For most of the 1980s, the NBA was dominated by just two franchises. We had the Boston Celtics in the East, led by Larry Bird. In the West, there was the Los Angeles Lakers, spearheaded by Magic Johnson. One of the two teams was present in all the NBA Finals from 1980 to 1989.
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The Celtics faced the Lakers in the Finals three times, with the Lakers having a 2-1 advantage. However, around the mid-1980s, there was a young player that started questioning their hold on the NBA. The young star was none other than Michael Jordan.
Jordan was responsible for turning the Chicago Bulls from a drug-riddled franchise to a 6x NBA Champion. In order to get to the mountaintop, MJ had to knock over some legends, which included both Johnson and Bird.
When Larry Bird became the Head Coach for the Pacers, he tried imparting his knowledge about His Airness to his team.
Larry Bird tried teaching his team how to stop Michael Jordan
Over the course of their career, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird faced each other 28 times. Bird won that head-to-head, winning 17 contests to Michael’s 11. The Celtics swept the Bulls twice during the same time as well.
Despite all of this, Bird saw what MJ could do, and he was no fool. So when he took on the Head Coaching job for the Pacers in 1997-98, he had some special advice for them whenever they used to play the Bulls. According to the Celtics legend, this was his advice to his guys when they played MJ and the Bulls.
“The thing with Jordan is, you can be ahead by 10, and two minutes later the game is tied. I’m going to tell my guys if they can stay close until the last two minutes, then we have a chance. Who knows? Michael might actually come down and miss a shot. I doubt it, but he might.”
Knowing one of the best players in NBA History spoke that way about you is a huge honor in itself. However, Bird always claimed MJ was the best there ever was.
Larry Bird called Jordan GOAT just after his first retirement
In 1993, Michael Jordan shocked the basketball world by announcing his retirement out of the blue. He had just won three championships in a row, and the Bulls were poised to win a lot more. However, MJ cited his father’s death as a reason to hang up his boots.
By this time, Jordan was a 3x NBA Champion, 3x Finals MVP, 3x MVPs, and 9x All-Star selections. Hearing about his retirement, Bird was visibly upset and said, “I am very sad to hear the news. No one was ever better than him.”
After he returned to the game, MJ just stacked upon more achievements. If Bird considered him GOAT after his first retirement, MJ’s return to NBA solidified his views about the same.
