Larry Bird had seen it all — that is, until Michael Jordan came around.
The Boston Celtics legend faced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, ‘Dr. J’, and Moses Malone, but nobody impressed upon him quite like ‘His Airness’ did.
Bird is one of the greatest players everGetty
Bird got to witness a 23-year-old MJ’s greatness first-hand when his loaded C’s — boasting four other future Hall-of-Famers including Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish and Bill Walton — met Jordan’s hungry young Bulls in the first-round of the 1986 playoffs.
K.C. Jones’ swashbuckling squad finished with the best record in the league at 67-15, including a 40-1 record at home.
They are considered the best Celtics team ever, and widely regarded among the greatest teams in NBA history, but Air Jordan wasn’t fazed coming up against a pantheon of Boston greats.
The offensive phenom scored 49 points in Game 1 of the best-of-three series — a 123-104 defeat — before dropping a playoff record 63 points in a 2-OT loss in Game 2.
Jordan stunned Bird and the wider basketball world by averaging 56 points in the first two games of the series.
“God disguised as Michael Jordan” was Bird’s only explanation for Jordan’s otherworldly heroics.
The three-time MVP was so in awe of Jordan’s scoring prowess that he humorously threatened to retire should the 1985 Rookie of the year drop 77 points on the Celtics in Game 3.
“I couldn’t believe anybody could do that against the Boston Celtics,” Bird said after Game 2. “He won’t get 77 points on Tuesday. I’ll retire if he scores 77.”
Boston’s defense put the clamps on Mike in the pivotal Game 3. They restricted him to 19 points and made him foul out with over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Jordan averaged 44.7 points per game in the series, but was unable to prevent the Bulls from being swept, and later admitted Boston’s D was far too formidable for him to overcome.
Jordan scored a record 63 points against Bird’s Celtics in 1986Getty
Bird joked that he’d retire if MJ scored 77 points on the Celtics in Game 3Getty
“They were prepared for me,” Jordan said. “It seemed like every time I got the ball before I could make a move, they would send someone else at me. They played very good defense.”
From there, Bird’s juggernaut Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks in five games, swept the Milwaukee Bucks in four games in the Conference Finals, and reached the NBA Finals for a third consecutive season.
They faced off against the Houston Rockets in a rematch of the 1981 NBA Finals, but this time the Rockets had one of the greatest centers ever in the making in Hakeem Olajuwon.
Olajuwon was yet to flourish into the dominant center he’d later become while Bird and the Celtics were at the peak of their powers — and reeling from a Finals defeat to the Lakers the year before.
Ahead of Game 1, Olajuwon, born in Lagos, Nigeria, said he knew nothing about the Celtics’ illustrious history that included 15 championships banners at the time.
“I know nothing of this tradition. I am not from around here,” he said.
“We’d like to give him a two-week history lesson,” Bird replied.
A young Hakeem stood no chance against the Cetlics in ’86Getty
Bird did just that, and recorded two triple-doubles in the series, including a 29-point, 11-rebound, 12-assist and three-steal performance in a closeout Game 6.
The Celtics’ starting five outscored the entire Rockets team, 98-97, winning by a margin of 114-97 to clinch what would be the final title at Boston Garden.
Bird was named Finals MVP for the second and final time of his career after averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game in the championship round.
A year later, Bird’s Celtics met Jordan’s Bulls once again in the playoffs.
The team in green and white won Games 1, 2 and 3 to coldly sweep MJ for the second straight season and dump the Bulls out of another postseason.
Larry the Legend finished his career an MJ esque 6-0 against Jordan in the playoffs but that was the end of his domination as the ‘Bad Boy’ Detroit Pistons became Jordan’s next big Eastern Conference rival.
After being roughed up with their ‘Jordan Rules’ and losing three consecutive playoffs series, ‘His Airness’ eventually overcame Detroit and made the league his own.
He was part of two separate championship three-peats with the Bulls between 1991-1993 and 1996-1998.
Jordan was also well on his way to becoming the NBA’s first billionaire, fuelled by the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, and later, his Air Jordan brand.
