The NBA in the 90s of the last century was the era of Michael Jordan, the "god of basketball", and countless NBA superstars have always been unrelated to the O'Brien Cup because they were born in the same era as Jordan.
Jordan had just entered the league and won all the awards, but the basketball god did not win the NBA championship for the first time until 1991. Why?
Because the NBA at that time was ruled by two people, it was the era of "black and white double brakes", that was the era when the god of basketball could only be subordinated to people.
"Black" is the legendary superstar "Magician" Johnson. "White" is another legendary superstar and the protagonist of today, "Big Bird" Larry Bird.
"Big Bird" Larry Bird
The young Bird exhibited outstanding basketball talent, and no one can combine physical talent and shooting feel as perfectly as he does.
In his sophomore year of high school, bird led his school to a 19-2 record in the high school league despite a broken ankle.
His senior year of high school became the highest scorer in history at Spring Valley High School. At the high school farewell game, more than 4,000 spectators came to see Bird off.
In 1974, Bird entered the university, because of his reticent personality, he dropped out of Indiana University and North Wood University twice, and Bird, who had no ball to play, could only play amateur leagues to maintain his form.
After that, Bird decided to enter Indiana State University, and immediately led the fish belly team to become the NCAA's powerhouse, averaging 30 points and 10 rebounds per game, making "Bird Basketball" the symbol of the university.
In 1978, Bird participated in the NBA draft, how could "The Red Master" Auerbach miss such a genius, grabbing him with the sixth pick in the first round. But he refused the offer to participate in the NBA, resolutely returned to college, and led the university team to 33 consecutive victories to the NCAA Finals. Although he lost to the University of Michigan team led by "Magic" Johnson in the final, Bird won the 1978-79 Award for Best Player.
Larry. Bird is at the college court
The 1979-80 season was Bird's first NBA season, and as a rookie, he started all 82 games, averaging 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 36 minutes of playing time, and several statistics ranked first in the team, and he won the rookie of the season without suspense and was named to the All-Star Weekend Team.
The following season, Bird took it to the next level, helping the Celtics reclaim the Walter A. Brown Cup after a six-year absence.
The following seasons were the seasons in which Bird exploded. He won the race against another superstar, "Magic" Johnson.
Bird and Johnson in the game
In the 1983–84 season, Bird led the Celtics back to the Finals. Bird averaged 24.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game in the regular season to easily win the regular season MVP. In the Finals, Bird led the Celtics to the championship with a perfect performance averaging 27.4 points and 14 boards per game, and he also won the Finals fmvp without dispute.
The following season, due to Bird's elbow and finger injuries, the Celtics lost 2-4 to the Lakers in the Finals, but he still conquered fans around the world with impeccable performances, winning the regular season MVP for the second consecutive year.
In the 1985-1986 season, Bird regrouped and returned without giving his opponents any chance. He won the regular season mvp, championship, finals fmvp of the season, and won the athlete of the year awards selected by almost all magazines such as Sports News.
And winning the regular season MVP for three consecutive years is also the third person in history after "Lord of the Rings" Bill Russell and "Mr. 100" Wilt Chamberlain.
No one can stop Bird
Speaking of three-pointers, in that era, Bird dared to say second, and no one dared to say first.
The NBA league introduced three-pointers from the 1979-1980 season, and Bird became its king, and the three-pointers fell and fell.
In 1986, the NBA's All-Star Weekend introduced the first three-point game, Bird alone to lose, the first three All-Star three-point game champions were all won by Bird. He asked in front of all the other contestants, "Are you all here to compete for second place?" No one stood up to refute him.
All-Star Three-Point Contest Awards Ceremony
As one of the garbage words of the NBA's countless cultures, Bird is even more unwilling, and in the history of the NBA, no one even expressed any doubts about Bird's status as the "king of garbage words".
There are countless NBA stars who say bluntly:
"I don't want to be in the same position as Bird anymore, his garbage words are crazy, and the garbage words of others are so polite in comparison."
"The King of Trash Talk" – Bird
Due to serious injuries, Bird missed a large number of games from the 1988-89 season, and a serious waist injury even prevented him from walking upright. However, when the NBA league decided to form a dream team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Bird's name appeared on the roster and he was also the captain of the dream team.
After leading the Dream Team to a crushing gold medal in Barcelona, In August of the same year, Bird also announced that he would leave the NBA and bid farewell to the sports field.
Dream Team 3 top superstars
After a brief absence from the NBA for a few years, Bird completed a gorgeous turn as a coach. In 1997, Bird became head coach of the Indiana Pacers and was named NBA Coach of the Year.
In the years that followed, Bird led the Pacers as a coach against the Chicago Bulls, the team of the Gods, and despite all his efforts, he did not snatch a championship ring from the hands of the Gods.
Bird then served as general manager and president of the Indiana Pacers, and was named General Manager of the Year.
In this way, Bird became the first person in history to win the regular season MVP, the Finals FMVP, the best head coach, the best general manager, and the only one.
Bird, who was the team's president at the time
Bird is probably the most underrated superstar in history.
In the 1980s, the NBA was still in the era of delayed playback with tape, and the audience was seriously lost. It was not until 1979, when Bird and Johnson entered the NBA together, that this situation was reversed and the glory of the NBA was shaped.
And when people discuss who is the second-best star in history, they always habitually ignore his name.
Bird's era is an era of stars, Michael Jordan, "Magician" Johnson, Moses Malone, Julius Owen, Charles Barkley, Dominic Wilkins, Isaiah Thomas, Hakim Olajuwon, "Skyhook" Jabbar, James Worthy... One by one, the famous names, countless Hall of Famers, in that era, could only look up to the "big bird" Bird.
"Magician" Johnson evaluates Larry Bird