Everyone knows Michael Jordan could talk trash with the best of them.
What people may not know is that ‘the best of them’ wasn’t Jordan himself, but rather Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird.
Bird and Jordan had their fair share of battles on the courtGettyLarry the Legend is considered by many to be the NBA‘s greatest trash talker.
Longtime NBA veteran Horace Grant, who won three rings with Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during their first three-peat, saw the Bird experience firsthand.
“I started talking a little trash to him [Bird],” Grant recalled.
“I’m saying, ‘You’re not going to score. You’re not getting this basket.
“I remember him then telling me exactly what he was going to do to me. He says he’s going to fake me left and then he’s going to shoot a right-hand hook over me.
“And then he goes and does it and scores.”
Ted Davis, who had been the play-by-play voice for the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks over the course of his 24-year career, acknowledged Bird as the ultimate trash talker.
He told the Milwaukee Journal people might not assume Bird was as loud as he actually was, because it was hard to see if he was actually running his mouth or not.
You never knew it because you couldn’t see his lips move,” Davis said.
“He had no lips.”
Bird is one of the greatest players everGETTY Bird never lost to Jordan in the playoffsGettyAnd there was of course the infamous 1986 Three-Point Contest where Bird told everyone he was winning the event, before even shooting a single three.
“I want all of you to know I am winning this thing,” Bird said.
“Who’s playing for second?”
Spoiler alert, Bird won.
Fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller may have put it best.
Miller talked about the time during his rookie season that he tried to chirp Bird at the free-throw line towards the end of a close game.
Bird wasn’t having it.
“Rook, I am the best f**** shooter in the league,” Bird said.
“In the league, understand? And you’re up here trying to f***** tell me something?”
To sum up not only Bird’s verbal extracurriculars, but also his talent, the godfather himself, Pat Riley had this to say on the game’s great.
“If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game I’d choose Michael Jordan; If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life…I’d take Larry Bird.”
Then again, when you’re a three-time champion, three-time MVP, 12-time All-Star and nine-time All-NBA First-Team, you can talk all the junk you want.
And Bird did.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Forget Michael Jordan – Boston Celtics legend who went toe-to-toe with Magic Johnson is greatest trash talker in NBA history )
Also on site :