When Tim Thomas was playing, coach Larry Bird once said, “I would have loved to kill your a**.”

Thomas was shocked that Bird, a coach, had spoken poorly to him.

Larry Bird was a skilled trash-talker while he was on the field. He was the most intelligent person in the field, arguably. Even after he started coaching, though, he continued to have a talent for verbally abusing players on the court.

 

When the basketball great was the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, retired forward Tim Thomas admitted to being on the receiving end of Bird’s insults.

When Larry Legend was coaching the Pacers, I got the chance to play against him,” Thomas remarked. “As a coach, that man was talking sh*t to me. Larry told me once during a timeout because I was destroying the older men, their bigs. The timeout was called by him. We had a run of about 8 goals. “I would have loved to kill your ass,” he continued, if you had been playing in my day. He served as the head coach.

 

Thomas’s comical meeting with Bird

 

When the Boston Celtics legend and the former amateur hoops star faced up, the former did not disclose. But given his account of the game, in which he said Indiana still possessed the Davis “brothers,” Rik Smits and Mark Jackson, it was most likely played in the 1997–98 or 1998–99 seasons.

He scored 21 points in his best game against the Pacers under Bird’s leadership. Did the trash-talking coach feel motivated to expose the offensive-minded forwards’ shortcomings enough? Most likely.

 

Still, the three-time NBA MVP ultimately proved to Thomas’ teams who was master, especially during the postseason. The former No. 7 pick went to the playoffs for the first time in 1998 and 1999. Tim was not able to advance to the second round either time since Indiana eliminated his Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round.