Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had their versions of the ‘Last Dance’ with a final showdown at the international stage as part of the 1992 Dream Team. Ahead of the Olympics, the Dream Team were practicing for their games in Barcelona and held various scrimmage matches against college prospects. Among those college prospects, a group of young athletes including Jamal Mashburn, Bobby Hurley, Allan Houston, Chris Webber, Rodney Rodgers, and Erick Montross were forced to compete against the NBA All-Stars. Though this college team showed brilliant potential, they made the mistake of trash-talking against Larry Bird. And the great Celtic answered to this smack talk in the best way as he would do on the court. The college kids had learned their lesson to never disrespect legends. Shaquille O’Neal recently reminded his fans of this hilarious incident by sharing it on his Instagram story.
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The Dream Team of 1992 consisted of the best talents in the NBA, including veterans Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and young superstars as Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. Interestingly, Bird and Johnson were among the only three players in the 12-man squad to have not made the All-NBA 1st and 2nd team that season. Yet, they did show their flashes of brilliance, helping Team USA bring home a gold medal from Barcelona.
Jamal Mashburn and his college team once regretted trash-talking Larry Bird ahead of a Dream Team scrimmage
In a 2021 appearance in the Knuckleheads Podcast, Jamal Mashburn revealed how Larry Bird responded to one of his teammate’s trash talks. Rodney Rogers was the unfortunate victim of Larry Bird’s response. He made a big mistake of smack-talking the Celtics legend after their first scrimmage game.
Coached by Roy Williams, the college kids overwhelmed Chuck Daly’s Dream Team with a 72-66 score-line. When the All-Stars and the college team returned to their hotel rooms, Rodney Rogers tried stirring the pot against Larry Bird. Here is how Jamal Mashburn described the incident in the podcast.
“We get back to the hotel, Rodney Rogers says something to, it’s a group of them. It’s Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and everybody’s shooting their s**t. And Rodney Rogers says, ‘Hey Larry, you ain’t hit a jumper since ’84!’ Magic heard that s**t.”
Well, that was perhaps the end-game for Rogers as he was about to face the might of Larry Bird on the court. In their next scrimmage, Bird kept getting on Rodney Rogers and shooting constant baskets, almost eight times in a row. Guess Larry Bird had the last laugh, having avenged the disrespect he faced from a college kid!
“Magic Johnson fed Larry Bird the ball, probably about eight times in a row down court. Larry Bird got the ball on Rodney Rogers. Every time he was about to make a move, he told him [Rodney Rogers] what he was going to do. One dribble, pull up, going left. Off glass. Bucket. One dribble going right, spin, shot. Bucket. He scored nine times or eight times in a row, left the court to go lay down because he couldn’t sit on a bench, he had to lay down because of his back. And said, ‘Young fella, look like ’84, huh?'”
Shaquille O’Neal must have been as awed as everybody else by this incident. He shared the clip of this podcast on his IG story, reminding his fans of Larry Bird’s greatness as a player.
Larry Bird was one of the best trash talkers in NBA history
Before the likes of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce dominated the trash-talking arena of the NBA, Larry Bird was leading this space. Several veterans of his time, including his ‘Dream Team’ teammates such as Patrick Ewing agree with this fact.
The Celtics legend not only knew how to physically, but also psychologically dominate his opponents.
During the 1992 Olympics campaign, Bird and Michael Jordan ran the show with their trash-talking prowess. As Ewing once told Reggie Miller, even though Larry’s back was messed up, he was still contributing immensely to the team with his mouth.
