The Complete Compilation of Larry Bird's Greatest Stories Told By NBA Players & Legends PART 1 

This is one of the best basketball stories ever! It needs more exposure because I'm sure more people would love to hear it..

@@markhildebrand2417 Thank you Mark!

@NykaitchaCoach was and still is, sharp.

Awesome 👍 that's definitely a cool story!! I know you never will forget..

@@billyshupe5239 Thank you Billy. I have a few but this is in the top 3 for sure!

Nuff Said!

@@chocolatecityoutlaw6258 Yeah, and I'm not some casual spewing garbage. The players I referenced said every bit of that about Bird verbatim. I could quote Birds peers for 2 hours who have said the exact same thing.

@@chocolatecityoutlaw6258 Yeah, I think I'll take 2 of the top 6-7 players opinion over moronic casuals who say Bird couldn't play in today's league.

@@Jbf-76 Bird can play in any era, actually with these rules now Larry would score 60 a night, easily! And whoever said that has it backwards, it's the creampuffs that play now that couldn't make it back then. No traveling, no palming, hard fouls, no moving out of your way so you can dunk, lol, lol, these guys are way too soft for the game back then!

@@chocolatecityoutlaw6258 With today's rules, Jordan would go for 80. Bird would go for 60 and 20. Magic would go for 40, 20, & 20.

The best stories and the best experiences of all-time. Period. Larry Bird's got it.

And he's still alive... people usually like to do that after people die and stories get embellished because they know it's all for them to tell now! So they can say what ever they want... That's how you know they are real!

Stories are one of the few things all cultures have in common. We all pass down stories of great people and various feats.

It’s called true masculinity 👍

True. Fans nowadays can misconstrue the idea that no player in this era is feared but I think it's just a generational thing where it's cooler to not show respect to a great player bc it makes you look inferior. There's also some clout on social media if you posture and taunt your opponent after a crossover, dunk, etc. whereas you would never get any notice in the 80s and 90s if you were just a role player doing that move.

Everyone was happier. They engineered these privileged college kids to be angrier than ppl that were slaves 200 years sgo

They went at each other. They stayed with the teams that drafted them and tried to win a Championship on their own. Now, it's everybody wants to team up with their friends and get a Championship. Like they the Super Friends or Avengers or something

MJ: Who better to pick up trash talking from?

😂😂😂

LOL!!!

Crazy😙😙😙😙

Larry was from the era,, I ain't bragging, that's just facts.

Well yea Larry was great but you don't think they tanked a little to get him? :)

@@beethovenlovedmozart Well if you put it that way, then you know the circumstances of how Bird was drafted. Wild west stuff with NBA draft before structure was stabilized the way we know it now. Shout outs to the OG legend Red Aurbach too who was a maverick for his time.

@@beethovenlovedmozart No, they drafted him two years prior and still owned the rights.

@@beethovenlovedmozart this isn’t Philadelphia. The Celtics don’t tank. That team was just awful.

They also had Pete Maravich that year. Wasn't on the roster in 78 according to google. I wonder how Pete played that year.

Same. Didn't like the Celtics (or Lakers) at all, but it's impossible to deny what Bird (and Magic, the others) brought to the sport during those years. Amazing.

I couldn't care less about basketball to be honest, but Bird was such a legend I probably would have watched the sport just for him.

I was a pistons fan then but looking back now i see how much talent this team had and how great Larry Bird was. The pistons played more of a “cave man” ball that roughed up their opponents. Celtics were clearly a more skilled team

Mark Jackson does that to Jeff van Gundy too.

Once a coach, always a coach.

I'm 53 and still refer to my High School football coach the same way. It would seem so strange to call him anything else.

Calls him Larry Legend too. You love to see it.

Nope just plain ole common respect that is so foreign today it seems next level.

You and me both.

Me too!

I just went on a binge of bird and others. Especially this series. It reminds me of a line I actually liked basketball. I often say "I'd rather play it than watch it." There are good people playing now, but the current league is a shadow of its former self.

i was like you before but you should watch now specially in the playoff Luka Donkic and Nikola Jokic have the bird mindset and great IQ basketball

@@larryrider6603 I like those guys specially Luka's feistiness(not sure if that's a word) but for some reason, whenever I watch their games, they lose lmao.

Yeah, and they were given a fine for that. Guess the owner didn't have a sense of humor

That was the best and the fact that they were watching it for the next days game footage was priceless

Now I get to watch a bunch of cry babies flopping and begging for fouls. Wtf

They were losing it watching this man disrespect them like that.

Charged Barkley's "You guys are disrespecting me" story is a killer too. Always liked him.

Oh hell yes

He hurt his back very early in his career, it just got worse as time went on.

Can you imagine what he could have done without all the injuries, when he was on the dream team he couldn't even sit down half the time bc of his back. I think he would have approached the scoring title for sure and if Bias wouldn't have sadly passed him and Bird might have got a few more titles

Sounds to me that cut him deeper than he is showing.

I nearly died hearing that. Imagine being the fockin guy playing him lmao time to take off the shoes

@@Brandon_metab 😂 and this was in the 70s when talking sh*t wasn't nearly to the level it's at now.

@@CornPopWazABadDude first off, this was in the 80's (craig ehlo, the guy who's mom bird was referring to) was drafted in1983, secondly, what? nowadays you'll get a technical for having bad breath

@@ermannosorricchiodivalfort4905 yeah I realized that I think right after I wrote it lol...

Damn. Never heard it put so well. That says it all..

@Aaron9 🤣🤣🤣

@Aaron9 wrong.pat is right

@Aaron9 You just don't know what you don't know buddy.

There is a good reason there are no thumb downs on this comment

Character.

I remember watching that game with my grand dad and he was laughing so hard. He said look at them fools on that bench that coach is going to burn their a##.... Great memory for me, for many reasons...

Each 1 of those players got fined for that too! And 1 of the guys said it was the best $100 seat he ever had in his life! LOL

@@Sunny-jz3dy That's true on both accounts!

Played a whole game left handed

@@seangelarden8753 Only three quarters of it...but he scored 29 point, I think.

@@joemarshall4226 He score 47 points in total. I haven't found any article especially stated how much points he made playing like that, but they did state that 10/21 of his FGM was from the left, the score is between 20-23 pts.

Great all-around player too and also the best psychological/trash talker of all-time. Whew.

Amen. Fortunately Vitale only does NCAA. He would ruin most great NBA stories....baybeeeee.

This comment is underrated.....lol more people need to let the video talk

People believe videos are composed of atoms and molecules. This is a concept of the mind. The truth is videos are composed of CONSCIOUSNESS. Videos are dream imagined by consciousness just like reality.

That's bc he takes other peoples' already created content and just puts them in a different order and calls it his own lmao. There are 5000 "Larry Bird trash talk" videos on RU-vid that do the exact same shit he's doing.

I agree WHOLLY! I commented immediately that his were among the top 1-2% on all of RU-vid. I can't stand the blowhards who think that their commentary is going to be markedly different than the 12,426 others who have said the same thing. Well done, @Christopher Carbone. Well done.

Bird is becoming underrated. The fact he isn't in the GOAT conversation is a travesty to the history of the NBA.

Bird is the best ever. Better than jordan even. Jordan was in the league when bird was league mvp three times. Bad boy pistons made jordan who he became.

His jump shot was absolutely ridiculous. When he got hot he didn’t miss. As a Knicks fan it was frustrating.

I think a lot of people realize it

@@kimchi2780 Thankfully videos from guys like Thinking Basketball should help gather more support from knowledgeable basketball heads than the casual/ignorant crowd whose never really given Bird the eye test. People talk about Bird's shooting but other parts of his game is just as elite. His fade away jumper was money before Jordan fully weaponized his. His ability to pass while moving is the stuff of legends and his touch passing is one that only very few guys in his size/caliber have made it look EZ (check out Jokic tho). His defense is VERY underrated and people think Bird would get sliced up in the modern ball. When Bird's on ball defense was good enough as he can keep in front of his man AND his BBIQ let him disrupt plays CONSTANTLY on defense like these big cat forwards now playing like a ball hawking safety. 'Team' defense is what the modern ball has been about and Bird played that game at such an elite level with legendary teammates resulting in multiple finals trips and a few chips. Imagine what he'd do now where teams are looking for that ONE important piece who can pass, shoot and read offenses and defenses.

The best players are like that. Look at Tim Duncan trashing talking people politely. Nice try, you almost got that one,

@@moxmann it’s different though Timmy was playful with it. Bird was a straight up menace, to tell another teams coach that he’s being disrespectful by putting a white player on him in the middle of a game with said player right next to him is some demon shit.

Maybe that's where all the people from Boston get their trash talk from. Larry started Boston trash talk culture.

He would have been a great Roman soldier the ultimate stoic stone cold killer.

@@kylemaclellan7959 I've heard Larry didn't like being guarded by other white guys because he felt like it was the team's just throwing a random dude on him cause they are both white and disregarded the fact he should have the best defender on him

Bird and Kobe the 2 most determined players to ever play the game... they gave it everything.

@Bella Bailey Was it urban legend. But that ask Bird once why he didn't practice shooting more. He said, "Why I never miss." Then showed them and made shots from everywhere for over 20 minutes. "Practices making shots? Why?"

Bird practiced shooting from all over the court every day. When everybody else was going home he'd stay and practice. When the season was over and players going on vacation he'd stay and practice. He lived and breathed basketball. He was truly amazing.

@@tuat.mvpformallybigd.2635 Wish he had slowed down just a bit. Squeeze a few more years out of that bad back.

@@jaylenbrownfan2112 no kidding. That never ending will to win, led to all that diving for loose balls on the floor or into the crowd. Which definitely didn’t help his back. But that is what made him great too. I just wish that Magic vs Bird rivalry could have lasted a couple more years.

It is a skill that should be praised more. It wasn’t just in that one game. He also passed and dribbled with his left, too. He said he worked to develop his left-handed shot.

He's actually left handed @@dutchtea8354

Actually Jordan wasn’t in 83-84 the first year Bird won MVP.

the finals mvp in 85 went to kareem abdul-jabbar just like it did in 71 + it should have in 80 + 82

the goats tied literally always have + will be both wilt chamberlain and bill russell

@Richard Afflitto yeah + reggie miller came only as high as 13th in 99/00 not facing legends like oscar robertson kareem abdul-jabbar wilt chamberlain and bill russell

@@youtuber3328 wilt and Bill also played in a different era. To be honest, it’s called the non black 12 team nba back then. Bird ruled half of the golden era. Big difference.

I would have loved to if Larry would have been able to play longer but to be honest, Larry wrecking his back just added to his legend. His legend is untouchable on and off the court.

somehow, millennials and gen z take that against him and accuse him of being a cheapskate, that's people who grew up poor and worked hard to get to where they are for you

Alot of people don't realize how much damage her did to his career. He must have been trying to pick up the entire truck.(Just kidding). The man had won 2 consecutive MVPs and was in his prime. He won his last MVP after hurting his back. I don't think people realize how great he was.. You have 2 of the top 10 players that have ever been in the league telling you that he Was the best player they ever played against. Magic JohnsonStill thinks hes the best player that he ever played against wait against. Granted, he is not the biggest Michael Jordan fan) I was a Magic fan myself. I didn't like the Celtics and so, didn't like Larry either. Like him or dislike him, you knew you were watching the best player on the court In just a matter of moments. He was slow, goofey and really lacked athleticism. Without these attributes, most players would have found another profession. Larry just pinned his ears back and willed himself to another sphere. If you ever get the chance, look up the speech that Nolan Richardson gave when he was talking about hearing "Bird's" ii name for the first time on the radio. Gary Payton probably said it best. "Don't get it twisted. Larry Bird could give it to you anyway he wanted."

@@jespacey That's because they're stupid, lazy and entitled and don't have a freaking clue about real hard work and what it takes to be the best. They're happy with being mediocre.

​@@stjamesmovers1509 he won 3 consecutive mvps 84 85 86.

They played the game for the love of it and not the money!

Something that seriously lacking in basketball today!

Legit over Jordan ANY day..

@@divix4313 Nah, MJ is the greatest but LB is not far behind.

@@iggyblitz8739 who averaged 50 puts and 25 rebounds for a season? Then the very next season lead the league in assists? MJ is #6 all time greatest

@@Slowhand871 then you woke up. 1. MJ 2. Kareem 3. Wilt 4. Larry Bird 5. Magic 6. Lebron 7. Kobe 8. Tim Duncan 9. Shaq 10. Hakeem

@@SNIPEonSIGHT that list is pretty fair but cmon man magic had the better career then bird

Fuck the PC NBA of today. Makes me sick.

I lost interest after Larry Bird and Magic Johnson retired. Now practically all professional sports have gone “woke” and I am no longer a fan. I now only watch UCLA/USC football and that’s it.

ditto

The 90s weren't bad.

The last time the NBA was interesting to me was when Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Steph and Klay Warriors (after another great series against the KD/Westbrook Thunder), that was actually a great matchup. Then KD went to the Warriors, then LeBron went to LA, and I don’t really care anymore

Maybe they should have said "Perhaps you, since you can still be defeated." Maybe Larry asked that question because he wanted them to beat him, and maybe he figured that was a way to motive them to do it.

Never underestimate the power of confidence

@@Steveman27 or not.

W his confidence ….. oooo boy a man could do some things

You gotta back it up or it gets old real quick. You cant talk shit like Larry Bird if you're basically just shitting all over the court stinking the place up and being merely good won't cut it either.

Saw the court better than anybody? Slow down

SAVAGE!!

Fullow and subscribe idol 💕💕

Back when respect was respect and you didn’t have to worry about thin skinned political correctness

Bird wasn’t white he was just too light-skinned 🤣🤣

@@2muchtalk173 Larry never said anything that was offensive.

Facts

Defenders & opposing coaches must tell themselves " well i'm big, muscular, black & athletic as F... but LB shows brains over brawn, tallent over rough physical play... makes a fool out of who guards him... & i love it !

@Aaron9 Jordan was great But he had the absolute perfect group around him Some of the best role players, 3 point specialists and lock down defenders in the history of Basketball Armstrong, Kerr, Rodman, Pippen

Baddest white dude for sure, you Really think he's better than Jordan??

@@bradsully6620 They played different positions, Bird was a forward, Jordan was a guard Comparing Bird and Jordan is stupid as comparing Lebron and Jordon Compare Bird to Lebron and compare Kobe to Jordan

@Aaron9 he was

You can see that hurt the guy 😂

Bahahahah

That's a damn good one.

Where your moms at lls

@@BlackHat-lr7eb you see him fighting back tears like 30 years later n shit. He was probably never the same since.

Hilarious

Maaaan if you come Down and do what he did im gettin fined too 🤣🤣 sorry coach this dude the real deal

@@kultan2000 to

Glad you enjoyed it!

Yeah, who knew that the basis for that commercial was the shit Larry did in games on the regular

Bird and Magic saved it while in college

@@trevorkinchen6124 still the most watched basketball game ever I believe.

Drazen Petrovic... rest his soul was fun to watch too... sadly dying at only 28. 😥

@@trevorkinchen6124 yes 💯

Wilkins n bird had a historic battle in a playoff game, in today's NBA wilkins would join a team who has a chance at the title

Bird is the Word...

It was amazing growing up in America back then!

80’s Celtics or Brady and the Patriots? If you had a chance for free season tickets and play off and championship game/games for one or the other which would you pick?

Nba is so soft nowadays. He'd be absolutely untouchable.

@@alecvip7562 he'd score 30 from 3 pts alone

Underrated??? Naw he got his respect

@@ricocheteraw90sthebestdecade I think he meant today.

My Dad went to many, many open practices back then. He told me a few times Bird said to coach, 'We want to drink a few beers today instead of practice. If I hit this halfcourt shot, we gone'. Coach nods. Bird. Swish. Practice canceled.

Larry Bird IS the Truth

Facts

Man, he was his "coach". In Miller & the Pacers best years no doubt

@@monolithgeometry3221 Miller also played against Bird for at least his rookie season

Haha so funny 😂😂

i would love to see larry play today in this soft defense. jordan would be probably a little better, but larry would be a god. mfs averaging 40

@@nogglebeak it used to be more physical but the league is far more athletic now than its ever been before. Guys would lock Larry’s slow ass down.

@@ryancallsinSpoken like someone who isn’t old enough to remember the 80’s NBA. The league was stacked with great teams and great athletes. The lack of any meaningful defense today and the wide open court means Bird would be killing it if he were playing now.

@@ryancallsin Every time he stepped on the court Bird was to slow and couldn't jump. Seemed to work out fine. Bird would be fine. That fade away shot was unblockable then. It would be unblockable now.

@@ryancallsin What they said

Cause he's white.

It was like this .. 1st you went to get Your Celtics jersey with 33 on the back Then u went to the local bookie And bet the celtics game you Knew they were gonna smoke Hoping vegas didn't take it Off the board .... Then you collect your cash And thank God for bird ... I was a big basketball guy.. I was just out of high school And I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life When bird came on the scene I called my buddies and we sat down . We've been friends since 1st grade I'd do anything for you guys I'm gonna throw a idea at ya So tell me what you think And I said .. this bird fella is beyond His years he's gonna win some titles No doubt in my mind .. if we pool our cash And bet key games we can make some money .. My buds went big on basketball But I knew this guy was gold So we agreed it was a good idea Our 1st 3 time betting the.celtics All 4 of us walked away with 10 grand each .. and it went up Over the years .. he was a cash cow As they say.. But even better than $$ I got to see him play There are no words

It was…..pretty damn amazing to be perfectly honest, seriously, if it wasn’t for the Celtics (and especially Bird) in the 80s, you’d have seen a lot of mass suicides of Boston sports fans, he carried all of us through most of that decade. Players like him don’t exist anymore.