Per Game: 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.8 blocks, 0.7 threes
Per 75 Possessions: 22.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.8 blocks, 0.7 threes
Relative True Shooting Percentage: +2.7
Net Rating Swing: N/A
Win Shares per 48 Minutes: .203
Earlier this summer, Bleacher Report posted a more comprehensive breakdown of the "Kevin Durant or Larry Bird" debate. Suffice it to say, if KD can come all the way back from the torn Achilles, Bird is within reach. But for now, Bird has the more complete all-time resume.
Over his 13-year career, Bird piled up 12 All-Star selections, 10 All-NBA selections, three All-Defensive selections, three NBA championships, three league MVPs and two Finals MVPs.
Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only players in NBA history with more career "NBA MVP Award Shares," defined by Basketball Reference as the number of voting points a player received divided by the total points possible.
"For example, in the 2002-03 MVP voting Tim Duncan had 962 points out of a possible 1,190," the site's glossary reads. "His MVP award share is 962 / 1,190 = 0.81."
Bird's place at or near the top of the league throughout his career was the product of one of the most fundamentally sound individual games in the history of basketball.
Bird did everything for the Celtics. If you frame his basic numbers as what he did relative to the league average at the time, they look even more impressive.
- +13.2 rPTS/gm (relative points per game), +5.6 rREB/gm, +3.7 rAST/gm, +0.8 rSTL/gm, +0.3 rBLK/gm, +0.6 r3P/gm, +1.3 rFG%, +7.0 r3P%, +12.5 rFT%
That's right. Above average at everything. Way above average in several categories.
And Bird didn't just dominate the NBA. He did it with an unrivaled and unique brand of swagger.
You can find plenty of collections of Bird's trash-talking stories all over the internet. One from Complex's Jose Martinez details the time Bird verbally gave it to a two-time Defensive Player of the Year:
"Larry Bird was scared of no one. Not even Dennis Rodman. During his years with the Detroit Pistons, Rodman recalls a time when Bird made four straight baskets on The Worm and walked over to Pistons head coach Chuck Daly. 'Who's guarding me, Chuck? Is anyone guarding me? You better get someone on me or I'm gonna go for 60.'
"On the ensuing possession, Larry Legend continued the trash talk. Rodman recalls, 'I would be all over him, trying to deny him the ball, and all Larry was doing was yelling at his teammates, 'I'm open! Hurry up before they notice nobody is guarding me!'' After knocking down another jumper on Rodman, Bird went over to Daly again, saying, 'Coach, you better get this guy out and send in somebody who's going to D me up because it's too easy when I'm wide-open like this.'"
And that just scratches the surface. Larry Legend went beyond humiliating his opponents with his skill. He also wrecked their wills.
