Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend, 25th Anniversary Edition [DVD]

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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.

Larry Bird was the greatest forward ever to play the game of basketball. His shooting, passing, and court savvy thrilled both basketball purists and the casual NBA fan. His 13-year pro career was storied, with three world titles and three league MVP awards. I was very glad to see the retrospective on his career, "A Basketball Legend," released on DVD--both to see it again and to replace the VHS copy I got for Christmas in 1991.This program traces Bird's career from high school in French Lick, Indiana, where he had some tough times growing up, to Indiana State University and his team's appearance in the 1979 NCAA title game. There is extensive footage of great shots, moves, and passes by Bird in his pro career with the Boston Celtics, with comments by Red Auerbach, other Celtics legends, teammates, coaches, and rivals. The Celtics had plenty of playoff success during the 1980s, and key playoff series against the 76ers, Lakers, Pistons, and Hawks are recalled.The 1984 season was the highlight of Bird's career, with Bird winning his first NBA MVP award and then facing Magic Johnson and the Lakers in the NBA Finals--the Celtics came back from the near-dead during the series to pull out the franchise's fifteenth championship. The portion of the program that covers that season is simply exquisitely done--footage, background music, suspense, drama, triumph, everything. I can remember watching that ten minutes or so a few times a week for the first several months I had it on VHS back when the earth cooled--it's. simply. that. good.The set also contains three games from Bird's career. The first is the March 1985 game against the Atlanta Hawks in New Orleans when Bird scored a career-high 60 points--it was a highly entertaining, up-tempo game, with both teams running and taking a lot of quick shots. The Celtics' ball movement was awesome in the game.The second game featured is the famous May 1988 shootout between Bird and Dominique Wilkins in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Wilkins and Bird both hit incredibly tough shots, and Wilkins scored 47 as the Hawks played the host Celtics close the whole way that afternoon. Bird tallied 34, though, including 20 in the unforgettable fourth quarter as the Celtics escaped with a 118-116 win and headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the last time in the Bird Era.The last game on the DVD set is one of Bird's post-heel surgery games, but not the one you might think. Game Five against the Pacers in the first round in 1991 was not selected, but what was included instead is a thoroughly defensible choice--the memorable NBC-on-Sunday afternoon game in March 1992 in which Bird scored 49 to lead the Celtics to a wild 152-148 double overtime win against Finals-bound Portland. Both the Celtics and Trail Blazers took--and hit--great shots in this contest that serves as a great example of what a joy it was to watch the NBA in the Eighties and early Nineties."A Basketball Legend" and the three included games would be greatly enjoyed by fans of Larry Bird, the Boston Celtics, or the old NBA.

Bought this to replace my DVD. It's an excellent review of Bird and his career.The DVD is limited in picture quality at times but this is because original archive footage was not always the best.

Got this in tape years ago to show my brother that Bird was better than Jordan in his generation. Was not dissatisfied good in dvd form a true hard working normal man and legendary Larry Bird.

A+

日本国内のＤＶＤプレーヤーとアメリカのそれとは仕様が異なるのでしょうか？様々なプレーヤーを試みましたが全く開けませんので返品いたしました。但し、返品処理はスムーズに行われました。