Boston Celtics: the 3 eras most deserving of a docuseries

The Larry Bird-era (1979 – 92)

Despite being ranked as the seventh greatest player in NBA history, according to ESPN’s newest rankings, it is arguable that the regular fan doesn’t understand how great of a player Larry Bird was.

Being selected sixth overall in the 1978 NBA Draft, Bird opted to stay at the collegiate level for one more season, ultimately leading Indiana State to their first-ever NCAA Championship game appearance while the C’s recorded their lowest win-total since 1949-50 (29-53 in ’78).

Finally coming to the pros, General Manager Red Auerbach made some savvy moves to put together a team worthy of contention, including the likes of Tiny Archibald and Cedric Maxwell (also drafted in ’78) for his rookie season.

With Bird leading the way, the 1979-80 season saw a 32 win increase for the team and, ultimately, led them to halt their two-year postseason drought. The C’s wound up appearing in the Eastern Conference Finals only to fall to the Julius Irving-led Philadelphia 76ers in five games.

The next season, with even more talent in the shape of Kevin McHale, the team found themselves facing off against the Sixers in the conference finals, only this time they bested them in seven games. From there, they would head to the Finals and beat the Houston Rockets in six.

With this win, the franchise attained championship number 14 and, thus kicked off the Bird-era in incredible fashion.

Through the remainder of his career, Larry Legend kept the C’s in legitimate contention, leading the team to 13 straight postseasons, five NBA Finals, and winning thrice.

He would go on to have one of the greatest careers the league has ever seen, attaining 12 All-Star selections, 10 All-NBA selections, three NBA MVP awards, and two Finals MVPs.

His 13-year stay with the franchise could provide any documentarian with ample storylines to cover: the championships, the Lakers-Celtics/ Magic-Bird rivalry, the resurrection of Bill Walton, the 1985-86 dominant shamrocks, the Celtics-young Michael Jordan rivalry, etc.

The story of the C’s cannot be told without mentioning their run throughout the 80s, and Bird is without a doubt the reason why this is the case.