Bird Has Concerns--Reid Not Among Them

Larry Bird concedes that Robert Reid did a good job of defending him in Game 3, but he said it won’t concern him tonight when Boston tries to rebound in Game 4 at Houston.

“I don’t really care who guards me,” Bird said. “If I get the same shots, I’ll be pleased.

“I’m not worried about Robert Reid. The only thing I worry about is being four points behind with one second to go.”

Said Houston Coach Bill Fitch: “Robert probably will cover him less than he did Sunday. He probably has Larry so mad that I won’t be able to use him as much.”

Add Bird: His grammar leaves something to be desired, but Fitch, who formerly coached him at Boston, says: “Some people drew a misconception about Larry from that ‘Hick from French Lick’ stuff. They believed it. But if Larry spent a couple of hours with them, he’d sell them a couple of buildings.”

Trivia Time: Against both the Denver Nuggets and the Lakers how did Akeem Olajuwon distinguish himself in the series clinchers? (Answer below.)

Eddie Gregg thinks Michael Spinks would do well to avoid a showdown with Gerry Cooney.

“In the long run, Gerry has too much power for Michael Spinks,” Gregg said Saturday after Cooney took him out in the first round.

Said Larry Holmes, who watched it on television: “Gerry still has punching power. You don’t have to prove that to me.

“Anytime a guy wants to go out and gamble with a puncher like Gerry, he’s making a serious mistake.”

Yes, Holmes wants to fight him again.

“The only fight out there for Gerry is me,” Holmes said.

Gary Player, after beating Roberto De Vicenzo of Argentina in a senior tournament Sunday, said that De Vicenzo, 63, was outdriving him and Chi Chi Rodriguez, who are both 50.

Player: “This man has won more golf tournaments than anybody in the world. If he had been born in America, like Arnold Palmer or Sam Snead or Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus or Lee Trevino, he might have been the best player of them all.”

Add Water: Wrote Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post after Larry Mize twice went in the water in losing a playoff to Greg Norman in the Kemper: “You can’t beat a Shark in water.”

In New York, you can’t get away with anything. In a series opener at Seattle last Wednesday, the Yankees were struggling and announcer Phil Rizzuto said: “The first game of any West Coast trip is a disaster.”

Somebody at The New York Times looked it up. In the previous 10 years, the Yankees won 13 of 20 first games on West Coast trips.

Trivia Answer: He got ejected.

Quotebook

Al McGuire, on winning: “Once you start keeping score, winning’s the bottom line. It’s the American concept. If not, it’s like playing you’re grandmother, and even then you try to win--unless she has a lot of money and you want to get some of it.”