When Kareem Disrespected Larry Bird and Instantly Regretted It

My favorite sports quote of all time is Jordan made you look slow, but Bird made you look stupid.

"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I’d choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I’d take Larry Bird.” - Pat Riley

It’s crazy watching these old highlights, how much harder the fouls were. Meanwhile today, Lebron gets touched with a pinky and goes flying. 😂

Dennis Johnson was critically underrated. Instrumental to these Celtics and the SuperSonics championship obviously. DJ was the man

I'd rather watch this series on a repeated loop for the rest of my days rather then 5 mins of the current no defense, 3 point shoot out, load management, no loyalty player super teams NBA!

One minute in, and I already saw 3 technicals, 2 flgrants, and an ejection in today's NBA 🤣 I miss this era. Grown men, really out there playing like it matters.

This game wasn't about Kareem "disrespecting" Bird (yeah they were jawing but just two GOATs being competitive). It was more a reaction to the Showtime Lakers running roughshod over the Celtics in game 3 (137-104). After that game, the Celtics were down 2-1 and all the momentum was with the Lakers. Bird called his team "sissies" in postgame interviews, and they as a team came to play physical in this next game to throw the Lakers off their rhythm and turn a footrace into a slugfest. Honestly one of the greatest finals series ever, absolutely legendary.

After watching this, I have to say that I prefer that version of the NBA. The inside game and the mid-range jumpers impress me more than endless threes and no defense. Even the misses created exciting put-back efforts.

The highlights of this game are better than anything the NBA has now. My goodness, do I miss real basketball.

Its time to officially acknowledge Bird as Top 5, all time.

I haven't watched basketball in YEARS and I actually got excited watching this. This type of play is great, much more physical and team-oriented than today.

These were the golden years of basketball

I'm not sure what game they play today, but THIS is basketball!

0:39 favorite no call ever, Cooper butt checked over the photographers by Bird

Over time, we tend to forget just hiw great these games were. As a young man I was a die hard Bird, McHale and Celtics fan. Thanks!

So many legends on those two teams. This rivalry is what saved the NBA in the 80's

More physical than today's NFL. Love it as a fan.

Bird was a beast...Growing up in New England , it was a joy to watch him play

I’m a Knicks fan & these 2 were something truly special. LB was like MJ, NOT someone to antagonize during a game. The angrier they got …

The NBA in the 80’s was more physical than the NFL is today.