He had many more. He played in the days before Sportscenter and the internet. So, I'm sure many are lost forever. Still you can see in the video he could dunk with ease. He's no Steve Blake.
BNM
Of course he's no Steve Blake.
The first NBA game I ever went to was the Knicks at the Baltimore Bullets. Clyde Frazier was the star of the Knicks and Earl Monroe was the star of the Bullets. I'm sure you know they played together as back court mates for years.
So I saw Bird play on TV every week and then some. The NBA on CBS with ELO's "Fire on High" as the theme music. I didn't see him dunk but a few times, and those three I probably did see.
There's plenty of archive footage from those CBS telecasts.
He obviously could dunk, but didn't. I think the reason is due to the ABA/NBA wars that went on until about the time he came on the scene. Auerbach particularly hated the ABA - note the Celtics didn't take any ABA players when the leagues merged. Not only did the ABA take some of the top draft picks away from the NBA, they signed guys before they finished college.
Probably most interesting about the two leagues was the difference in styles. The ABA was flashy dunking, big afros, red white and blue ball, dunk contest at the all star game, the 3pt shot, etc. The NBA, especially Auerbach's NBA, was not oriented toward individuality (like dunking styles) - more about executing plays. The "black" league played schoolyard ball, the "white" league played gymnasium/hardwood ball.
In fact, the Celtics hired the first black coach (Bill Russell), yet if you look at the team photos of those 1980s Celtics teams, the faces of the players are lilly white but for a few. They had Dennis Johnson and Robert Parrish playing with Bird, McHale, Wedman, and Ainge. Think about the stiffs and others they had on the bench: Eric Fernsten, Rick Robey, Greg Kite, Rick Carlisle, Jerry Sichting, Bill Walton, Pete Maravich, Brad Lohaus, Jim Paxson, etc.
So Bird didn't dunk. It wasn't about his ability to do so. You do remember Bird got himself in a bit of trouble for saying the NBA needed more white players, right? Only a little bit of overt racism there.
Interestingly, the NBA on CBS showed Lakers/Celtics at every opportunity. Seems like every week (though it wasn't). Certainly in the championships. The Lakers were the anti-celtics. Magic Johnson was the poster child for schoolyard ball. Flashy passer, showtime, individuality, and all that. The Lakers were as black as the Celtics were white. While the Celtics brought in a guy like Walton, the Lakers brought in a guy like McAdoo. It was something of a joke that they played a white guy (Kurt Rambis) for yuks who was especially goofy looking.
Schoolyard won. Count the rings.
