'd come in, and he just wasn't prepared to practice. It was so sad, because he just didn't know how to help himself.
"I knew I was going to take some major hits, but I felt it was my responsibility to stand up for him and all the other guys involved. I did it because I cared about them, even when they messed up. When you spend as much time as we did, day in and day out with these guys, you feel a connection with them. I'm not excusing what they did. But I couldn't see turning my back on them either."
In the fall of 2005, after Artest had served his full suspension, public relations director David Benner came to Bird and told him Sports Illustrated wanted Artest and Bird to pose together on the cover.
"I don't think so," Bird said. "Hey, I love Ronny, but that is not a good idea."
"Larry," Benner persisted, "think of the organization. We're hurting. We need some positive publicity. You are one of the only guys that can give us that kind of credibility."
"I knew my reputation was on the line," Bird said. "In my heart I knew, if Ronny had another incident, what it would mean for me, but I did what I had to do."
Larry knew Benner was receiving pressure from above to make the photograph happen, so he relented. The October 24, 2005, issue of Sports Illustrated featured a seated Artest on the cover with Bird standing behind him, his arms folded. The headline, "The Odd Couple," was accompanied by a caption that read, "You may not love Ron Artest but Larry Bird does."
In the accompanying article, Bird claimed Artest's work ethic made him a guy he would "pay money to watch." Artest professed his love for Indianapolis, the Pacers, and Bird and asked for a Polaroid copy of his cover shoot with his Hall of Fame boss.
Yet, when asked by Sports Illustrated reporter L. Jon Wertheim what he learned from the brawl, Artest answered, "People want to be like, Ron Artest is changed. He's a new man. Wait. I never said I changed. I'm pretty much the same guy. I got a better understanding of things, but it wasn't like I was provoking all that stuff that happened. So what's to learn? Nothing. Only thing to learn is that David Stern was trying to kick me out of the league."
Magic winced when he saw the "Odd Couple" cover. He wondered why Bird would align himself with Artest, and he became even more perplexed when he read the player's comments.
"What's Larry doing with that knucklehead?" Magic said to his brother. "Probably trying to save the franchise. Only Larry Bird could put a positive spin on this. He's taking one for