Bird called McHale’s deception of an unidentified player the worst thing he had ever witnessed on the field.
Even though he wasn’t well-known for having a frightening presence on the court, two-time 6MOTY winner Kevin McHale was capable of acting viciously. In one incident, he caused Larry Bird to observe what he thought was the worst thing he had ever seen happen on the basketball court.
Bird was alarmed by McHale’s bullying of his former teammate.
The three-time MVP discussed some memorable events from his playing career in an interview with ESPN. When asked to recollect the most memorable instance of trash-talking with teammate McHale, the two-time Finals MVP had a poor recall.
In spite of the upbeat tone of the investigation, Bird related an instance in which McHale so badly mistreated his opponent that he felt sad for the victim.
“One of the dirtiest things anyone can do to an opponent player is what Kevin McHale did once. He told his friend, a college friend, a teammate, “When Kevin came in, he told him, ‘When you get the ball in the low post, you just turn and shoot it over me, and I’ll just act like I’m defending you,'” Bird said. “At the end of the game in Golden State, we were up pretty big, and we were just getting ready to go out of the game.” “Sure enough, they threw it in there, he turned and Kevin batted the shot about six rows up into the stands.”
Bird warned McHale never to treat a friend that way.
Although ‘Larry Legend’ was well known for pushing his teammates to outperform their opponents, he disapproved of McHale’s behavior, particularly because he was a friend.
Bird went on, “I mean, I felt so bad for the guy, and the guy was pissed.” “I still remember it because it was the worst thing I had ever seen on a basketball court. You wouldn’t treat your friend that way.”
