The Trail Blazers left Boston unscathed with a 16-game winning streak.
Bird didn't greet his former team with a victory at his old home court, avoiding the awkwardness of "we lost as soon as I rejoined the team."
At the end of the game, Bird hugged Auerbach goodbye and said, "I can feel that the current Trail Blazers are even better than we ever were at our best."
"Oh, has your mental scar healed? Saying something like that so eagerly, don't say it too early."
"Good words should be spoken early. Just wait and see, Reed, this season is ours, I won't repeat the same mistakes."
Auerbach knew that what Bird referred to as repeating the same mistakes was the 1986 season, when the regular season Celtics were unstoppable, unfortunately only to be taken down by Ah Gan in the finals.
For so many years, the finals defeat has always been a scar on Bird's heart, as he always believed that the championship that year should have belonged to the Celtics.
