Bird's fifth season became his second run to the Finals, where the Celtics defeated Magic's Lakers in a memorable seven-game series. He was named Finals MVP after being named regular season MVP not long before that.

On the season, a 27-year-old Bird accounted for 24.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists in 38.3 minutes per game. And over 79 games, Bird reached a total of 13.6 win shares at an average of .215 win shares per 48.