Nine days after Kevin McHale set Boston's franchise scoring record with 56, Larry Bird had openly told his teammate the mark would not last. A neutral-site game against Atlanta in New Orleans gave Bird the chance to make good on the promise.

No Celtics player had scored 60 points, despite the franchise's long list of Hall of Fame scorers.
Bird entered as the reigning MVP and was in the middle of the season that would bring him a second consecutive award.

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NBA

Boston CelticsVERSUSAtlanta Hawks

1984-85 · Regular Season · Mar 12, 1985

Boston and Atlanta played a neutral-site regular-season game that turned into a Larry Bird scoring exhibition.

4.67Fan rating

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Season1984–85→

Game lineups

Starting fives

Verified starters

Home starting five

Atlanta Hawks

StarterACAntoine Carr

StarterCLCliff Levingston

StarterDRDoc Rivers

StarterDWDominique Wilkins

StarterEJEddie Johnson

Away starting five

Boston Celtics

StarterDADanny Ainge

StarterDJDennis Johnson

StarterGKGreg Kite

StarterKMKevin McHale

StarterLBLarry Bird

The five starters come from each team’s saved NBA box-score order. Exact positions are omitted because this archive does not reliably provide them.

Before the game

Spoiler-free context

No Celtics player had scored 60 points, despite the franchise's long list of Hall of Fame scorers.
Bird entered as the reigning MVP and was in the middle of the season that would bring him a second consecutive award.

Game recap hidden

The matchup stays visible. Outcome details stay tucked away.

Boston CelticsVERSUSAtlanta Hawks

Starting fives

Before the game

Reviews

Related games

More winner-take-all games

Boston CelticsVERSUSAtlanta Hawks

Starting fives

Before the game

Reviews

Related games

More winner-take-all games