Dominique Wilkins sometimes doesn’t get the respect he deserves from modern NBA fans. During the 80s and 90s, he was the man on the Atlanta Hawks and made them a formidable force in the Eastern Conference. And arguably, his best performance came in a losing effort against Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in 1988.
Playing in a Game 7 against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Wilkins had a whopping 47 points. And spoke to Heavy about those battles against the Celtics, revealing what Larry Bird once said to him.
“I remember that seventh game. Larry said, ‘Man, we both should have won this game. Unfortunately one of us got to go home.’ He said, ‘You was amazing.’ I think that’s the best compliment I ever got from a star player,” Wilkins said.
“Under those type of circumstances, it was unbelievable. Stuff like that is very special to me, because I know what kind of guy he was and is and how hard it was to compete against him. You know, when I hear people making comparisons to Larry, I’m like, ‘Stop. He’s one of a kind.’”
Having Larry Bird acknowledge that his performance deserved a victory is a high honor. And considering how badly Bird demolished the Atlanta Hawks while talking trash at other times, it must have felt even sweeter for Wilkins.
The Celtics and the Hawks are currently squaring off in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, but Game 1 was a blowout victory for Boston. The hope will be that one of the Hawks’ players can step up and make it a series, or some Celtics may just start talking trash like prime Larry Bird.
Larry Bird Once Dominated Dominque Wilkins And Talked Trash To Him In The Playoffs
Dominique Wilkins won Larry Bird’s respect by 1986, but in 1983, he was getting torched by him. Larry himself once recounted the tale of how he destroyed Wilkins in a playoff game.
“I took him completely out of his game, which is what I set out to do,” Bird said. “I told him to go back to the bench and sit down and that I hoped he had a nice summer. He’s just a rookie, so you got to take your shots wherever you can get ’em.”
The rivalries that existed in the NBA in the 80s and 90s were on a different level, and it would be incredible if things got like that again. The current Celtics-Hawks series seems destined to end very fast, though, with not much scope for rivalry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtklFzS9MCs
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