NBA Tournament of Champions: Larry Bird Bracket Second Round

Larry Legend got to have his name on a pretty good bracket overall, I'd say. Adding a couple Laker teams to the mix certainly helped this one gain some credibility, even with Bird's '86 team holding serve in Round 1. We also had what I pegged as one of the bigger upsets with Rick Barry's '75 Warriors team gutting out a Game 7 win over the '82 Lakers, setting up a fun series there. The other one sees a battle of all time great centers. Should be fun.

As a refresher, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court advantage going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to refer back to the first round results from this bracket, they're here. Let's get to it.

'94 Houston Rockets (73-32) vs '88 Los Angeles Lakers (77-29)
Game 1: @ '88 Lakers 97, '94 Rockets 92 (LAL leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '88 Lakers 106, '94 Rockets 81 (LAL leads 2-0)
Game 3: '88 Lakers 104, @ '94 Rockets 90 (LAL leads 3-0)
Game 4: @ '94 Rockets 108, '88 Lakers 88 (LAL leads 3-1)
Game 5: '94 Rockets 103, @ '88 Lakers 94 (LAL leads 3-2)
Game 6: @ '94 Rockets 113, '88 Lakers 88 (Series tied 3-3)
Game 7: @ '88 Lakers 109, '94 Rockets 84 (LAL wins 4-3)
Wow. What a series. '88 Magic was the star, posting 3 triple-doubles over the course of this seven game series (the Lakers won all 3). Hakeem came out strong in a Game 1 defeat then fell off a bit in Games 2 and 3 before rebounding with monster outings in Games 4 and 5 (both 30 point bursts, plus 7 blocks in Game 5!). Otis Thorpe helped carry the offensive load for Houston to tie the series, but Magic wouldn't let Houston complete the comeback, posting an 18-10-10 in the deciding game after struggling to score for a few nights.

'86 Boston Celtics (82-18) vs '75 Golden State Warriors (69-30)
Game 1: @ '86 Celtics 116, '75 Warriors 102 (BOS leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '86 Celtics 108, '75 Warriors 103 (BOS leads 2-0)
Game 3: '86 Celtics 106, @ '75 Warriors 96 (BOS leads 3-0)
Game 4: '86 Celtics 111, @ '75 Warriors 100 (BOS wins 4-0)
It's hard to pick just one guy who did the job for the Celtics; really their whole Big 3 did the job. Parish scored 30 in the opener, Game 3 saw Kevin McHale getting to the line often and converting, Game 4 was Larry Bird's time to shine with 30 points, and the trio shared the spotlight in Game 2. With no real #2 guy to help Rick Barry, he struggled to make a difference (other than scoring 28 in Game 4).

To see the updated bracket, click here.

Could you have seen this bracket closing out any other way? It's only fitting that the best of Bird's Celtic teams takes on one of Magic's top Laker teams for the right to repesent this bracket. This makes two straight days where the second round matchups set the stage for rivalry battles in the next round. That won't come for a couple weeks though. Next week we look to see just how deep the "stacked" bracket is. In a battle between great Lakers centers, who comes out on top? And can Bill Russell fend off one of the best one-shot teams of all time led by one of the greatest centers and perimeter players of all time? Check back tomorrow to find out!