“Larry Bird schooled Dennis Rodman with his offensive arsenal”: How the Celtics legend overpowered the Pistons’ defensive savant in 1988

Larry Bird had Dennis Rodman on his heels after figuring out just how to tackle ‘The Worm’ in the Celtics-Pistons matchup. 

With both LeBron James and Kevin Durant emerging as two of the greatest offensively talents small forwards in NBA history, it’s easy to forget Larry Bird. This most definitely shouldn’t be the case as Bird would absolutely pummel any opposing defenders regardless of the era he plays in. 

Bird’s game revolved around the most minute details and intricacies present when on offense. Everything from a slight jab into a cross directly into a fake pull up and then the real mid-range to draw the and-1 to him simply raising over his defender to knock down a shot from beyond the arc.

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Along with taking shots that most NBA players would only dream of taking, Larry Bird also hit them with them with a great deal of efficiency. He had two 50-40-90 seasons back-to-back from 1986 to 1988, with the ‘88 season having him average a whopping 29.9 points per game. 

Larry Bird gets up close and personal with Dennis Rodman. 

Dennis Rodman is one of the greatest on-ball defenders the game has ever seen, with his days in a Pistons uniform being the best example of this. Despite this, Larry Bird did what ever he wanted with ‘The Worm’ on a particular Boston Celtics vs Detroit Pistons matchup on April 1st, 1988.

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The clip starts off with Rodman actually working well against Bird, defending him face-first and getting a few deflections in. Then, you can see Larry Bird take it up a notch because he somehow figured out, in a few possessions, on how to deal with Dennis. 

Bird started taking him off the dribble a bit more and when he did pull-up, pulled up square through Rodman’s chest, not allowing him to get a good contest on. Larry Bird was diabolical when it came to dissecting his opponents and his matchup against Rodman was no different. 

The Celtics would win this game with Larry dropping a casual 32 points on 22 shot attempts and Kevin McHale chipping in with 29 of his own.