Five Reasons Larry Bird Was Better Than Michael Jordan!

[LeBird]

actually Bird was also demanding a lot from his teammates

But they revered and respected him. Not like Jordan's teammates who were generally at best indifferent to him or outright hated him.


The article is nice, probably designed to get a few hits, but it shouldn't be treated as a definitive article on why Bird was better than Jordan.

I think comparing their skills/abilities individually shows you that they're both in the top echelon of players; but the main reason I hold Bird as superior to Jordan is simply because Bird was a much more positive influence on his team and getting his teammates to play better than Jordan was for his team and teammates.

Get two teams of relatively equal strength, one with Jordan and with Bird on the other end and I take Larry without much hesitation.

[TheMan]

sounds a lot like lebron and the heat to me...

This, but TonyMontana would like you to believe LBJ has beaten the 80s Lakers and Celtics Who has LBJ faced in the Finals? A great Spurs dynasty team in 2007, not coincidently LBJ got ethered. He then lost to Dirk Nowitzki and a bunch of role players, the Heat, man per man were the better team yet LeBron shit the bed. He then beat a team who's main stars were 22-23 years old and just recently survived a Finals against a Spurs team that is a shell of their former selves. If Montana gon' dog MJ for who he beat, let's also look at who LeBron has faced in the Finals and keep it real.

And the reason I bring LeBron in this thread is because Montana loves crapping on Jordan and propping up LBJ.

Peak Bird > Peak LBJ

[TheMan]

LeBird

Get two teams of relatively equal strength, one with LeBron and with Bird on the other end and I take Larry without much hesitation.

Me too, Bird is a better passer, rebounder, shooter, post player and more clutch. LBJ has elite athleticism and defense but gimme Bird easily The article says Bird routinely owned elite athletic players, why would James be any different

[SamuraiSWISH]

MJ and Bird are the biggest bad asses to ever play the sport.

[Rolando]

MJ and Bird are the biggest bad asses to ever play the sport.

/thread

[East_Stone_Ya]

wow I didn't know that Bird leads the all time match-up 23-11 including 6-0 in playoffs sweeping Jordan out in back to back years

But it's interesting to look back at the Bird/Jordan duels of the 1986-87 and 1987-88 campaigns. Those were Bird's last two healthy years, and they were also the seasons that Jordan was at his most statistically dominant (37/5/4 in '87 and 35/5/5 in '88).

In 1986-87, Bird averaged 34 PPG (on 56 percent shooting) against the Bulls; Jordan averaged 29 PPG (on 42 percent shooting) against the Celtics. Bird outscored Jordan in four out of six games, and two of those times it wasn't even close: On March 27, 1987 Bird hit for 41 (17-29) compared to Jordan's 22 (9-23); on April 17, 1987 Bird netted 38 (17-29 again) and Jordan had only 17 (5-15).


n 1987-88, Bird averaged 34 PPG (on 59 percent shooting) against the Bulls (although he missed two of the games due to injury), while Jordan scorched the Celtics for 39 PPG (on 55 percent shooting), including one 50-point outburst. Bird outscored Jordan twice in the games they played against each other: 33 (14-21) to 26 (10-18) and 44 to 39 (as noted above). They had another great shootout on January 12, 1988: Jordan won the scoring war 42 (19-35) to 38 (18-31), but the Celtics won the game 104-97

[pauk]

I am not saying Bird was better... i am just touching on the subject of raw skills.... i mean take a thorough look at Bird... he could literally do everything with the best of them inside and out.... post up, face up, any moves, hooks, jumphooks, left hand, right hand, runners, fades, underhand shots and other unorthodox/creative shots... ft shooting, midrange shooting, 3pt shooting... court vision, passing ability.... ballhandling for his size... playing different roles/positions... rebounding for his position/size... iq/intangibles/leadership.... basically all facits of the game, it all was comparable with the best of all time... but the difference is every player in NBA history had at least one weakness offensively or was just mediocre in some stuff.... but Larry Bird was premiere in every skill... can you say that about somebody else?

Its like if you created a player in NBA 2K13 with all 99 ratings... but forgot the athleticism part, imagine if he had that god given gift aswell?

[And1AllDay]

if were giving bird serious consideration is mike out of the top 5 at this point?

[Round Mound]

If Bird had Tom Chambers's Athletic Ability He Would Easily Be GOAT.

[Bawkish]

If Lebron had the clutchness of Jason Terry, he would've had 7 titles

[Axe]

If Lebron had the clutchness of Jason Terry, he would've had 7 titles

[72-10]

If Bird had the lateral quickness of Marquis Teague he'd be 8-time All-Defensive instead of 2.

Actually, while Bird is the better shooter, it's very marginal - although Bird had one of the best forms on his shot and released his shot at the apex of his shooting form, and although he could shoot over double or triple teams with that type of form, and although he had a fallaway, it's not like Michael couldn't do all of these things just as or almost as well except for the form. Then in addition, Michael had a fadeaway, which Bird never developed, though this is probably due to his back problems. Bird might have shot the ball at a really high point in the form, but Michael got so much elevation with his legs on his jump shot that he was releasing the ball at roughly the same level off the ground despite the differences in body height, and so even with shots straight on at the basket, they stood roughly the same chances of being blocked or altered by the defense. Bird was better at shooting straight on at the basket, and Michael wasn't as good of a shooter in the 80s, but Michael consistently used and made a fadeaway in the 90s.

[72-10]

Bird is a better shooter, rebounder and passer than Michael.