NBA PLAYOFF FEATURES THROWBACK BASKETBALL

Veterinarian Dr. J checks a bird in the office. via twitter

The big question in NBA playoff basketball?

“Was that a foul? It’s a foul in the regular season, but not now? How is that fair?”

The regular answer? “It’s the playoffs. Things get rough. Man game.”

The top pic shows two titans of the eighties, Larry Bird and Julius Irving, exchanging greetings before the game.

What were they thinking?

Dr. J: You don’t look well. Probably too much oxygen.

Bird: I think you’ve got a lump on your neck. Let me check.

Most of the time history looks at Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as the NBA saviors of an increasingly coke laced league. The ‘Hick from French Lick’ fit the role. Magic not so much as it turns out.

From deadspin:

(Magic) Johnson fancied himself not merely an entertainer, but a maestro. “If you ever die and go to heaven, you want heaven to be Magic’s house parties,” said Frank Brickowski, a future Lakers teammate. “He would have the finest girls in L.A. there. The absolute finest. And at midnight you had to get busy with somebody or you had to get the fuck out. So if you were a guy, at midnight you’d get as close as you could to the hottest possible woman. Magic went around in this freaky voyeuristic way. He’d check on you. He’d go throughout the house, the pool. He’d order people to start doing things. All you had to be was near a chick. There were guys who would yell, ‘Magic, she’s not getting busy! She’s not!’ He’d run over and she’d get busy. Celebrity is seductive in L.A. Girls have this desperation about them, like moths to a flame. It’s sad. But when you’re young and single, fame matters.”

Either Bird had better control of who was around him and where he was, like Derek Jeter of the Yankees, or he didn’t work the same side of the street as Magic.

Bird’s the guy Rick Pitino ran out of town. That Rick Pitino, the one who pushed Red Auerbach out when he was hired as Celtic Coach, GM, CEO and President. Rick PItino, the man who famously ranted after a loss:

Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they’re going to be gray and old.

This time of year, the NBA playoff time, brings all of the best and worst out of some of the greatest athletes on earth. The miracle of the Jazz Donovan Mitchell, Sixers Ben Simmons, and the Cavs superman LeBron roll into history is on full display. This the time and teams sports fans wait for.

Instead of referees controlling the outcome of games by making incidental calls, the games revert back to time of the top image between Bird and Dr. J: No blood, no foul.

These are the games worth waiting for, NBA playoff games.