“Hubie Are You Serious?”: Larry Bird Was Baffled at HOF Coach For His Defensive Personnel

In trashing opponents, whether with the ball or with words, there were few NBA players as great as Larry Bird. The Celtics legend often ripped apart his opponents with his trash-talking and even backed it up in the most epic manner. Interestingly, fellow athletes weren’t the only ones on his radar. Recently, Larry Legend‘s former teammate Danny Ainge revealed another aspect of it, where he even trash-talked a coach.

On the ‘Pardon My Take‘ podcast, the Utah Jazz executive recalled an incident where Larry Bird had some bitter words for the former Knicks coach Hubie Brown. Narrating the story, the former shooting guard said,

“I remember him [Larry Bird] telling Hubie Brown. He’s walking on the sidelines, and he says,‘ Hubbie, are you serious? This is the only guy [Johnny Newman] you have that can guard me.“

Even though Bird’s trash-talking antics seem excessive, in Ainge’s opinion, there was a method behind the madness. Larry’s former teammate believes that the three-time champion used trash-talking as a means to motivate himself. And being one of the greatest at it surely did help him in his pursuit of excellence in the NBA.

Bird will go down as a savant of the sport and possibly the greatest trash-talker in league history. One of these moments came against Gary Payton, who never forgot how ruthless he was. 

Larry Bird and the lost art of trash-talking in the NBA

During a conversation with Uninterrupted’s ‘Throwing Bones,‘ Gary Payton crowned Bird as the greatest trash talker of all time. He also revealed that Bird once destroyed him by calling his shots on the floor and making them in the former DPOY’s face. Recalling the incident further, Payton said,

“Bird used to tell me, ‘Look here, man. I’m going to shoot this motherf**king jumper in your face right there in that corner. And it’s going to be your Christmas present. I’m going to wrap it up and bust your head open.”

Another player who admitted to being a victim of Bird’s trash talk was none other than, Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins. The Atlanta legend recalled playing against Bird as a rookie and even approached him before tip-off on one occasion but was swiftly shut down.

Following his rude dismissal of Wilkins, Bird proceeded to make a corner three in Wilkins’ face, even telling the Atlanta rookie that he didn’t belong in the league. He proceeded to address Wilkins by the moniker ‘Holmes‘ throughout the entire stretch of the game, something that admittedly pissed off the Hall of Fame forward.

Bird often pushed players’ buttons, as he did with Wilkins, a psychological tactic that helped him retire with three NBA championships and an equal number of MVPs, cementing his legacy as the greatest player in Celtics history.