BWAHAHAHA Bird slams Pierce!!

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I know this may not be Spurs related, but this quote was too good to pass up!

"Are you basing it on the regular season or the playoffs? I mean, it's hard to compare guys that have never been to the Finals to other players. If you gear yourself to play six months of the year, it's completely different than gearing yourself to play nine months a year. My whole focus was trying to gear myself to play nine months a year."

-- Larry Bird, responding to Tommy Heinsohn's comment that Paul Pierce was the greatest offensive player in Celtics history

:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao

[Horry For 3!]

:tu

[Mr. Body]

Heinsohn is an overcaffeinated maniac.

[TDMVPDPOY]

htf is pp goin to carry the celtics with a scrub team?

Bird played on a team that was stacked to the last man

[flipcritic]

htf is pp goin to carry the celtics with a scrub team?

Bird played on a team that was stacked to the last man

Nonsense. Bird gave them grit. Look at Boston when before he came (McHale and Parish were there before Bird got there) and during his decline (McHale and Parish were still very productive in Bird's last few injury-plagued years). No championships for them then.

[ShoogarBear]

Nonsense. Bird gave them grit. Look at Boston when before he came (McHale and Parish were there before Bird got there) and during his decline (McHale and Parish were still very productive in Bird's last few injury-plagued years). No championships for them then.
Wrong.

McHale and Parish got there in Bird's second year.

[polandprzem]

Yup - but when Bird came the Celtics had the 32 games progression

[jochhejaam]

-- Larry Bird, responding to Tommy Heinsohn's comment that Paul Pierce was the greatest offensive player in Celtics history


I guess Tommy thinks that because Bird averaged 24.3 for his career and Pierce is averaging 23.3... :drunk

Pierce is also jacking up more shots to get fewer points, Bird shot .496 fg% for his career while Pierce is shooting .440%.

Pierce is an all-star but I'm not sure how Tommy came up with that, is there some bad blood there?

[leemajors]

how could a celtic fan not like bird... that's like a unc fan not liking jordan (i know a few)

[SpursWillOwn]

If Celtics' best O player is not Pierce den who could it be? fuckin bird? bird is so fuckin ugly he can jus register for ugliest player in celtics history..

[cheguevara]

Bird is completely right. and he'd be MVP if he was playing today.

[polandprzem]

If Celtics' best O player is not Pierce den who could it be? fuckin bird? bird is so fuckin ugly he can jus register for ugliest player in celtics history..

WTF was that?

[SpursWillOwn]

i mean i respect bird's game but he's old and retired so he should stfu and respect his previous club

[polandprzem]

I do not see any disrespectfull in the Birds comment.

Bird is giving credit when the credit should be. (ex. to Magic)

But he was thinking about himself as the best player ever and he wanted to prove that everytime.
And don't tell be Pierce is better then Larry. He is not.
Bird could score when he wanted to. And he was fierce competitor.
Pierce is realy good. But it is all about winning.

[FromWayDowntown]

i mean i respect bird's game but he's old and retired so he should stfu and respect his previous club

Without Bird, the Celtics pretty much would have been irrelevant after about 1976. I'd say that Larry Bird has plenty of license of offer opinions about Celtics history.

[leemajors]

didn't bird used to lay prone for hours before games, possibly on ice, just so that he could get out there and play due to his back condition? you can't question his will or toughness. he carried that team many, many times all the way to rings...

[DarkReign]

If Celtics' best O player is not Pierce den who could it be?

WTF is 'den'? Is that supposed to be 'then'?


fuckin bird? bird is so fuckin ugly he can jus register for ugliest player in celtics history..

'Jus'... Are you from 'da hood'? Cuz you sho are a tuff-talkin gangsta! And your hard-ass post just proooof to da worl that you is.

Sho' nuff.

[DarkReign]

Larry Bird rates as one of the best players of all time. Not top 3, not top 5, but you could argue top 10. Definately in the top 20.

He can comment about the Celtics and any player involved thereof any time he likes. The man bled green.

[baseline bum]

Argue top 10? Did you watch this guy in his prime? To me he's easily top 3, and that's having played 75% of his career with a destroyed back. Bird was every bit the clutch player Jordan was, saw the court like Nash, was tougher than Iverson, and shot better than Dirk. To me the only argument is where he fits in with Magic and Michael in the top 3 players all-time.

[polandprzem]

Bird is the best Forward in history.

I think I would pick him over Magic, Kareem and maybe even Chamberlain.

Russell and Michael are the best

[v2freak]

The playoffs take a whole extra three months? I never realized it was so long

It's been said time and time again - no one can do it alone. Pierce's team is okay but Bird's team was great

[Guru of Nothing]

Anyone got #s on Pierce come playoff time? I'm no fan, but IIRC, he has had some huge games in the playoffs.

[Rummpd]

Argue top 10? Did you watch this guy in his prime? To me he's easily top 3, and that's having played 75% of his career with a destroyed back. Bird was every bit the clutch player Jordan was, saw the court like Nash, was tougher than Iverson, and shot better than Dirk. To me the only argument is where he fits in with Magic and Michael in the top 3 players all-time."


I love Bird and Magic but it is highly questionable they were better basketball players career wise than Russell, Chamberlain or Kareem. Almost all analyst of the game have them somewhere between 6-10.

[ambchang]

The consensus top 3 has always been Russell, Wilt and Kareem, usually in that order, but I am having doubts as to where Wilt stands.
Sure he was an incredible incredible player, but he won "only" two championships in his career. I know the Celtics were a team full of HoFers, but you have to understand many of them were HoFers BECAUSE Russell led the Celtics to so much playoff success.
I would rank the top ten as:
1. Russell
2. Kareem
3. Magic
4. Wilt
5. Jordan
6. Bird
7. Oscar Robertson
8. Hakeem
9. West
10. Duncan (Homer choice ....)

[polandprzem]

Kareem couldn't do squad without Magic. He won the Ccap also with Osca , the old Oscar but it was Oscar. I know Kareems number were insaine but when he won MVP in 1977 he wasn't even in the playoffs...

[baseline bum]

Russell and Wilt in the top 3 is bs. Wilt was a stat whore and Russell's game was nowhere near as complete as Bird's, Magic's, or Jordan's.

[polandprzem]

Russell got the most influace to the game

[ambchang]

Russell and Wilt in the top 3 is bs. Wilt was a stat whore and Russell's game was nowhere near as complete as Bird's, Magic's, or Jordan's.

WARNING: I am going to start knocking Jordan, and I know people are going to go apeshit, but hey ....

Russell and Wilt are extremely complete player. To wit.
Russell, for all the talk about his offensive incompetence, still averaged 15 ppg for his career, and once averaged 18.9 ppg for a season. Sure he is not Hakeem in the low post, but he was an offensive threat. Also, he was a decent passer, no, make it awesome passer. His defense was one of a kind, there was nobody since who came close to the impact he had on that end of the floor.

Wilt once led the league in assists, once scored 50.4 ppg, grabbed 20+ rebounds per game consistently, and was an awesome defender, how was he not an all-around player? Sure he was a stat whore, but he was still an all-around player. His weakness comes in the way that he made his teammates worse because of his quest for glory.

Magic was the best orchestrator the league has ever seen, nobody else could even come close, include Stockton. But his one weakness lies in his individual defense.
Bird, mirror image of Magic.
Now, why I would not put Jordan in the top 10 .... it's not because I am insane, Jordan was good, absolutely revolutionized the way guards fit in the offense. He led in league in scoring ... was it 8 or 9 times? Led the league in steals, got lots of rebounds and assists, and most importantly, won 6 championships, but he needs a very specific set up in his team to win championships (unlike Russell, Magic or Duncan).
The Bulls have always had Pippen (and I could argue that Pippen made Jordan who he is, and of course, vice versa), a sharp shooting undersized 2 guard (Paxson, Kerr, BJ Armstrong), a defensive centre who can nail outside jumpers (Cartwright, Wennington), a strong interior defender (Grant, Rodman). The reason it was set up that way is because Jordan can ONLY win in that kind of setup. Also witness how the Bulls only dropped 2 games and still made it to the WCSF after his first retirement. That Bulls team was a good team even w/o Jordan.

[DETROIT NATIVE]

That Bulls team was a good team even w/o Jordan.



But they didn't win without Jordan...

[baseline bum]

The consensus top 3 has always been Russell, Wilt and Kareem, usually in that order, but I am having doubts as to where Wilt stands.
Sure he was an incredible incredible player, but he won "only" two championships in his career. I know the Celtics were a team full of HoFers, but you have to understand many of them were HoFers BECAUSE Russell led the Celtics to so much playoff success.
I would rank the top ten as:
1. Russell
2. Kareem
3. Magic
4. Wilt
5. Jordan
6. Bird
7. Oscar Robertson
8. Hakeem
9. West
10. Duncan (Homer choice ....)

Russell at one time had 7 hall-of-fame teammates. He began in a league with 8 teams, and his team was half the talent in the NBA. He also shot 44% career in the post. I hate knocking him, because he did so much to integrate the league and because he is without a doubt the best defensive player I've ever seen in my life... but his offensive game was nonexistant. He had no shot whatsoever. He was a much better Ben Wallace. The fact that he had so much team success and his ridiculously quick jump would make him borderline top 7 or 8, but there's no way he had the talent of Magic, MJ, or Larry.

I don't buy that Russell is responsible for everyone's success. Russell didn't give Sam Jones that bank, he's not the reason Cousy revolutionized the point-guard position, and Hondo won two titles without him.

Wilt was too focused on himself to be the complete player Jordan, Bird, or Magic was. I've never come away with the belief that Wilt is top 5 whenever I've seen tape of him. Most of the time I watched him, it was just him shooting finger rolls from 6 feet away and putbacks over guys almost half a foot shorter. Everyone who dispresects Shaq's game because of his size-advantage on the block would have to shit all over Wilt's.

Kareem is arguable in the top 3. He was a monster athletically in Milwaukee and his first 5 years or so in LA, and anyone who can win Finals MVP at age 38 and be top 3 at his position at age 42 is someone special. Personally, I'd put him #4, but he can easily be argued any way up to #1.

Bird's defense is understandable to me, considering how bad his back was. MJ and Larry had reputations as the hardest workers in basketball, and as a kid anytime I showed up to a game 3 hours early those two were always the first out there on the floor, preparing for the upcoming games. Michael and Larry always delivered in the most pressure-packed of situations. You never sawe either of them pass up a last shot.

[slayermin]

The consensus top 3 has always been Russell, Wilt and Kareem, usually in that order, but I am having doubts as to where Wilt stands.
Sure he was an incredible incredible player, but he won "only" two championships in his career. I know the Celtics were a team full of HoFers, but you have to understand many of them were HoFers BECAUSE Russell led the Celtics to so much playoff success.
I would rank the top ten as:
1. Russell
2. Kareem
3. Magic
4. Wilt
5. Jordan
6. Bird
7. Oscar Robertson
8. Hakeem
9. West
10. Duncan (Homer choice ....)

Uh, no. Bill Russell was not the G.O.A.T. He played on an all-star team assembled by the great Red Auerbach. Red was the genius behind all those championships.

[polandprzem]

Uh, no. Bill Russell was not the G.O.A.T. He played on an all-star team assembled by the great Red Auerbach. Red was the genius behind all those championships.

Yeah Red was a genius but couldn't win wiyhout Russell. Cousy was the best but couldn't win without Russell...






But they didn't win without Jordan...

You mean championship?
7 game series vs the Finalist Knicks who almost won the Championship.
The Bulls didn't need even Jordan.

(they would win with Carter either :) )