John Stockton once told a famous story about Larry Bird and his trash-talk on the Dan Patrick Show with one exaggerated detail.
Advertisement
Larry Bird, as we all know, isn’t really white, but clear. This was a white dude who was as ghetto, as swaggy as any hoops legend from the hood or the projects.
The Indiana native played in the NBA for 12 seasons, making the All-Star team every fit year. He never finished lower than 3rd in MVP voting for a stretch lasting 9 straight years. Larry Bird and Tim Duncan are the last 2 rookies to make the All-NBA First Team.
It wasn’t just Larry’s style of play, scoring dominance or basketball IQ that offset his opponents. The 6’10” power forward would direct a variety of taunts at his opponents, designed to get under their skin. It was a strategy that was nearly always successful – Bird was simply that good.
However, if there’s one thing about NBA legends we don’t need, it concerns the exaggerated stories the old heads often tell about their own peers. John Stockton was found to be guilty of this recently.
NBA analyst reveals how John Stockton puffed up a Larry Bird story
John Stockton was recently panned all over NBA Twitter for his anti-Covid-19-vaccine activism. The Jazz legend, who owns both the all-time assists as well as steals records, was the subject of way too many memes.
The time he made the news before this was for an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show back in 2018. John Stockton used that interview to tell a Larry Bird story, which goes thus:
“I remember as a rookie, [Bird] walked by our bench at the Salt Palace and said, ‘I feel like 43 tonight.’ And he came out and scored 43 in the third quarter and checked himself out with a 20-point victory.”
The problem? Bird only played one game in Salt Lake City during Stockton’s rookie season, also his back-to-back MVP year. That was a game he finished with 30 points in, not 43 as told by Stockton.
One wonders what motivation John Stockton would have behind doing such a thing.
