Sarcasm From Robert Parish, Bluntness From Larry Bird Ruled the Early Part of the 1987 NBA Finals

Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale were getting up there in age, and it showed. The Los Angeles Lakers ran up and down the court in the first two games of the 1987 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics to take a 2-0 series lead back to the Boston Garden.

The reactions after those first two games varied among Celtics players. Parish, Dennis Johnson, and Greg Kite went the sarcastic route. Bird was blunt and all business.

Robert Parish and Larry Bird handled the first two losses to the Lakers differently

The Boston Celtics looked to repeat as champions after knocking off the Houston Rockets in six games in the 1986 NBA Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers were returning to the championship round after getting bounced by the Rockets in the ’86 Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers held homecourt advantage after dominating the regular season to the tune of a 65-17 record. LA was the only team to surpass the 60-win mark. With their run-and-gun style of play, the Lakers blew the Celtics out in the first two games, winning Game 1, 126-113, and taking Game 2, 141-122.

The Celtics had no answer for LA’s fast break. They also had no answer to media questions after the blowouts.

“One of the Laker Girls could’ve scored a layup on us,” said Celtics backup center Greg Kite, according to Sports Illustrated.

Parish also went the sarcastic route when asked to find any positives from those first two games in LA.

“We got here on time,” said Parish, who managed just four rebounds in Game 1.

“We got the opening tap,” Johnson said, also playing the sarcasm game.

Larry Bird, however, sang a different tune. The Game 2 loss was Boston’s sixth straight postseason loss on the road. He wasn’t in a joking mood.

“If this continues, maybe it’s time to make some changes and get some people who will play hard every night and not just in front of their families,” he said.

Bird and the Celtics bounced back in Game 3 but dropped a heartbreaker in Game 4

While it wasn’t easy, the Celtics enjoyed some home cookin’ in Game 3, outlasting the Lakers 109-103. Bird led the way with 30 points. James Worthy and Byron Scott struggled for LA, combining for 17 points on 8-for-27 shooting. The victory gave Boston some much-needed confidence.

 “This was the most important game of the series for us,” Bird said. “If we lost, it might’ve been tough to get up for Game 4. Now it’s going to be easy.”

The NBA used the 2-3-2 format in the Finals back then, so the Celtics still had Games 4 and 5 in Boston. Boston was well on its way to tying the series in Game 4, leading by 16 points late in the third quarter. With an eight-point lead with 3:30 to go, the Celtics saw the Lakers score 12 of the game’s final 15 points. The killer for Boston was Magic Johnson’s baby skyhook that secured LA’s 107-106 victory.

The loss was back-breaking for Boston.

“We’ve gotten beat here before, but the way we let that one go really hurts,” Bird said before practice for Game 5, per United Press International. “Our mental toughness is just not what it used to be.

“I really liked our chances (for the series) last night. If we could have just got that one, it would have been a different series. I wanted to win all three at home and go out there for two games because I know we could win one. But winning two …”

Boston did win Game 5, but the Lakers closed out the series at home in Game 6 with a 106-93 win.