According to Gary Payton, people should mention Larry Bird alongside Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant when talking about great players.
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Long-time Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird is one of the most gifted offensive players the league has ever witnessed. However, apart from being an elite scorer, Larry Legend was also known for his superb trash-talking skills. Bird was so gifted that he would often tell his defenders exactly how he planned on scoring… And would end up pulling that exact same move.
On various instances, the 6-foot-9 forward would take his trash-talking skills to a greater level altogether. Like the time he recorded an insane 47-point triple-double using his left hand throughout the game. Or the time when he was so confident he was winning the three-point contest that he entered the locker room and asked “So, who’s coming in second?” And obviously backed it up.
“Larry Bird wasn’t MVP and an All-Star all them times for nothing”: Gary Payton
Gary Payton himself was a ruthless trash talker. However, according to GP, Bird was a much more vicious talker. Recently, in an interview, Payton spoke about Larry Legend’s greatness on “VLAD TV“:
“Let me tell you something. People always talk about great basketball players and they don’t never mention him to be up in that ramp when they weigh the Magics, the Jordans, the Kobes, and stuff like that. But Larry Bird was cold.
Man, Larry Bird would shoot it anywhere. If you think about how many times he won a championship and what he was doing and what he was averaging. He was just smart. You know what I’m saying? He was smart and he can get it done. He wasn’t MVP all them times and all them All-Stars all them times for nothing.”
Earlier this year, Gary had even spoken about Bird’s trash-talking skills. Calling the sharpshooter “cold”, Payton explained:
“Bird used to tell me ‘Look here man. I’m gonna go shoot this muthaf*cking jumper in your face right there in that corner. And it’s gonna be your Christmas present. I’m gonna wrap it up and bust your head open.’ All that sh*t. He was the coldest dude I’ve ever seen with that sh*t man. Everybody be talking about these great greats and we always mention him, he was the sh*t. He give it to you any way he wanted to. Larry Bird was cold. Cold dude man, real cold.”
