Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics visited Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls looking to prove that they were still the best team in the league during the 1990-1991 season. However, what happened was the complete opposite. The Bulls dominated the Celtics and finished the game with a blowout 129-99 victory.
For average NBA fans, it was just another win for the Bulls. However, those who understood that the Celtics and the Bulls were the top teams in the East at the time, it was a statement.
In fact, even Bird himself acknowledged it. He famously told Bulls reporter Sam Smith, “The Bulls are the best team I’ve ever seen.” While that could be true, Smith took Bird’s comment with a grain of salt. For him, it was more of a shot at the Detroit Pistons rather than a compliment for Jordan and the Bulls.
“My thought is that Larry hated the Pistons so much that he’d do anything to take a jab at them,” Smith reflected on Bird’s declaration 25 years later.
Bird was right about MJ and the Bulls
While Sam may have a point, as there was really some bad blood between Bird and the Pistons, he wasn’t the one who played against Jordan and the Bulls that night. MJ and Scottie Pippen combined for 72 points while Larry Legend was limited to just 12. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Bulls even led by as much as 39 points.
“This team here looks much more potent and aggressive than the Pistons,” Celtics play-by-play commentator Tommy Heinsohn said as the Bulls went up 115-76.
According to Celtics center Michael Smith, there was nothing they could do to contain the Bulls, let alone stop them. For him, Bird was right. The Bulls showed the world that they were the best team in the league in that game.
“It was almost like, at that point, we knew,” Smith remembered. “I would equate it to what the rest of the league is experiencing with the Golden State Warriors. You can try to stop them, but you could see that something was brewing over there.”
It was Jordan’s turn
Fans eventually understood where Bird was coming from when he declared the Bulls the best team ever. That same season, the Bulls went on to win the first championship of their first three-peat.
In a separate discussion, Bird reflected on his epic duels with Jordan back in the day. According to Larry Legend, he never doubted what MJ could do as a player but he also never saw him as a rival.
“No,” Bird once said when asked if he ever considered Jordan a direct rival. “You’ve got to understand, Michael came [into the NBA] in’ 84–85. We were at the top of our games, and he was just getting started. By the time he got really good, we were on our way out, so there wasn’t really a rivalry there. I only played against him [twice] in the playoffs.”
That being said, it appears that Bird really meant what he said about Jordan and the Bulls after that lopsided showdown at the Chicago Stadium in ’91. However, it has to be taken into account that it was only because Bird and the Celtics were older at the time, and the Pistons had nothing to do with it.