It is only natural in the world of basketball that one name is often found closely attached to another. Think Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The theme here, and over the course has often linked teammates together in this manner.
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However, one pairing stands out from the rest in this regard. And this arguably made for the greatest one-on-one rivalry and narrative in all of basketball. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, that’s the duo being referred to here, in case there was any doubt.
The duo entered the NBA in the 1980s and formed a rivalry that was almost set up to perfection. There are arguably no two stars who can claim a rivalry so deep and yet so marketable. After a fierce NCAA face-off, the two youngsters ended up with arch-rivals Celtics and Lakers in fairytale fashion.
And it was here that their beef brewed and scintillated the audience. Bird and Magic were incredible individual talents who had the NBA dancing to their tune and defined basketball in the 1980s.
Constant comparisons ensued during this phase. Who was the top dog among these two uber-talented and competitive stars?
While a definitive answer evades us, former rival Olden Polynice made an attempt to present his take on the same.
Olden Polynice had played against both Bird and Magic during his time in the NBA.
The Haitian center was a solid role player in the league and faced the unenviable task of facing up against Bird and Magic in the NBA. Polynice’s opinion, therefore, holds considerable ground for anyone hoping to make a point in the Magic v Bird debate.
And while the build-up suggests a straightforward answer, Polynice’s response demonstrates exactly how tough it was to pick between the two generational talents, despite him having a clear horse in the race. The Magic vs. Bird debate poses a true “pick your poison” scenario for the ages.
In Polynice’s words, “I got to give the edge to Bird. He can get his own shot off. Basically, what Magic did, he was able to do. Plus, to be an offensive threat all the way out to the three-point line, that’s an incredible asset. They were pretty much the same size, they were both slow, they were both not leapers. They were both high-IQ guys, but I got to give the edge to Bird!”.
When asked about the general consensus amongst the players in the league regarding the debate, Polynice came up with a hilarious response.
“The black players gravitated to Magic and the white players gravitated to Bird. And the people with sense could see the difference. It wasn’t about color or anything else. This guy, he can ball! That’s why we used to always look at Bird like, ‘hmm, maybe he’s not white?” responded the big man.
Larry Bird clearly beat white stereotypes in basketball.
Polynice’s statement reveals exactly how the NBA community felt about Larry Legend at the time. When “White men couldn’t hoop” came the Great Hick from the French Lick to take home hattrick MVP trophies.
Bird even acknowledged the stereotype that he had allegedly broken and then some. The Celtics forward famously taunted the Lakers for not sending a “brother” to guard him and for using the services of Kurt Rambis instead.
If trash-talk was a metric, Bird surely edges the debate against Magic. But for now, the schools of thought continue to engage in debate.
