"...He'd be just another good guy" -- Isiah Thomas way back when

Monday night, with the Celtics clinging to a lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter, enigmatic New York Knick point guard Stephan Marbury threw a careless pass, resulting in a turnover that basically clinched the game for Boston....

.....and C's color man Tommy Heinsohn blurted out "Isiah threw a pass like that once..." as the camera panned to a stunned Coach Thomas on the Knick bench.

And all of New England exploded with knowing, delicious giggles, remembering that oh-so-delicate Isiah inbounds lob that Larry Bird picked off, then dished hard to a cutting Dennis Johnson (and just where the hell DID he come from?) for a layup that gave the Celtics a 3-2 lead in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. If you are a New Englander, follow sports at all, and don't know where the title of this post comes from...well...don't admit it to anyone

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What Boston sports fan of a certain age doesn't remember those replays showing the expression on the face of an injured Bill Walton as, first, Bird's layup attempt is swatted away by Dennis Rodman ("Oh My God!").... the ball going off Jerry Sichting's leg, out of bounds; Pistons ball ("I can't believe it. We're gonna lose.").... Isiah floating his moonball to the paint.... and Bird sliding over for the steal ("What the..?").....then feeding DJ for the game winning layup ("Holy s--t! We won! We won! Did you guys see that?"). Classic. Simply classic.

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LB is now 50. And doing well, reportedly. Still married to Dinah, doing the family thing, hopefully playing some golf now and then. And working hard to get the Pacers to the elite of the NBA; no easy task. But don't ever, ever bet against the man.

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Here's Bob Ryan's take on Bird hitting the half century mark.

And the Bird "Gangsta" video from YouTube...which is referred to by SI's Andy Gray in his terrific online piece.

Here's another YouTube video, with announcers, recorded off NBATV.

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Yeah, there's a ton of stuff out there on Bird's reaching a milestone age. But as he says, "...I lived it."

We did too.

Thanks, Larry.