Sure, for modern-day NBA fans, overcoming a 3-1 deficit may not seem as impossible a task as it once did, especially when two teams achieved the feat alone in the first round of the 2026 playoffs.<\/p>\n
But when Larry Bird<\/a> and his Boston Celtics<\/a> found themselves trailing 3-1 against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals, the situation was entirely different. Only three teams have bounced back from that deficit at that time.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n This is why, when Bird saw his Celtics complete the turnaround, on his back, they celebrated so passionately. The three-time MVP understood that they were part of an all-time classic series, something so memorable that he’ll never forget it until the rest of his life.<\/p>\n “Those were probably the best games I ever played in, in my life,” the three-time MVP said<\/a>. “Everyone was just full of excitement\u2026 All the adrenaline and emotion.”<\/p>\n The Celtics fell behind despite Bird’s heroics<\/p>\n The Celtics had undergone a great transformation when Bird joined them, improving their win tally to 61 games (from 29 in the previous campaign). Yet when they faced the Dr. J-led Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> in the Conference Finals, they received a humbling lesson.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Celtics were eliminated via a gentleman sweep, wherein Games 4 and 5 were won by Philly with double-digit margins – demonstrating how composed they were when the stakes got high in the playoffs.<\/p>\n That is why when both teams in the Conference Finals in 1981, despite winning 62 games each in the regular season, many picked the 76ers to emerge victorious as they appeared more battle tested with Erving leading their way.<\/p>\n For much of the series, it appeared that Larry’s individual brilliance would once again go unrewarded.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n For instance, in the series opener, Bird scored a game-high 33 points, yet Philly escaped with a 105-104 victory. In Game 3, he posted 22 points and 13 rebounds, yet the Sixers won 110-100. Then, in Game 4, “Larry Legend” registered 18 points and 17 rebounds, only to watch Philly escape with another nail-biting victory, 107-105, to take a commanding 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n At that point, many wrote off the Celtics as they believed that history was about to repeat itself.<\/p>\n Related: \u201cI don’t do the pill. I take a shot once a week\u201d – Charles Barkley admits he joined Hollywood\u2019s weight-loss trend after dropping 85 pounds<\/a><\/p>\n Bird wasn’t ready to give up<\/p>\n Bird, however, refused to accept that outcome. Understanding the urgency of the moment, he elevated his game to another level. In Game 5 at the Boston Garden, he erupted for 32 points and 11 rebounds to lead Boston<\/a> to a 111-109 win.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Then, in Game 6, in front of a hostile crowd in Philadelphia, Bird dropped a game-high 25-point, 16-rebound double-double, powering the Celtics to another two-point win to force a Game 7.<\/p>\n The final game was every bit as intense as expected. The 76ers raced to score 31 points in the first quarter to take the lead. They even entered the fourth quarter with a four-point lead.<\/p>\n As the pressure grew, the young Larry delivered when the stakes were at their highest, scoring a game-high 23 points along with 11 rebounds to help the Celtics secure a 91-90 win and complete one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “Bird is the eye of the hurricane known as the Boston Celtics, who spotted the 76ers a 3-1 lead before doing to Philly what they did in ’68,” exclaimed CBS play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton.<\/p>\n In many ways, that series perfectly captured what made Bird such a legendary figure. When the stakes were the highest and room for error practically didn’t exist, that is when Bird delivered more often than not.<\/p>\n Related: Larry Bird’s hotel bill stunned his agent \u2014 and revealed his character<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, for modern-day NBA fans, overcoming a 3-1 deficit may not seem as impossible a task as it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[8731,2242,30947,355,2113,119147,99],"class_list":["post-664680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston","tag-boston-celtics","tag-larry-bird","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philly","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}