1988: Bird outplaying Jordan the ENTIRE season..the worst an MVP has been disgraced?

[mehyaM24]

jordan won MVP in 1988, but his runner up, larry bird, completely trashed him in H2H matchups.

bird led boston to an 8-1 record in the regular season over jordan's bulls, and in all but ONE game, he outplayed jordan statistically.

few highlights to the games referenced:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdMjK-60H-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp0NMFf9Dkg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEaNwJPssEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zk1vWGxEXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ChmRhlFzk0

come playoff time, the bulls were to be had in 5 by the pistons, and ironically enough, the cetlics just a year before, in a sweep (in one of those games, jordan went scoreless in the 4th quarter while the bulls were up double digits to begin the period. bird? went off scoring at least 12 points to close the game out).

the only other year i can think of where an mvp completely and throughly was out played, had to have been robinson in 1995 vs hakeem. but even then, that was just in a playoff series. the volume here is larger.

[Young X]

The Bulls and Celtics were 3-3 that season and Jordan averaged 39/7/5 against them. WTF are you talking about?

And why would you bring up the Pistons series when Bird played TERRIBLE against them?

[JT123]

It's up there, but I would say Kevin Durant getting shut down by two midgets in the 2014 playoffs was the worst an MVP has been disgraced.

[Warfan]

MJ had games of

46/6/6
39/3/8
50/5/9
42/4/6

That year, and the bulls and celtics were 3-3 in their matchups that year

[mehyaM24]

The Bulls and Celtics were 3-3 that season and Jordan averaged 39/7/5 against them. WTF are you talking about?

And why would you bring up the Pistons series when Bird played TERRIBLE against them?

i added the 1987 season into the mix, as noted in my OP below. should have explained that better. anyway, to be more clearer, there was point from 1987 - 1988 where bird's celtics went 9-1 against the bulls and he outplayed jordan statistically (all but one game)

here are a couple stat-lines from 1988:

January 12 1988
bird 38/9/8 on 58% fg
jordan 42/4/6 on 53% fg
(Celtics win)

March 20 1988
bird 33/7/8 on 67% fg
jordan 26/4/7 on 56% fg
(Celtics win)

April 21 1988
bird 44/10/3 on 66% fg
jordan 39/3/8 on 52% fg
(Celtics win)

[Nuff Said]

I need op to address these "3-3" comments please.

[mehyaM24]

It's up there, but I would say Kevin Durant getting shut down by two midgets in the 2014 playoffs was the worst an MVP has been disgraced.

in a H2H against a superstar caliber player? i dont know.

hakeem vs drob is definitely up there. cant front (i was a big fan of drob).

[mehyaM24]

I need op to address these "3-3" comments please.

young x is right. i included some 1987 matchups in there.

read the post above yours.

[Nuff Said]

young x is right. i included some 1987 matchups in there.

read the post above yours.

I don't understand tho. Including more games diminishes the 3 wins the bulls had into 9-1?

[ILLsmak]

I don't understand tho. Including more games diminishes the 3 wins the bulls had into 9-1?

he included them instead of some losses obvi.

-Smak

[ArbitraryWater]

Com bro... You can't just include '87 stuff when you're talking about '88.

MVP was well deserved.

[kennethgriffin]

i've called out MJ's 1988 mvp many times

why is he allowed to win mvp with an 8th best record team

bird and magic both had #1 seeds

[Young X]

i added the 1987 season into the mix, as noted in my OP below. should have explained that better. anyway, to be more clearer, there was point from 1987 - 1988 where bird's celtics went 9-1 against the bulls and he outplayed jordan statistically (all but one game)

Why would you add the '87 season into the mix when the thread is about the '88 MVP? MJ wasn't the same player he was in '87 that he was in '88, he clearly improved his game.

So MJ's '88 MVP is the worst MVP ever because of what happened in '87, his 2nd full year in the league? This is what you have to resort to? Using a different season to discredit an MVP?

[mehyaM24]

i've called out MJ's 1988 mvp many times

why is he allowed to win mvp with an 8th best record team

bird and magic both had #1 seeds

another great point. who the **** wins an mvp with an 8th seeded team?

honestly if that isnt media hype,i dont know what is.

[mehyaM24]

Why would you add the '87 season into the mix when the thread is about the '88 MVP? MJ wasn't the same player he was in '87 that he was in '88, he clearly improved his game.

mostly because of what happened in 1987 spilled into 1988. look @ the 3 games i quoted. bird and the celtics rocked jordan's bulls.

if i had to start the thread over, i wouldnt have even added 1987 into this discussion. its merely a point of reference.

So MJ's '88 MVP is the worst MVP ever because of what happened in '87, his 2nd full year in the league?

again, look at the H2H games i posted from 1988. bird completely outplayed jordan in them (better stats/his team won).