On this day in history, the best steal on an inbounds pass ever was born. Larry Bird ripped the hearts from Detroit just one last time. Game five of the 1987 NBA Playoffs between the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons basically decided the East representative in the Finals. Detroit won Game six and Boston won Game 7. However, the Bird inbounds play is what won the series in that heroic Game five effort.
We forget how quick this all happened. Back then there weren’t these long insane TV timeouts where the last two minutes of the game takes a half hour. Back then it was get the ball in and go play (I wasn’t alive in 1987 but I do remember the NBA getting progressively worse with end of game time stuff). I’m not sure we will ever get another moment like this just based on the fact that there absolutely would have been a TV timeout there with five seconds to go.
There were a lot of iconic Larry Bird moments during his illustrious career. The 1987 inbounds steal didn’t result in a title but that play epitomized everything Bird was. He may look like 10% more athletic than Napoleon Dynamite but that dude can HOOP! Would have made it in any era. The jumper was wet and the IQ was off the charts. You had to know where Bird was on every play.
Detroit did win two titles but that steal really may have prevented what could have been a dynasty. The Pistons could have beaten the Lakers that year in the Finals or at least could have erased the defeat in 1988 with more Finals experience. Do we look at that Pistons era differently if they three-peat? Of course, it’s all hypothetical but it’s crazy to imagine what that Bird steal did to the Butterfly effect.
