One of the most unstoppable players to ever wear an NBA uniform was Larry Bird. Over the course of his 13-year career, the Boston Celtics icon averaged 24.3 points per game and made nearly half of the 17,334 shots he tried in the NBA.
Defenders had to be cautious not to give Bird any extra juice on the basketball court because he was already difficult to guard without any additional incentive. Mychal Thompson, the former Los Angeles Lakers champion, was aware of this and established a sacred code that he had to abide by each time he played against Bird and the Celtics.
Larry Bird was a master at trash speaking.
For the duration of his illustrious basketball career, Bird was a cold-blooded killer on the floor. The Celtics knew he would provide a bucket when they needed it late in a game. That’s what made him so unique in the 1980s Boston dominating run.
However, Bird was also a vicious jester in the NBA. He employed it as a competitive strategy to penetrate his opponent’s mentality and then lay them low with a spin move or a silky shot to the rim. There are countless anecdotes of Bird’s amazing trash talk, but none fitter than the day he defeated the Atlanta Hawks by 60 points while correctly calling every shot that was made.
Hawks player Doc Rivers stated on the Dan Patrick Show in 2018 that “we were trying (to guard him), but the guy is literally coming up the court and calling his shots.”
He went on, “Bird talked a lot of trash.” “It’s a difficult feeling, you know, when we’re at the free throw line in that game in New Orleans and he literally says, ‘Left side, across the 3,’ and you’re listening to him.”
For the guys, losing to Bird was not only disheartening, but also hearing it from him afterwards. Mychal Thompson established a certain rule in order to prevent “Larry Legend” from reaching his full potential.
Mychal Thompson, a former Lakers champion, had a single, unbreakable rule about playing against Larry Bird.
It was one thing to try to protect Larry Bird; it was quite another to try to protect an enraged and trash-talking Larry Bird. When playing against Bird, Thompson—who won two championships with the Lakers—quickly recognized that you couldn’t agitate him because he would make you pay.
That’s why Thompson swore he would never irritate Bird during a game. According to SB Nation, he even went so far as to include it in his “three rules of life.”
However, not all of Bird’s rivals adhered to this unbreakable guideline.
It was bad news to break the Bird rule.
Kevin Willis made the stupid mistake of turning to Dominique Wilkins during Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Hawks, yelling, “He can’t guard you!” in reference to Bird. After Bird scorched the Hawks for 20 points on 9–10 shooting in the fourth quarter to ice the game and send the Celtics to the conference finals, Willis came to regret his choice.
It’s safe to say that Willis never committed the same error again.
