Larry Bird once estimated that he had played the equivalent of two full seasons in playoff games alone over his relatively short 12-season career.
Bird was, naturally, on the money. By the time he played the last game of his NBA career in Richfield, Ohio, on May 17, 1992, he had played in 164 playoff games. By then — an inglorious sweep at the hands of the Larry Nance/Mark Price/Brad Daugherty Cavs — Bird was struggling with chronic back pain that would keep him shelved for most of the Olympics that summer. Like Kevin McHale, the end of Bird’s career was defined by debilitating injury.
So even at this young age, Jayson Tatum has to keep an eye on wear and tear. It’s not just that the 24-year-old Celtics star has crammed 74 playoff games into five seasons. He’s basically played the last two years without a break.
