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NBA: Larry Bird, A Basketball Legend (25th Anniversay Edition)
Review by trebe : nice retrospective, though outdated and with significant omissions . . .

Quiet and unassuming, Larry Bird was not the most physically gifted athlete, but he became an NBA legend through hard work, determination, and playing with intelligence and heart. A fierce competitor with a burning desire to win, Bird strived for excellence in all facets of the game, and was selected three times as the NBA Most Valuable Player. A three time NBA champion, Bird also won an Olympic gold medal as part of the USA's `Dream Team', and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Bird's basketball career is partially reviewed in the hour long documentary Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend. The date of production is not stated in the credits, but it appears that the documentary was produced in 1991. It begins with Bird's formative years growing up in French Lick, Indiana, his college career at Indiana State, and then his NBA career as a member of the Boston Celtics. In 1979, Larry Bird led Indiana State to the NCAA title game against a Magic Johnson led Michigan State team. Johnson's Spartan's claimed the title, but the Bird/Johnson rivalry was just beginning. Bird's Celtics would battle Magic's Lakers for the NBA title three times in the 1980's, with the Lakers claiming victory twice. Bird was Rookie of the Year in 1980, and helped reverse the fortunes of a floundering Celtic franchise, which made the biggest one season improvement in league history, going from 29-53 to 61-29. While a great individual player, Bird made his teammates better with his unselfish play. Winning was most important stat to Bird, who was one of the few superstars capable of taking over a game, or making a last second shot, when it was necessary. Though slowed by age and injury, Bird would continue to give all he had whenever he was on the court.

In addition to game highlights, the documentary has numerous commentaries from coaches, teammates, opponents, sportscasters, and basketball insiders. Reviewing Larry Bird's career is no easy task. The documentary does a good job, but still misses the mark in several areas. The intense Celtic/76er rivalry, which often reached epic proportions in the early 80's, is just briefly touched upon. The rivalry with Dr. J was quite intense. In 1984, in a game where Bird was outscoring Doc 42 to 6, the two superstars got into a scuffle where both were ejected. Yet. there are no interviews with Julius Erving, or anyone from the 76ers. Missing are any contribution from Cedric Maxwell, or Nate Archibald, key members on the Celtics teams of the early 80's. Also missing are comments from any of the other great eastern conference players that regularly faced off against Bird, people like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Thomas, Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Sidney Moncrieff, Bill Laimbeer, and Dominique Wilkins, just to name a few. And that does not even consider players in the western conference. Not mentioned is the lesser remembered, but more heated rivalry with Chuck `The Rifleman' Person of the Indiana Pacers.

Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend, while a good retrospective in 1991, is a bit outdated in 2009. After 1991, Bird was a member of the gold medal winning Olympic `Dream Team' in 1992, and retired from the NBA later that year. He coached the Indiana Pacers from 1997 through 2000, with a record of 147 wins, and 67 losses, and a 68% winning percentage, taking them to the NBA Finals in 2000. Bird was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, and at this time is President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers. Beginning as the fiercest of competitors, Magic and Larry are now close friends, with the deepest of mutual respect. They each credit the other, with helping to make them the best player they could be.

The set consists of two double sided discs. The documentary is on Side A of Disc 1. The rest of the material consists of complete games, in which Bird had note worthy performances. On Side B of Disc 1 is a 1985 Celtic/Hawk contest, played in New Orleans where Bird scored a career high of 60 points. On Side A of Disc 2 is Game Seven of the 1988 playoff series between the Celtics and the Hawks, a see-saw affair played at the Boston Garden, highlighted by a scoring duel between Bird and Dominique Wilkins. On Side B of Disc 2 is an exciting 1992 double overtime thriller between Boston and Portland, where Bird scores a last second three to tie the game at the end of regulation, and then leads the Celtics to victory, finishing with 49 points and a triple double.

Looking at the NBA today, where there seems to be less emphasis on the fundamentals, and where most teams struggle to score a hundred points, it's interesting to see how the game was played in the 80's, when most teams ran and pushed the ball up court. The Celtics were such a great passing team, and it's marvelous to see them in action. While the selected games show Bird scoring a lot of points, aside from the Hawk playoff game, these games don't really have great historical significance. Why not feature one of the memorable Celtics/Lakers contests from the finals, or a Celtics/Sixer classic, or a game from one of the Celtics/Rockets finals? There is room on the discs for some additional games.

Although the feature documentary is outdated, and the selection of games could have been better, the set is a good value based on the amount of content. A superlative player, who usually let his play on the court do the talking, Larry Bird helped make the NBA what it is today.

NBA: Larry Bird, A Basketball Legend (25th Anniversay Edition)
Review by Gary Gardner "Your resident dillettante" : Explores the travails of a true champion

Larry Bird was often questioned as he entered the NBA draft in 1979: Aren't you too slow? Aren't you a little too flat-footed? Aren't you too one-dimensional to play the game at this level? Bird took all the criticism thrown at him, and smashed them all into little bits in front of his naysayers. In fact, the self-described "Hick from French Lick" (IN) would set the standard for professional basketball players everywhere. Besides being a prolific scorer, Larry Legend did all the little things that make one a winner on the court, i.e., going after any loose ball, hitting the boards, and passing the rock like a point guard, rather than the forward he was.

Originally released on tape in 1991, "Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend," celebrates Bird's 25 years in NBA basketball in the capacities of player, coach, and front-office czar. Actor Daniel Stern narrates this excellent overview of Bird's early life in the backwoods of Indiana, where he grew up poor but happy in his life's pursuit, the game of basketball, where it reigns supreme in his home state. Personal tragedies like his father's suicide are mentioned, as well as his attempt to play for large University of Indiana, where Larry was none too comfortable.

Bird settled for attending smaller-campus Indiana State, which was closer to home, and brought his team to the championship final one year against Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Michigan State squad. The rest covers his awesome career with the NBA's Boston Celtics, a team in transition when the Birdman arrived in 1979. The great footage of Bird through those 13 years as a pro in Boston are great reminders for all fans who remembered watching the man play, as well as for youngsters who never got the chance, but appreciate quality basketball skills.

The casual observer will be impressed, too, by Bird's modesty, his workmanship, and dedication to his craft and to winning. When asked by Brent Musburger after beating the rival Los Angeles Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals in a hard-fought seven games whether things were even now between Bird and Magic Johnson since their meeting in the NCAA Finals years ago, Bird replied strenuously, " No, no, we're professionals now." True class! Though not terribly locquacious, Bird was dignified but tough; serious on the court, but displaying a cunning wit off it. And the DVD does a great job of magnifying these aspects, like his incredible court awareness, in interviews with teammates, coaches, and even the late Johnny Most, the Celtics radio voice.

Included in the new package are three of Bird's most memorable (of many) NBA contests: the 1985 regular-season game where Bird torched the Atlanta Hawks for a club-high 60 points in New Orleans, a total still uneclipsed by a Boston Celtic up to this writing; the Bird-Dominique Wilkins shoot-out in the playoffs of 1988; and a double-O.T. twist with Clyde Drexler's Portland Trailblazers, in which the battered, beaten, soon-to-retire Larry dipped into the well for 49 points. These games were truly representative of what Bird did throughout his career, and they are well-chosen. The commentators for the 60-point game were Hawks announcers, though (!) The play-by-play man's "Bullseye!" outbursts were terribly annoying. However, it is a sheer delight to have this game on record; even the Atlanta players end up cheering for Bird as he nails shot after shot from downtown!

The documentary is a sheer pleasure, but will leave the die-hard Celtics fan thirsting for more. But kudos to NBA Entertainment and Warner Bros. for opening up the vaults, allowing us to see in digital format this classic of basketball greatness. You'll want to watch this one many times over.

NBA: Larry Bird, A Basketball Legend (25th Anniversay Edition)
Review by J. M. Jacobs "Just one man's opinion..." : He knew "The Secret" of great basketball

As a lifelong Celtics' fan minted in the early 60's, I unconsciously became schooled in the practice of selfless basketball as a winning formula: do not go for the individual stats, play in a manner that's good for the team, and play in such a fashion that your play makes your teammates better.

This is something that many players never seem to realize.

I just finished reading Bill Simmons "The Book of Basketball" and I envy him the days of his youth where his dad had a season ticket to the Celtics and took his son with him to all the games. At that time, a kid could go down courtside and retrieve basketballs from the missed shots during the shoot-around portion of the team's warm-up drills. Mr. Simmons had that privilege, so he is a pretty fair judge of what makes for a great basketball player and Larry Bird is certainly one of the best ever. Mr. Simmons talks about "The Secret" that great winning players know. It deals with giving up your personal goals to a degree that allows the team goals to take precedence.

This set consists of two double-sided discs. The first side is a stunning documentary of Bird and his career. Watching it made me long for those days when Bird and his Celtics went to war with Magic and his Lakers. Back then, the style of play was more run-and-gun rather than the plodding half-court offenses we have today ad nauseum. Larry Bird at 6'-9" running the Celtics fast break and making an eye-popping pass to hit the open man for a lay-up is as enjoyable a form of watching the game of basketball as exists for someone like me. Bird constantly searched for the easiest most reliable way for his team to score. It didn't have to always be him doing the scoring. He appeared to derive as much joy from a precision pass to set up a teammate for a score as making a shot himself.

However, in crunch time Bird wanted the ball. He embraced the pressure and what it brought out in him as far as his champion's spirit. To borrow a phrase from Tiger Woods, Bird loved to 'step on the neck' of an opponent. In the manner in which he created their defeat, he wanted them to remember it... as possibly think about and fear it happening again. In their next meeting, those nagging little thoughts may give Bird and his fellow Celtics a tiny advantage... and in close games and championship series, that tiny edge can be the deciding factor.

Larry Bird's abilities aside, no one did this 'intimidation' better than Michael Jordan.

Side two of the 1st disc and both sides of the 2nd disc are complete games which really demonstrate just how good Larry Bird really was. He was so good at the shots he practiced hour after hour long before and long after his teammates were around for practice, but to see the shots he created out of what the situation offered is just marvelous. These usually come when the game is on the line and he's being double-teamed by the defense - not so easy to do then.

I would say the Larry Bird defined the term COMPETITOR during his entire playing career. If you want to see what the 'will to win' looks like with a mullet, pick up this 2-disc DVD set. If you love the game of basketball, you'll flat out love this one.