Bird felt so fulfilled that, as he said, retiring right there and then would have been a perfect farewell, without a trace of regret.

The 22-year championship drought the Boston Celtics endured after 1986 would have been unfathomable in the 1980s. After the ...

That 1986 title wasn't supposed to be the end of anything. It was meant to be a midpoint. The team was still built around stars in their prime. Bias was supposed to give them an explosive young scorer ...