Larry Legend talks 1 on 1 with MJ, if he was the best shooter on the Pacers & more

[trojanfan12]

I loved when Bird and Magic were on Letterman. These guys were clearly from a different era, even though it wasn't that long ago. Back then before free agency, you had guys like Magic signing a 25 year contract with the Lakers. Bird played for Boston. That's just the way it was.

Bird on Letterman...

"My whole life, at every level they said I wouldn't make it.

Started getting attention in junion high but the coach said high school basketball in Indiana weeds out guys like you. So when I got to high school, I dominated.

In high school Bobby Knight started showing interest but they said when I got to college, things'd be different that I wouldn't make it. So I dominated there too.

Then I got drafted by Boston and the veterans and "experts" said I couldn't physically compete. So guess what? I dominated them too. Everywhere I went, everything I did. I dominated."

Love it.

I hated, but respected Bird when he was a Celtic. Since he has retired, not only has my respect for him increased, but he is the only Celtic on my list of all-time favorite players. A friend of mine who is a Celtics fan and I were talking about the Showtime Lakers/Bird's Celtics and what great games those were. He asked "Could you imagine if they had ever ended up on the same team?" We thought about if for a minute and decided, that just would have been wrong.

Don't know if you've ever read the book "When The Game Was Ours." If you haven't I highly recommend it. Some great stories in that book.

 

[HammerDown]

I hated, but respected Bird when he was a Celtic. Since he has retired, not only has my respect for him increased, but he is the only Celtic on my list of all-time favorite players. A friend of mine who is a Celtics fan and I were talking about the Showtime Lakers/Bird's Celtics and what great games those were. He asked "Could you imagine if they had ever ended up on the same team?" We thought about if for a minute and decided, that just would have been wrong.

Don't know if you've ever read the book "When The Game Was Ours." If you haven't I highly recommend it. Some great stories in that book.

Was standing in line the day it came out, TF!!!

Like I told you guys many times, I lived and died with every game back then. I was growing up in rural Tennessee after we left LA. I went from going to games at the Forum to having to look in the local newpaper for boxscores. It was almost a mental illness I loved those guys so much. I literally felt like I knew them and they were my friends. I was looking at old pics with my parents and sister last week and my Mom said "Do you realize there were only one or two of these old pictures where you weren't wearing a Lakers hat or shirt?" That night Ralph Sampson hit that shot at the free throw line to oust the Lakers in the West, I cried all night and went to school to take my lumps from all those peckerheads who hated the Lakers and endured my non-stop trash talking.

Magic said he was born to play for the Lakers and I believe it. Same for Bird. The universe would have it no other way.

That, my friends, was the pinnacle of basketball and I truly believe that the '87 Showtime team would devastate Michael's Bulls just like they did the second-best team ever in the Celtics. How many times did the Lakers send the Bad Boyz home to the Motor City with tears?!

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Gotta say - the NBA was never the same without Magic Johnson and Kareem, Bird and the guys in that era. These knuckleheads playing to do ain't worth shit in comparison. They just think they are something

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

I truly believe that the '87 Showtime team would devastate Michael's Bulls just like they did the second-best team ever in the Celtics. How many times did the Lakers send the Bad Boyz home to the Motor City with tears?!

 

[Robotech]

It's too bad his career didn't last longer. He's one of my all time favorite players. He sounds humble in this interview, which makes him even more likable.

 

[Wazmankg]

How many times did the Lakers send the Bad Boyz home to the Motor City with tears?!

Once. The same number of times the Pistons did it to the Lakers. Damn BS phantom foul.

 

[Wamu]

Don't know if you've ever read the book "When The Game Was Ours." If you haven't I highly recommend it. Some great stories in that book.

That's an excellent book.