Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend (Part 4)

[Roderekin]

@mcmillspiece You are soo very wrong man ! Look i apprciate old school ball ... But these dudes now a days are much more faster and stronger and are just plain better athletes...its FACT

[7RaPeKiNg7]

Those 2 are the same LOL. just different color and personalities

[samantha34ize]

NBA SUK THE DAY JORDAN RETIRE BAK THEN NAB WAS LIKE FOOTBALL VERY PHYSICAL ALOT OF TRASH TALKING AND HARD FOUL

[CyrusTab]

You make my point. Just look at the '86 Celtics team, it had 5 future HOFers on it (albeit with a broken down B Walton). The Lakers had only three. And recall that Parrish was putting the stops on Kareem regularly when the teams played in the 80's, when Kareem was no more than just a scorer but a poor rebounder/defender.

[mushtikla1]

@mcmillspiece pffffff, that would be pure ownage... magic and bird had BRAIN :) a like to compare them to Nash and Kidd in a body of a centre :)

[DalueCommentarys]

DONT TAKE THIS OFFENSIVELY (I doubt it) but at 4:32 does anyone else think Magic's eyes look drug influenced? Like Coke or something? I dont think they are maybe that's just his natural eyes. :P

[dalexispe]

holy shit , are pigs flying outside? cuz @3:00 he dunked the ball!! I thought he only dunked once lol

[helpogrowth]

I have free working tips to grow taller add me !

[bigbossman999]

@mcmillspiece lol you're crazy, im sorry those guys were good, but you simply cant compare mchale and parrish to gasol, garnett, dwight howard, or for that matter bird as good as he was to phenoms like kobe and lebron. The athelticism is much higher in the league today and those guys would hold their own but ultimately would get creamed.

[thewolfmanchu]

@mcmillspiece gekko! I love that movie

[haines1979]

mcmillspiece - agreed.

im a knicks fan and huge basketball fan as well.

in my opinion bird is the best basketball player i have ever seen, better than joran and magic.

Anyone that does agree please check Larrys stats from 84-88.

Please include rebounds and assists!!!

[wildabeest4]

too bad the jackasses now who get paid out the ass dont even show up to practice cause theyre "too good". i love basketball but i hate what the nba has become...

[ChristineCAlb]

@wildabeest4 I agree with you. AMEN!!!!!!!

[bigbossman999]

@wildabeest4 you can't make a blanket statemtn ilke that. Kobe for example being paid 24 million a year is playing with a broken finger, dislocated finger on other hand and a bad knee, yet he is known to show up at 6 am in the gym work extremely hard and when he's not in gym watch game footage. Bird even commented that kobe is his favorite player because of his tenacity and how hard he works.

[Comictalent]

that pass at 3:07 is one of the best ive ever seen, impossibly difficult

[jerjets11]

goblink, you mean Jordan by six steps to the basket.

Bird earned his titles, they weren't given to him.

[Martinl792002]

@jerjets11 Bird earned his titles. Explain how the Bulls who swept Ewing's Knicks, beat Barkleys 76ers in 5, and swept the aging defending champions after they defeat the aging celtics. And eventually beat the Lakers, 3 years after their last title, Sam Perkins, Divac, Worthy, Scott, and Magic, with Teagle, and AC Green off the bench is still a pretty good team

[goblinking169]

what ever guys.... Jordan hands down man... hands down.

[Elmaln]

Sure, Bird was a legend too.

[GoingOn9Lives]

People seem to forget how truly dominate Jordan was. You all say he beat up on weaker 90's era but I seem to remember a 1986 Jordan scoring 63 points (over half of the bulls points) on the celitcs (the best team in the league). I seem to remember Jordan taking a weak bulls team and beating Lakers/Celtics a few times. All of a sudden just because those teams got old you say Jordan would be destroyed. I dont think its as far off as you think

[jamspooge86]

never won a series against them though during the 80s

[Flipper79able]

Ya... he scored sixty three but he lost the game. It took Jordan a while to realize that to win championships you have to get your team mates involved and make them better. Bird and Magic knew this right off the bat.

[MerkinMuffly]

I seem to remember Bird being 23-11 vs MJ, he may have scored 63 but he still got his as kicked and Bird swept his weak ass 2 years in a row, including a game 3 in 87 with no McHale, Bird was a bad man and knew how to beat ball hogs easily.

[GoingOn9Lives]

Jordan a ballhog? I believe in 1989 just 3 years from now they put Jordan as a pointguard and in half a season he averaged just as many triple doubles as Magic Johnsons best season.

[Martinl792002]

@GoingOn9Lives very true

[Flipper79able]

Yea, but Jordan got a lot of triple doubles in that only one season. Most seasons he only averaged 2 or 3 at most. Magic and Bird were always triple double players consistently. He was right Jordan was a ball hog.....but when the 90's came around he learned, but Magic and Bird didn't have to learn they were always like that.

[bigbossman999]

@MerkinMuffly bird was good, but you cant compare him to the MASTER of basketball, mj with all his achievements is impressive but what impressed me most was at the age of 40 him scoring 50 points in a leauge with much higher athleticism.

[Flipper79able]

@bigbossman999 How do you figure that the league has more athleticism now than back than? Human beings have not evolved in the last 20 years. The only difference is that NBA players lift weights now. They are not any more athletic. The league is bigger now.... if anything it is easier to dominate.

[hazmat1000]

@Flipper79able I agree, they are not anymore athletic now overall. Sure there was no Lebron back then....then again, how many championships has that amazing athletic talent won? Those teams in the 80's were real teams, it was such a fun time to watch basketball and the players were not jumping ship for more money to a new team all the time.

[BroomeBlocker4]

@bigbossman999 I would also like to know how you can call players of today more athletic. Barkley, Kemp, Nique, Pippen, Jordan, Drexler, Malone, Hakeem, Robinson, Mourning, Johnson... If anything the league is a shadow of how athletic it used to be. Also in Larry's day there was a thing called Defence in the NBA, today the defence is basically non existant

[GoingOn9Lives]

Im a huge Jordan/Bulls fan but I honestly dont see a bulls team beating 86 celtics/87 lakers simply because they lack a frontcourt. I mean honestly 91-93 Bulls had no center/pf at all. 96 bulls even with Rodman were too old to really compete with an 80's team. Now if you take an 88 Jordan a 91 Pippen and an 89 Rodman and put them on the same team. I think they could take them.

[Keranofkri]

Jordan was a Legend but so was Bird man Anyone that says Bird was no good should not comment on basketball or any sport for that matter. Better teams is not always the names it's the team reacting well to each other, you can pick an all star cast but stick em against a great team like the lakers and the Celts was back then and they would get beaten. There is no i in team.

[Dmidgette1]

I actually seen those guys on TV. I have watched them and pretty much know who could actually beat who. You on the other hand probaly look at old highlight or just read stats off of a peice of paper.

[Dmidgette1]

If you had read the comment you would see that I was not comparing the Knicks team to the 80s Celtics. My point was and is that the New York Knicks was not a easy team to beat. You are coming off like all the teams Jordan went against was garbage. To be honest you can't compare does teams because they are all great teams. And any of those teams could come out on top.

[Dmidgette1]

Um Jordan took on a tough New York team loaded with Ewing, Starks, Mason, Oakley, and couple more good guys. You talk a about the Pacers with Miller have you forgot that they had Chris Mullen one of the 50 greatest Mark Jackson one of the greatest point guards and Rik Smits a damn good Center plus Jalen Rose a allstar player. The took on a tough Cleveland team. And all the teams that Jordan took on in the Finals was great teams. And don't forget they beat the Lakers with Magic.

[OrangeCountyMotorWor]

if you could saw the '' pick up games from 8 to 14 years of age? blood & guts = super star'' what a story. all my love

kellams.

[yubmaniac]

sounds like a copp out to me. obviously you ran out of facts to support your side of the debate because the only thing your running on is those teams had better teamwork, but it's cool homie im glad you conceded!

[yubmaniac]

come on man your missing the point again. Though the bulls of the 1990s and the Lakers of the 2000s had dominant players on their teams they still had very good teams that could beat the old Celtics and Lakers even at their primes. I still don't understand why you believe those old teams are so much better then these recent teams.

[yubmaniac]

72-10 is 72-10 no matter what. no other team has matched or either reached the 70 plateau. obviously you don't understand how hard it is to get to 70 wins. by the way the lakers with kobe and shaq were almost undefeated in playoffs one year and only lost one game to AI and his 76ers. if 12-1 in playoffs doesn't spell dominant team to you then i guess you should go back to school and take math all over again.

[Martinl792002]

Haha Riley does look like Gordon Gekko... Larry and Magic were my heroes growing up, at the same time though look at the NFL, Brady, Montana, Peyton, Marino and Elway... Different eras different strengths different rules!!! Did you see how many fouls they called in this years NBA playoffs? anyways can you trult say one of those quarterbacks is better then the other?

[Martinl792002]

not competition? Aren't they all NBA pros? just because they may not have the legacy doesn't mean they don't have the skill set

[ExplosiveThinMan]

It was a weaker era. There was expansion. They league was watered down and the great teams had gotten old.

[Martinl792002]

72 and 10 is 72 and 10... People can't pit eras', the game has changed alot some can say their were fewer teams in the 1980s, and the athletes weren't as strong as they are today. regardless both teams were great, however the best 2 records are owned by Chicago and the 1972 Lakers

[yubmaniac]

you act like kobe and shaq didn't have a great supporting cast too. Listen man nobody on that team could guard kobe and shaq would have probably average 40 on kareem. There's no way Kareem could have guarded shaq without fouling leading to him being in foul trouble taking away a huge part of the lakers offense. also when kareem's gone there's only so much magic can do. i have to applaud him for even getting to finals without kareem. oh by way jordan's bulls decimated them 4-1!

[yubmaniac]

When it comes to the best team jordan's bulls went 72-10 ok, so it doesn't get any better then that. And don't get me wrong those teams were great, but bulls defense would have slowed them down and no one has proven that they can stop the triangle offense. so it really doesn't matter how tough they were because they would have just been stacking up fouls. By the way jordan is undefeated in the finals where bird and magic have gone many times and lost. so if there so great explain why they lost?

[yubmaniac]

are these two teams better then jordan's bulls? think about it this is jordan. also your telling me magic and kareem could stop kobe and shaq. especially shaq at his prime! come on man. you feelin it.

[18NSW27]

Man, basketball just not the same now. Wish I could have seen this type of basketball.

[terrorofsesameST]

agreed

[DestructerX]

i agree with you. coby's fakers, lebrauns queervaliers, or kevin's celtics would get owned by these 80's celtics or lakers.

[terrorofsesameST]

Bird was def. one of a kind!!

YOU WILL NEVER EVER SEE ANOTHER BIRD!

4:11-4:19...Ahhh listen..isn't it beautiful?

[upyanuts]

3:14-:3:22 , in my opinion was incredible for a 6'9" PF, theres not many big men ever like that... that could steal the ball, dribble up court with balance, behind back, great vision, nice pass... I can only think of one other PF in history of the celtics that could... Antoine Walker

[jp3813]

Correction: Larry was SF, McHale was PF.

[ry3304]

he was both dud. technicly.

neway, yea walker couldve MYBBBEEEE done that his rookie year b4 he became out of shape man...

[41DiRkNoWiTzKi41]

Yeah, if you count him as PF, there's probably no other at his position that can do this ... except for C-Webb

[AceroySangre]

If Bird had Kareem and Worthy he would have won more Championships than Magic.

[ExplosiveThinMan]

That would be an unbelievable combination.

As a lifelong Laker fan who lived through that era. I lived and died with the Lakers. All those wars.

It gets no better than Larry Bird.

[CyrusTab]

@AceroySangre Bird had McHale and Parrish who were just as good, or close to it. (Kareem was well past his prime at that point).

[ry3304]

@CyrusTab

kareem and worthy won finals mvp's they didnt lols.

kareem is a legend, neither of them realli are, and magic still had a pretty damn young kareem early in his career, not to mention a much easier path to the finals every year.

west was a fuckin joke in the 80's.

that 86 team would literally rape this miami heat team....

would love to see lebron try and defend bird lols. pippen couldn't, rodman tried, buck williams couldnt, w/e....

[ry3304]

@AceroySangre

THANK YOU!

exactly. now thats not fair to chief and mchale man so cmon kid, but yes, worth and kareem were good enough to outclass magic and win 2 finals mvp's....

also magic had a slightly better coach usually, and usually the better bench.

AND A FUCKING PUSSY ASS CONFERENCE!!!

[joekiddlouischama]

@ry3304 ... better coach? I'm not so sure. The bottom line is that in the '85 and '87 Finals, the Celtics lacked depth due to the injuries to Cedric Maxwell (recovering from knee surgery) and Bill Walton, respectively. In both matchups, Boston probably proved to be one player away from defeating L.A.

[Sovnarkom]

@AceroySangre Same goes for Michael Jordan (oh' wait - he still won more than Magic or Bird).

[xyzcannon92]

@Sovnarkom yeah because Jordan didn't have a arch rival that would challenge him in the NBA finals almost every year. In contrast Bird and Magic had to face each other a lot of times in the finals and that was a lot harder than Jordan facing who ever in the Finals

[Sovnarkom]

@xyzcannon92 Jordan had to play against Bird's Celtics, Isaia Thomas' Pistons, Dominique Wilkins' Hawks and Moses Malone/ Charles Barkley / Dr. J's 76ers in the playoffs for most of his career. Karl Malone was MVP of the league during their first bout against the Jazz in the Finals, Charles Barkley was MVP of the league and Kevin Johnson was 1st team All NBA when the Suns played against the Bulls in the finals. Clyde Drexler, Magic Johnson, James Worthy - also defeated in NBA finals.

[xyzcannon92]

@Sovnarkom Good point but I still believe that when Magic and Bird faced each other, it was more of a challenge than Jordan's adversaries.

[MrNaturalSez]

He did just fine with the Chief and McHale.

[LuigiLaker]

5 or 6 world titles in a row? With Magic's Lakers and Erving's Sixers still powerhouses?? That's goin a bit far..