At the tail end of Bird's prime, he found even more success than he did in the middle of it. Though no MVP or Finals appearance awaited him, he put up a career-high 29.0 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 39.0 minutes.

Bird played 76 games that year and accumulated 15.0 win shares at a clip of .243 per 48 minutes. He was voted to the All-Star Game and, for the ninth time, made All-NBA First Team.