Getty Images Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton
The Boston Celtics’ Hall of Fame legend Larry Bird is revered as one of the greatest basketball players to ever play in the NBA.
Bird will also go down in history as one of the league’s nastiest trash talkers. 6-time All-Star Shawn Kemp remembers this vividly when he went toe-to-toe with Larry Legend in Boston during his rookie season with the Seattle Supersonics in 1989.
Shawn Kemp On Larry Bird In 1989: ‘Larry Gave Me 50 In Three Quarters And He Talked To Me The Whole Entire Game’
Kemp told the story on the Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. It was a connection between two pros that stemmed from Indiana; only Bird had a chip on his shoulder and couldn’t wait to have a big night against Kemp and the Sonics.
“I knew about the history of Larry but I didn’t realize how he really got down,” Kemp said. “Larry gave me 50 in three quarters. And he talked to me the whole entire game. He asked me at the jump ball, ‘You’re the one that broke all my records in high school, right?’ And I said, “Yeah, that’s me.’ And he said, “And you’re the one that used to dunk on my brother too right, Andy?’ And I said I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me,’ and he said, ‘I’ve got something for you tonight.’”
Bird didn’t manage to drop 50 on Kemp, he actually netted 40 points at Boston Garden that night but Larry’s triple-double performance against Seattle was one of his many signature regular-season gems – one that he saved for the latter half of his 13-year career. After six games, Bird sat out of 1988-89 season due to bone spurs that were surgically removed from both of his heels.
1989-90 Larry Bird: Legend Still Got It
Impressively enough, he managed to average at least 20 or more points in all but two seasons throughout his career. Bird, 33, returned the following year and averaged 24.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 1.4 steals throughout 1989-90, Kemp’s rookie campaign.
Through back injuries that plagued his body since the mid-1980s and season-ending foot surgery, Bird proved he still had plenty of basketball left in the tank and in the process served a rookie his “Welcome to the league” moment that Kemp still talks about to this day.
READ NEXT: Celtics All-Star Ruled Out Until At Least January