The 1985-86 Boston Celtics fielded one of the best teams in NBA history. That year the Celtics won 67 games, going 40–1 at home. Larry Bird won his third consecutive MVP award after having arguably his finest season, and Bill Walton won the Sixth Man of the Year Award. They would win their 16th championship and last for 22 years, defeating the Houston Rockets in 6 games in the NBA Finals.

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Mar. 24, 1979 - Larry Bird scored 35 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 assists as Indiana State advances to the NCAA finals. Magic Johnson of Michigan State recorded a triple double 29 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists as they advance to NCAA finals.

NCAA finals:
To this day, the 1979 NCAA finals remains the highest-rated game in the history of televised college basketball. Michigan State, coached by Jud Heathcote, defeated Indiana State coached by Bill Hodges, 75–64.

The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers Johnson and Larry Bird. Both Magic and Bird would enter the NBA in the fall of 1979, and the rivalry between them and their teams (respectively, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics) was a major factor in the league’s renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. The game also led to the “modern era” of college basketball, as it introduced a nationwide audience to a sport that was once relegated to second-class status in the sports world.

This was the first tournament in which all teams were seeded by the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. The top six seeds in each regional received byes to the second round, while seeds 7-10 played in the first round.

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This came 9 days after Kevin McHale scored 56 points to set a new Celtics scoring record. When McHale came out of that game, Bird told him he should go for 60 and then 9 days later, Bird proved that he should have.

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The NBA introduced the Three-Point Shootout competition during the 1986 All-Star Weekend and for the first two years of the competition, Bird was dominant.

Bird won the first three three-point shootouts ever, and even would walk into the locker room before the contests and ask the other contestants who was going to finish second.

Dale Ellis had one of the sweetest shots the league has ever seen, and he was poised to give Bird almost all he could handle. Ellis smoothly knocked down shot after shot in the final round, leaving a score of 15. After tying Ellis with 15 points and with the last ball, the money ball, in his hands Larry ‘Legend’ Bird fired and a second later with the ball barely off his fingers, turned and walked away with his index finger in the air.

Scores from the 1988 Three-Point Shootout:

FIRST Round:
Larry Bird: 17
Dale Ellis: 16
Byron Scott: 19
Detlef Schrempf: 15
Danny Ainge: 14 
Mark Price: 14 
Trent Tucker: 11 
Craig Hodges: 10

SEMIFINALS:
Larry Bird: 23
Dale Ellis: 12
Byron Scott: 11
Detlef Schrempf: 5

FINALS:
Larry Bird: 17
Dale Ellis: 15

Highlights from Larry Bird vs Dale Ellis 1988 Finals:

Bird finished his career with averages of more than 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists per game, while shooting 49.6% from the field, 88.6% from the free throw line and 37.6% from three-point range.

Larry Bird - #33 - Boston Celtics
Drafted sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1978 NBA Draft.
Small Forward | 6’9” | 220 lbs. | Born: December 7, 1956

* Played all 13 seasons with Celtics
* Three-time NBA champion
* Three-time NBA MVP
* No. 33 retired by Celtics
* Named to NBA’s 50th anniversary team
* Twelve-time NBA All-Star
* Two-time NBA Finals MVP
* Three-time Three-point Shootout champion
* Member of the 1992 Dream Team
* Nine-time All-NBA First Team

The contract made him the highest paid Celtic in history.

In 1983-84 the Celtics would go 62-20 and finally get back to the NBA Finals after a three year hiatus. In the final, the Celtics came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, winning their 15th championship. Bird renewed his college rivalry with Lakers star Magic Johnson during this series. After the series the Celtics traded Henderson, whose dramatic steal in game 2 altered the course of the series and gave the Celtics a chance, to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for their first round pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.