INDIANAPOLIS — There was a day, believe it or not, when Shaquille O'Neal was a little kid.
Not too tiny, mind you, but a child, nonetheless. And when he was, today's 7-foot-1, 330-plus-pound Los Angeles Lakers center was just like so many of us little guys once were, running here, running there, acting the whole time as if we were someone else.
When O'Neal was small, or least young, he was Magic Johnson. His boyhood buddy, Larry Bird. Together, the two tangled, just like the real rivals.
"When I was growing up," O'Neal said Thursday morning, "I had this friend. His name was Mitch . . . He was my best friend. A white guy. Of course, he was Bird. And I was Magic. We used to go back and forth, back and forth."
Some days Bird won. Other days, most others, ex-Laker great Magic. But over time, Shaq said, he "learned to appreciate what Bird did for the game."
For that, he has Mitch to thank.
"I knew Bird was good," O'Neal added, "when that one time where he had the ball, he was falling out of bounds, he didn't have anywhere to pass it."
But Mitch — knew what to do. "He shot it over the backboard," Shaq said. Probably made it, too. Don't know for sure. Shaq didn't say. But it is a safe bet. Bird didn't miss many big ones, and that is why so many like Mitch — "long nose, long hair," according to O'Neal — chose to be Bird.
Larry Bird, basketball player. Not Larry Bird, coach. Quite a distinction. The former finished his NBA career nearly a decade ago, replete with three NBA championships as a member of the Boston Celtics. The latter's may come to a close in tonight's Game 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals . . . or in Game 6 on Monday . . . or, at the latest, Game 7 on Wednesday.
With L.A.'s next win — or in the unlikely event of three straight Pacer victories, which is unforeseeable since no NBA team has ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in Finals history — the best-of-seven series will be over.
So, too, will Bird's three-year career as coach — or at least this part of it.
"Larry has his mind made up," Pacer Sam Perkins said.
Still, no one around here really knows exactly what the future holds for Larry Bird.
Reggie Miller does not know. Neither does Donnie Walsh, president of the Pacers. Shoot, even Bird himself does not have clue — or, if he does, he sure isn't clueing in us.
Bird, in fact, is coaching only as if he has three more games to go — no more, no less.
"This is the Finals," he said. "You don't worry about what's going to happen next. You don't give up. You just go out, and try to win a ball game."
But owning that attitude is what seems, in a few quick seasons, to have made Bird into as brilliant a coach as he was a player, which is saying quite a lot for a long-haired hero from French Lick, Ind., who came to be known as Larry Legend for his storied accomplishments a certain parquet floor back in Boston.
"He's had a great run while he's been here," said Miller, Indiana's star guard. "That's why we want to keep it going."
But how? How did Bird transfer the way he played to the way he coached, something easier said than done for all too many who have attempted the transition?
"He's the type of coach that expects a lot out of his players — kind of expects you to work hard, to show up and give what you've got every day," Pacer forward Austin Croshere said. "He's doesn't play a lot of games. He's pretty straightforward. I think he's kind of old-school in that regard. He just wants you to show up and play hard, and, you know, kind of do what you're told and . . . don't ask too many questions."
To illustrate, Croshere — who has emerged as one of Indiana's top reserves after two seasons of obscurity under Bird — shares details of his relationship with dry-humored Larry Legend.
"We really had no dialogue for the (first) two years. I didn't play," said Croshere, a Providence University product who grew up as a Bird-hating Lakers lover ("I wasn't a Larry Bird fan at all; actually disliked him") in his native Los Angeles.
There was the time Bird did communicate with Croshere — through the media. "He said in the paper I'd really be lucky to be in the CBA." And then there was the time he popped into Bird's office, to tell the coach he would "try to go" after nursing an ankle injury for a few days.
That visit didn't last long.
"He said, 'Are you going to 'try to go?' or are you 'going to go'?' " Croshere said. "I said I would go. Then I'm walking out of his office, and under his breath he says, 'Don't be a sissy.' "
In short time, however, Bird has grown — and his team has grown more and more accustomed to him.
"I think this year he's gotten more comfortable with all the players," Croshere said, "and with his coaching."
Most give ringing endorsements.
"He is a very integral part of this organization, and demands a great deal of respect in Indiana," Perkins said. "He is a coach who benefits more from his notoriety and his ability as a player, which complements this Pacers team very nicely. I think we take Larry for granted because he is here every day, but it is a privilege for me to get to know him and play for him."
"I think he's more hands-on this year," Miller added. "I think his first year, he just kind of wanted to get his feet wet. This year he's definitely been more vocal in practices and games. He's definitely telling more wartime stories."
Still, though, Bird — in his own laid-back, French Lick sort of way — sometimes talks more like the General than even Bobby Knight himself.
Especially when he wants someone to improve.
"He's . . . not quick to criticize, but he reminds you of things you did wrong throughout the course of the game," Croshere said. "Even if you have a really good game, but you have a bad play or two, he's much more likely to remind you of the two bad plays that you had than any of the good plays."
Bird said at the beginning of this season he will definitely make this his last as coach in Indiana, and it seems — even after taking the Pacers to the Finals — he will.
The decision baffles some.
"I really can't (explain it). I don't think anybody can," Pacers guard Mark Jackson said. "I respect the fact that he made a decision from Day 1 and then stuck to it, where a lot of people probably wouldn't have, especially after they get a taste of what has been accomplished this year. So I respect that.
"But, you know," Jackson added, "he's a different breed."
And there is no reason to believe this one-of-a-kind to change will his mind, either.
But Bird could turn over the coaching reins, then retain his co-title of executive vice president and remain in the Pacers' front office. Some think he will rest, recharge the batteries that are sapped so much because he coaches as hard as he played, then eventually return to coaching again, sometime, somewhere, maybe Indiana, maybe Boston, maybe somewhere altogether different. Or he may be just leave the NBA behind.
No one really knows.
There is talk Bird has enrolled his children in schools in both Indiana and Florida, where he has a home, for next fall, an indication, if true, that even doesn't know.
Walsh sure can't say.
"I don't talk to Larry about it anymore," the Pacers president said. "I told him I didn't want to be bugging him during the playoffs, and he said that was fine with him. So we'll talk as soon as it's over."
Already, though, replacement candidates have emerged: Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Piston great who led Indiana to the 1981 NCAA title; Byron Scott, the ex-Laker guard and current Sacramento assistant regarded as the hottest prospective NBA head coach among current assistants; and current Pacers assistant Rick Carlisle, who some believe to be the front-runner.
"Somebody could still jump up after the playoffs," Walsh said, "but those are the three I've zeroed in on."
Picking a new coach, however, is not Walsh's only concern. Tonight's game, should they lose, could mark the end of the Pacers as we now know them.
"A lot of guys are free agents," Jackson said. "Whenever this thing ends, whether it's Game 5 or Game 7, this could be, you know, all of our 'last games.' "
Four starters — Miller, Jackson, Jalen Rose and Rik Smits — do become free agents. So will Croshere, who some believe has had a strong-enough playoff run to land a deal worth $5- or $6 million per season, and veteran Sam Perkins, who like, Smits, is pondering retirement. Rose could cash in, perhaps commanding maximum-allowable salary from the Pacers because they fear he may go elsewhere. Miller has not committed to returning to Indiana, and even seems somewhat upset that the Pacers may not bring back his pal Jackson.
So Bird may not be the only one bolting.
"But we're not concerned about that," Jackson added. "Our concern right now is being down 3-1 to the Lakers and coming into (Conseco Fieldhouse tonight) and getting a win and giving ourselves a chance . . . to go to L.A. and do something very special."
Still, the uncertainty makes for an awful lot of intrigue going into what could be the NBA's final evening in its 1999-2000 season. The only thing known for sure is that Bird leads the list of Hoosiers who doesn't want to see it all come to an end just yet.
"This has been my best year," Bird reflected Thursday, "as far as watching the younger guys . . . watching Austin (Croshere) develop, Jalen (Rose) coming on stronger this year the second half of the season . . . knowing that the future of this franchise is pretty stable with young guys.
"So, the way I look at it, it's been my best year. I've enjoyed it. It's been a great experience for me. But I want it to end next Wednesday, (not tonight). I want these guys to have the opportunity to play for the world championship in the seventh game.
"Personally, to me, I want it to keep going," Bird said.
Mitch would, too. And why not?
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com