Between the team passing brilliance of 80's Boston, and the individual brilliance of young 80's Jordan, these are 2 distinctly different but equally fascinating examples of what made the NBA game so great to watch.
watching the celtics reminds me of today's spurs and warriors ball movement...jordan was really great in scoring but bird is the one who knows how to win with his teammates...basketball was easy for him
@jaboo82681 Fringe HOF player. The 89 season proved just how lost the Celtics were w/o Bird when he missed all but 6 games. Went from winning 60-65 games a year to .500. The Jordanless Bulls still got the the Eastern Conference Finals both years while Jordan served his suspension for gambling, errrrrrrrrrr, pursued his baseball career. Bird was just so much more interesting and funner to watch than ball hog Jordan, who won his titles in a very watered down era.
@jaboo82681 Jordan was a GUARD, he's supposed to get assists. Bird was a forward. If you don't think MJ was a ball hog, look at how many more attempts her took every single year than the second most in the league. I'm not saying he wasn't a great player but you're not going to ever find a Jordan video on RU-vid showcasing his passing "skills", which is the most beautiful part of the game in most people's eyes.
@jaboo82681 You don't know your history too well. The Celtics were a joke before Bird arrived, winning just 29 games the season before. HE led them to the biggest single season turn around ever a record that stood until KG and Ray Allen joined the Celtics in the 2007-2008 season. As for Jordan shockingly passing up a shot and passing to Kerr to win the Finals, kudos to him for recognizing that he actually had team mates for once. Once. Bird and Magic did that all the time, which is why they were both much more entertaining players to watch. As far as drug addicts go, that has little to do with a players performance. I'd bet my life that Lebron James is on HGH or steroids and although I'm no fan of Jordan as you can surely detect, I respect him 1000 times more than Lebron and think it's absolutely ridiculous to compare a guy that's 3-5 (should be 1-7) in the NBA Finals to a guy that was 6-0 and did everything but pass better than Lebron. And it's not like Lebron is some great passer, he just knocks guys over like bowling pins on his way to the hoop and kicks it out to a wide open guy in 3 point land. I will take the all around awesome play of Bird and Magic every day of the week. They were a joy to watch, although I have little respect for Magic and his "look at me, look at me" act since retiring from the NBA. After his first, second, third or how ever many retirements he had. Much like Jordan. Bird? Just once. He wasn't a drama queen, he retired and that was that.
If Larry Bird would've shot as much as Jordan, he would've averaged 40 points per game for his career and been the all time leading scorer. But for someone who loves the all around game, especially passing, I'm glad Larry was no ball hog.
That was Jordan's job. If you actually watch his games can see even when he had a bunch of guys wearing rings around him...they generally were not good scorers. it was his job to play Defense and score in volumes. He's not the PG, others touch the ball.. just quiet often can notice his teams are made up of guys not confident making their own shots. So most of time when he tries get others involved they either pass it back or miss.. I used to think he was a ball hog as well, then went back when older and watched.. He would often have high scoring games when his team are missing a lot.
If you look at league leaders averages per year. Bird was top five in at least a few ever year. He was definitely special! Before my time a bit but I can recognize
Jordan is the GOAT?! Y'all sure? Got SWEPT by Bird - x2. Swept. Means Jordan couldn't even get one. In his own house. There's a reason why Bird is the word... a la Family Guy.
Come on man CONTEXT IS KEY. Bird's 2nd, 3rd AND 4th best teammates (McHale, Parrish and Dennis Johnson) are ALL in the HOF. McHale and Parrish top 75 all-time players. Jordan's 2nd best teammate was Charles Oakley 😐It doesn't even matter who his 3rd and 4th best teammates were. And I'm not even going to mention Danny Ainge and what was left of the late once great Bill Walton. Bird had a championship winning TEAM. MJ had a bunch of GUYS.
Nice! Don't think that I've seen highlights of this game since it originally aired back in late April of '87! Can only imagine and wonder what a healthy Celtics team would have done in the '87 playoffs!
Just out of curiosity, how so? I thought KC Jones burned out his starters in a huge way and would never trust his bench aside from Wedman and Walton. I personally blame KC for the earlier than should've been retirements of Bird and McHale for overusing them. I thought Chris Ford was a superior coach that developed bench players and gave The Big 3 much more rest than KC ever did but it was already too late, the damage had been done.
@@reneep9972 - Chris Ford did an excellent job as coach of The CELTICS. Glad someone else thinks the same.1990-91 season, Celtics were the best team in the league up until BIRD had back issues.
@@joelinney8900 I totally agree. I think they were something like 17-2 when Bird's back went out and were playing their best basketball since the 1986 season. They still had the Big 3, plus guys like Brian Shaw, Kevin Gamble, Reggie Lewis, Dee Brown, Derek, Charles and Michael Smith, Joe Klein and Ed Pinckney. That team was as deep and loaded as any Celtics team in the Bird era and had The Legend been able to stay healthy all year, I truly believe they would've won one last championship that year.
Glenn Mcgollie Bird turned around a last place team his first year. He won a Championship with less than all stars. Unless you think Rick Robey was bad a$$. Tell me again more excuses for the ball hog Jordan? Amazing moves yes. Great shooting. Just plain selfish. Bird’s style of play was a pleasure to watch as he involved all team members.
jjs777fzr Kevin Michale Robert parish Dennis Johnson Danny ainge..Larry bird wasn't even finals MVP of his first championship so obviously he had great help ..Michael Jordan had to carry the scoring load something bird didn't have to do Jordan did wateva it took to win there is nothing Jordan can't do..in his first finals Jordan average 31pts and 11ast but u say he a ball hog 😂
This reminds me how much better bird was than jordan. Triple treat on offense, assassin with the game on the line, great rebounder and defensive interrupter. I’d put Bill Russel second, LeBron third, Kareem/Wilt tied 4th, then maybe jordan.
Bird's Celtics were the only team that Jordan's Bulls could not beat in the playoffs. They were 0 for 6. It wasn't until they put the pieces around Michael that he finally started stacking on the rings. I remember the frustration on Jordan during those early years with bad teams.
@@courtneywhite6036 Exactly, which is why the 86 Celtics are considered by some people to be one of the top teams in NBA history. Bird, Mchale, Parish, Dennis Johnson, and Walton are all in the Hall of Fame. They could wear down teams because their bench was deep and they could play any style of ball that was working. They could go very big with Parish, Walton McHale, Bird, and DJ (who was 6' 5" and played center in college). Their passing made up for the lack of foot speed by some of their players during fast breaks. One of the most unselfish teams there ever was, with everyone on the team willing to give up an open shot if someone down low was open, or had a better shot. It's fun to watch some of the old games.
Are u kidding? Jordan was still a baby when he faced Bird and celtics. This video right here is Jordan in his second full season. Its not Jordan fault Larry couldnt meet him in the playoffs in the 90s.
@@LOL-ro9ef My point is that it is a team game. Once they finally put a team around Jordan you know the results. This was during the period where the Celtics had 5 future Hall of Fame players in their lineup (I'm talking about the '86 team), and they could change their style to march up against another team's strength so fast. But, they played as a team and whoever had the best shot got the ball. I'm not arguing with you. I was fortunate to have seen both of these players in their prime and Jordan is still the best individual talent I've ever watched play. It really helped being able to see the 86 Celtics play in person, because the ball moved around so fast without hitting the floor. Again, all I'm talking about are the teams and no one was more competitive than MJ, but very few teams were as complete as the Celtics were from that era. Once Bird was injured and had too many miles on him, he slowed down. Jordan always wanted to be respected and if he heard of a young punk talking about him after he was retired, he would show up at the practice and although he had been retired for 10 plus years, he would embarrass the other guy. It was that attitude that made MJ the best. Take care.
@@LOL-ro9ef I don't think anyone looked at MJ as a baby during the 86 playoffs. The quotes from Bird after MJ put 60 plus up on them said it all. Also, look at the players MJ had around him during that time. Bird had the utmost respect for Jordan and knew that he would become the new face of the NBA. Watch the playoff game where MJ scored 60 plus, because he was so exhausted afterwards from the effort and he left nothing on the floor. There are very few players who I respect as much as MJ, and the same went for everyone who was fortunate to have been able to see him play in his prime. He was a man amongst boys in his prime, and he was the most competitive player I've ever watched. I would never say anything to disrespect MJ. It was simply the teams of that era that met up. I hope everyone knows and respects that.
Every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I'll take a guy who's a great scorer but an even better passer over a great scorer anytime. Larry and Magic are the two all around greatest players ever and if not for one, the other would've won 8-9 titles in the Golden Era of basketball.
Bird and magic never had to carry or develop a team while Jordan had to suffer playing with average players Jordan was ready to win from day one celtics and pistons are lucky Jordan didn't have the team that they did because pistons would have never got out the east and celtics run would have ended in 85
Jeff Blake exactly he carried that team every game making the playoffs was a miracle it showed how great Jordan was and yea saying that they are average was very kind lol 😂
Glenn Mcgollie yeah jus like Lebron suffered every year and yet still made his teammates better. Jordan's selfish that's why he didn't make it further foh
Glenn Mcgollie nigga wtf? Michael didn't even have competition at his position when he started winning chips😂😂 nigga started winning the era of expansion teams and out of prime stars gtfo. Jordan so overrated it's hilarious. Jordan's east was weak asf nigga get that shit outta here
Hi Yes the east that Lebron play in is an expansion league fuck u mean Jordan played against way better teams the knicks with Ewing the magic with shaq and penny..what great player in the east has Lebron beat in his career in there prime the answer is zero
403 is why NBA used to be fun to watch today it sucks ass......call fols on little guys fouling ostup players, call reachin and travel, let defenders block shots and make those who drive to hoop have to take some contact no foul and make their shot no bailouts liek kobedooshe
