MJ never feared Bird on the court but outside it, he was intimidated by Larry Legend.
Michael Jordan was so good that even his opponents could not help but compliment his abilities. MJ received too many praises to mention, but perhaps the greatest one came from Boston Celtics great Larry Bird who gave Mike a heavenly comparison.
It was after Game 2 of the Celtics' first-round series against the Bulls during the 1986 postseason when Bird famously dropped the 'God disguised as Michael Jordan' line. Although Larry's Celtics won that game 135-131 in double overtime, Jordan's otherworldly performance caused Bird to compare it to God himself.
"I remember reading what Larry said about that game," said MJ on 'Being Michael Jordan". "I really couldn't believe he would say something like that. Here was a guy who had been in the league seven years and was in a class I was trying to enter."
God disguised as Michael Jordan
MJ played all but five minutes of that game and scored 63 points on 22-41 shooting and 19-21 from the foul line. That performance broke Elgin Baylor's single-game playoff scoring record, which still stands today, proving how impressive a feat it was.
At that time, Jordan was only in his second NBA season. Although his star was beginning to rise as early as that campaign, nobody expected him to light up the best team in the NBA that season, much more set an NBA scoring record against them in the postseason.
"Larry Bird's comments gave me credibility," said MJ. "Up to that point I was still perceived as a hotshot rookie, not a real player. When Bird acknowledged my performance, I became a player. I still wasn't up to his level, but I was now a player who was marked as a star, a potential Hall of Famer depending upon how I took those comments."
Mike was intimidated by Larry Legend
It wasn't a surprise why Michael took highly Bird's comments. The Boston Celtics legend was always someone that Jordan looked up to. Although Mike did not fear him on the basketball court as he showed in that game, he put Bird on a pedestal along with Magic and Dr. J.
"Off the court, Larry Bird intimidated me because of who he was, what he had accomplished," added Jordan. "And the fact that he was Larry Legend. I felt the same way about all the stars at that time: Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson, Philadelphia 76er forward Julius Erving—all of them."
According to Bird, Jordan's comments confirmed that he was on the right path. And so he worked harder so that his name would be held in the same breath as the legends he admired. He ended up putting up too much work that he surpassed all of them and retired as the greatest to ever play the game.
