{"id":1570926,"date":"2023-06-08T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1570926"},"modified":"2023-06-08T09:18:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:18:10","slug":"larry-bird-admitted-dave-cowens-retirement-shook-me-up-and-then-he-watched-pete-maravich-walk-away-the-same-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-admitted-dave-cowens-retirement-shook-me-up-and-then-he-watched-pete-maravich-walk-away-the-same-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird Admitted Dave Cowens' Retirement ‘Shook Me Up,' and Then He Watched Pete Maravich Walk Away the Same Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Larry Bird<\/a> had just won Rookie of the Year and helped the Boston Celtics<\/a> improve their win total by 32 games. While the Celtics beefed up their team the following season after pulling off one of the biggest trades in franchise history,<\/a> acquiring Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, they lost a pair of Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veteran Dave Cowens, an eight-time NBA All-Star who spent 10 years with the Celtics, abruptly retired just before the 1980-81 season. Bird admitted he had a hard time with that retirement. Pete Maravich, a five-time All-Star and former scoring champion who spent the last half of the 1979-80 season in Boston, also walked away from the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDave Cowens abruptly retired on the bus before an exhibition game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n