“I wanted to knock out either Magic Johnson or Larry Bird and it worked out perfectly”: Michael Jordan discussed his struggle of being compared to the Lakers and Celtics greats

Michael Jordan would constantly get compared to both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and so he wanted to knock either one out. 

Michael Jordan burst onto the scene unlike any guard before him. He averaged over 28 points a game for the Chicago Bulls and immediately pulled the Bulls out of obscurity and into Playoff contenders year in and year out. His rookie season saw him lose 1-3 to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round where he averaged 29.3 points on 19.5 FGAs. 

His first real test came in merely his second season in the league when he had to face off against the almighty ‘86 Celtics led by Larry Bird. The Celts would sweep the young Bulls but not without Michael Jordan dropping a 63-bomb in Game 1 of the series.

Also read: “Michael Jordan, show me why they call you Black Jesus!”: When Lakers’ rookie Kobe Bryant matched up against His Airness for the first time in the NBA

The Celtics would beat them once again in the 1987 in the same exact fashion: 3-0 and in the first round. Every Playoffs after this loss for the next 3 years was a loss to Isiah Thomas and the Pistons. 

When it comes to facing Bird’s ‘counterpart’, Jordan actually won against him on his first try; him being Magic Johnson. 

Michael Jordan on wanting to beat either one of Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. 

The arrival of someone as good as Michael Jordan usually results in the uprising of a substantial amount of naysayers. ‘Bird would out Jordan in a blender’ or ‘Jordan doesn’t make his teammates better like Magic’ is something a lot of people would say back in the day.

Also read: “Kawhi Leonard reminds me a lot of Kevin Garnett that way he tends to want to show you by example”: When Doc Rivers had unique reasonings behind comparisons between The Klaw and KG

When asked about the constant comparisons to the two greats during an interview with Playboy in 1992, this is what MJ had to say: 

“When it came to comparisons, this is what always knocked me out of the top two players: People would always say, ‘All these great plays and he’s never taken his team to a championship.’ So, I wanted to go through one of those two. It worked out perfect.” 

As mentioned above, while Michael Jordan couldn’t ever get over the Larry Bird hump in the postseason, he did beat Magic Johnson and his Los Angeles Lakers in 1991 to claim his first ever NBA championship.