During his time on the hardwood, Larry Bird had supreme confidence in his own skills. The Boston Celtics legend was even known to tell his opponents exactly how he planned to score before doing just that. That wasn’t his only quirk when it came to defenders, though.
In an old interview, Bird said that he felt being guarded by a “white guy” was disrespectful to that game. Thanks to a more recent conversation, though, we know that Larry Legend also didn’t care for being guarded by anyone shorter than 6-foot-6. And, according to Rex Chapman, Kelly Tripucka paid the price for that preference.
When players like Kelly Tripucka attempted to defend Larry Bird, he became enraged.
It was going to be a hard night for whoever had to guard Larry Bird, considering his height and general competence. However, there would be an extra challenge for players who scored lower than 6-6. In addition to his obvious height disadvantage, the Celtics forward would presumably be a little more fired up when playing against them.
Rex Chapman reminisced on The Rich Eisen Show, “I remember Kelly Tripucka was going to guard him, and we had Jerry Sichting on our team, who had played with Larry.” “And at shoot-around, Jerry informed us, Larry, that no man in the world who was 6 feet 6 inches or shorter could protect him. And he finds it offensive. Consequently, you’ll observe that Michael and Larry didn’t often match up, even during Boston’s games against the Bulls. It was Horace and Scottie.
Unfazed, the Charlotte Hornets sent Tripucka—who Basketball-Reference puts at precisely 6–6—to stop Larry Legend.
