{"id":1392035,"date":"2021-07-28T22:02:08","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T02:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1392035"},"modified":"2021-07-29T15:08:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T19:08:51","slug":"larry-bird-gave-bill-walton-life-back-you-have-not-spent-six-years-of-your-life-on-the-clippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-gave-bill-walton-life-back-you-have-not-spent-six-years-of-your-life-on-the-clippers\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird Gave Bill Walton His Life Back: \u2018You Have Not Spent Six Years of Your Life on the Clippers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Larry Bird<\/a> gets credit for a lot of things. He gets credit for being one of the best players of his generation. He gets credit for leading the Boston Celtics<\/a> to three NBA titles. Bird even gets credit for making the NBA what it is today through his rivalry with Magic Johnson<\/a> and the Los Angeles Lakers. His former teammate Bill Walton goes a step further, though, and credits Larry Legend with giving him his life back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Walton could have been the best center of all time<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Former
Bill Walton and Larry Bird | Photo by Tom Herde\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

William Theodore Walton III from La Mesa, California, is unlike any NBA player ever to play the game. His 6-foot-11 frame, wild red hair, soft touch, tenacious defense, and love of the Grateful Dead<\/a> is a combination never seen before or since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is all too common a story, though, is that the\u00a0big man\u2019s body couldn\u2019t hold up<\/a>\u00a0to the rigors of professional basketball. Dr. Jack Ramsay once described Walton as a combination of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, per\u00a0NBA.com<\/a>. But, unfortunately for him and basketball fans everywhere, Walton played less than 500 games in his 14-year NBA career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walton won three consecutive National Championships playing for\u00a0John Wooden and UCLA<\/a>\u00a0in the early 1970s. In 1974, the Portland Trail Blazers made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all the injuries, Grateful Red, as some teammates called him, still had an incredible Hall of Fame career. Walton was a two-time All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive team member. He also won the NBA MVP in 1977-78 and Sixth Man of the Year in 1985-86. The former Bruin also won a pair of NBA titles. In \u201977, he led the Blazers to a championship and won Finals MVP. In \u201986 he came off the bench to help Bird win his third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard-earned success bookended Walton\u2019s career in Portland and Boston but, from 1979 to 1985, Walton spent five losing, injury-filled seasons with a newly relocated franchise, the San Diego Clippers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walton credits Larry Bird with giving him his life back after his time with the Clippers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0aMTymHlrCg&t=1s\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walton can pontificate like no one else, and listening to him tell any stories, but especially ones about Larry Bird, is a singularly unique experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oft-injured-center-turned-announcer shared a stage recently with Bird, former Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan, and several prominent Celtics figures. MacMullan was going around the dais soliciting Bird stories when she had this exchange with Walton:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacMullan: Bill, you once said that Larry didn\u2019t just give you your career back, he gave you your life back. What did you mean by that?<\/p>

Walton: Absolutely. You have not spent six years of your life on the Clippers. But, to know what Larry Bird was like, not so much as a basketball player, but more as a human being. And that\u2019s what\u2019s so special for me to be here tonight.<\/p>Jackie MacMullan and Bill Walton on Larry Bird<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Walton spends the next three-plus minutes on tangents about whiskey in his hotel room, the program for the event, and Celtics coach KC Jones drinking in the locker room. However, he eventually got to the story that illustrated why Bird is so important to him on a personal level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told a tale of Bird snarling at an official while Boston was down big. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to quit,” Bird told the ref. “You make sure you don\u2019t quit either.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legend then went on a scoring rampage, and the Celtics won in overtime. \u201cWe didn\u2019t need a plane to get home that night,\u201d Walton exclaimed. \u201cLarry Bird, you\u2019re awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is being able to participate in that kind of moment after six years of basketball darkness with the Clippers that gave Walton his life back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boston Celtics won the 1985-86 NBA Championship<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Spurs finish 40-1 at home this season, tied with the 1985-86 Celtics for best home mark in NBA history. pic.twitter.com\/wBUrLVl7Yk<\/a><\/p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 13, 2016<\/a><\/blockquote>