Larry Bird is known for his amazing shooting, his incredible presence on the court, and his immense charisma, there is a reason the man is in almost every NBA fan’s Top 10 players of all time. However, the one aspect of Bird’s game that fascinates people just as much, if not more than anything else he’s done, is his legendary trash talk. Bird was a terror in his day and the stories of him destroying opponents with his words before following it up with his play are legendary.
However, it was not just his opponents that were having to deal with Larry and his endless competitive spirit, it was also his teammates. The superstar always took practice very seriously, and that meant his trademark trash talk often found his way to teammates. Former Celtic Ed Pinckney, who was with the team from 1989 to 1994 spoke about what it was like going up against Bird in practice.
What was it like to practice against Larry Bird every day?
Ed Pinckney knows.
"Pinck, sorry, I gotta kick your ass today."
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“You know as a competitor, when you’re matched up against someone who’s touted as the best, you have pride as an individual player. You’re not just gonna go into practice and lay down,” Pinckney told host Jason Fraser. “And this dude used to come into practice every day and go, ‘Pinck, sorry. I gotta kick your ass today.’
“And I would be like, ‘Nah, that’s not gonna happen,’ ” Pinckney continued. “He’d be like, ‘Yeah, nah, yes, it is. Don’t take it personal, but I’m really gonna kick your ass.’ And that’s how practice would start off. And I would be like, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s go at it.’ “
Bird tormented players up and down the league as well as when he was just coming up in college. A player doesn’t achieve Top 10 ever status without having that competitive fire within them, and Bird had a lot more of it than most people. His stories as they continue to come out will never cease to amaze and excite.
