But Larry Legend, who was privy to how the game rapidly evolved, thinks the 1980s might have been left out of the conversation. "It's funny how the game has changed," Bird told the New Yorker in 2016.

Larry Bird's trash-talking was as lethal as his clutch ... He laughed at that. He thought that was funny." Apart from the verbal back-and-forths, Drexler and Bird also ensured to back it all ...

Larry Bird, who called himself "a hick from French Lick," is anything but. He was one of those rare athletes who made everybody around him better. His uncanny passing, deadly shooting and ...