[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-golden-age-of-basketball":3,"chapter-the-golden-age-of-basketball-the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-807":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Golden Age of Basketball",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1444374,1896,"Chapter 807 - 26 Bird out","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-807",807,"\u003Cp>[On August 18, 1991, I announced my retirement from the Boston Celtics.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was one of the happiest days of my life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You must understand how bad my back condition was at that time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For nearly 10 years, back problems had plagued me, and I couldn’t take it anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pain was incessant, no matter what I did—standing, sitting, lying down, leaning forward—I couldn’t get rid of it; it completely dominated my life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some days, I couldn’t even bend down to pick up a ball, let alone shoot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some nights, I had to eat lying on the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even picking up my son Connor was excruciating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pain made it impossible for me to play as I wished, and I loathed myself at that time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I don’t know how my wife endured it with me for so many years; I myself found it incredible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps that’s why when I finally stood at the podium and loudly declared that it was all over, I felt a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I no longer had to force myself to endure all that pain, I felt a huge sense of relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, at that point, I hated basketball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right after the press conference ended, I went out to celebrate with some close friends, including my physiotherapist Dan Drake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was nothing to be sad or sentimental about, it was time for me to end it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the months before the conference, I knew I was not far from retirement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of the 1990-1991 season, when my back began to act up, I knew I was done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it wasn’t until July 1991 that I truly admitted to myself that I could no longer play.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t afraid of life after basketball; basketball had been everything, but the pain was exhausting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had nerve compression, my L4 vertebra was twisted onto my L5, pinching a nerve in between.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made my spine highly unstable, the bones continually pressing on the nerves in my back, it felt terrible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dan Drake would treat me, he could temporarily move the bones off the nerve, but soon after, a burning pain would spread down my legs, and I would be in trouble again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dan had been treating me for nearly 10 years, he was very worried that this compression could cause permanent damage to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had many serious discussions about retirement, starting after a major injury in 1989, I felt like every game could be my last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the summer of 1990, the team made a big trade, we sent away the promising Reggie Lewis for Divac and Hornacek, who were very much in sync with our team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the early part of the 1991 season, we played exceptionally well, we were at one point leading the league, everyone felt that the Celtics were back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only I knew, we were actually quite vulnerable, from spirit to body, we were excellent, but it was hard to win the championship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the summer of 1991, I underwent back surgery hoping to completely eliminate the nerve pain caused by vertebral compression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During that year’s playoffs, my physical condition was very poor, severe burning sensation in my legs, I couldn’t feel my toes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t sit or stand, I was truly frightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I managed to finish the fifth game at the Garden Arena, a deciding match against the Pacers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt terrible before the game started, but after Dan treated me, my adrenaline surged, and I could completely forget the bad sensations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew I would pay for it later, but that was for later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We defeated the Pacers in that fifth game and won the series.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the game, I was chasing a loose ball and hit the parquet floor hard, dizzy and blurred vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, I don’t remember much of it, by the time they took me to the locker room, I was somewhat out of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Team doctor Ani Sheler was closely monitoring my condition in the locker room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When my head started to clear a bit, I said to him, \"Can I shoot? Can I get back on the court?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said, \"Hey, you’ve done enough. Just rest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I kept hearing the calls of the crowd, they were chanting, \"Larry! Larry! Larry!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at Ani and said, \"Damn it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So I stood up, ran down the tunnel, and back onto the court, the entire arena went wild.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, when I was hired by the Pacers, Donnie Walsh said he knew I would play, knew I would come back, the entire arena would go crazy, and then we would win the game, which is exactly what happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, we couldn’t maintain the momentum, and we ultimately lost in the semifinals to the Detroit team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, I underwent my first back surgery and began contemplating retirement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surgery involved removing the disk and widening the canal for the spinal nerve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the day of the surgery, I walked 10 miles outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My surgeon was very optimistic, he said, \"You should come back in January, I’ll check again, but I think you’ll be fine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I told the doctor, \"I might never come back, whether I recover well or not.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I seriously discussed retirement with the team’s new operation manager, Dave Gavitt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dave joined the Celtics in 1990, he advised me not to retire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We hit it off from the start, Dave had many innovative ideas on how to help the team, I enjoyed discussing basketball with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He led Providence College to some very good results in the 70s, he understands how players view the game and he knows what kind of team can succeed.\u003C\u002Fp>",944,"2026-06-06T01:41:38.369Z",1,"novelbin.me","0509cca27dc8843712f42920dc0d24e19c966ced135314c4718ac582286d1faa","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-808","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-806",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]