
Did You Know Larry Bird’s ‘Over the Backboard’ Shot Happened in Hartford?
For many years the Boston Celtics basketball team has made their way West on The Mass Pike to play a few exhibition and regular season games at the Hartford Civic Center (XL Center, whatever). I was watching an old Larry Bird video last night showing some of the amazing shots that Larry legend made in his career when I noticed that one of his most iconic shots happened right here in Connecticut.
The Boston Celtics used to travel to Hartford to play a couple of preseason games at the Hartford Civic Center every year, the last one I attended I saw them play Alonzo Mourning and the Charlotte Hornets in the early 90's. In 1986, Larry Bird and the Celtics hosted the Houston Rockets in a preseason tune up. During the course of the game, Bird caught a pass on the very edge of the baseline, turned around without stepping out of bounds, hoisted up a shot from behind the backboard, and had it waved off. It's been called 'The most famous non-basket in NBA history'. Here's a video of the event that I found on YouTube uploaded by In All Airness.
According to snopes.com, although everyone in the building erupted at the incredible shot that Bird just hoisted from behind the goal, the referee had whistled the ball dead, as he had seen Bird's foot hit the line. I know the video is from 1986, but it doesn't appear that way to me. Even more incredible, Bird had injured his arm throwing a pass to 'Chief' Robert Parrish earlier in the game, yet he still made that shot.
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