Larry Bird clapped back at Rodney Rogers for trash-talking to him. Bird made eight shots in a row against Rodgers.
The 1992 Dream Team was arguably the best team to ever be assembled in the history of the sport. It had the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and several other NBA superstars on the roster. While Bird and Magic may have been out of their primes at the time, they were still pretty good players.
Speaking of Bird, the Boston Celtics legend had a phenomenal weapon aside was his ability to play basketball. Bird was an amazing trash-talker and used it to either clap back at his opponents or get inside their heads to destroy their focus. Either way, Bird has a plethora of such stories.
When Bird represented Team USA in the 1992 Olympics, he was one of the most senior players on the team and unarguably in the last stage of his career. But that didn't mean he let anyone disrespect him.
Larry Bird Clapped Back At Rodney Rogers
The head coach of the Dream Team, Chuck Daly, brought a team of elite college players to scrimmage vs. the Dream Team. It is apparently the only game that the Dream Team has ever lost.
Anyway, Rodney Rogers was part of that elite college team. He may have been a good athlete, but he made the mistake of trash-talking Bird. As per Jamal Mashburn, Rogers told Bird that he hadn't made a jump shot since 1984, and the Celtics legend gave an epic response to Rogers.
"Rodney Rogers said, 'Hey Larry, you ain't hit a jumper since '84.' Magic heard that s**t. And we ain't think nothing of it. The next day we came in and I had never seen this and this when I was like, 'This a different breed.' Magic Johnson Larry Bird the ball probably about eight times in a row down court. Larry Bird got the ball on Rodney Rogers and every time he was about to make a move, he told him what he was going to do. 'One dribble, pull up, going left, off glass.' Bucket. 'One dribble going right, spin, shot.' Bucket. He scored nine times or eight times in a row, left the court to go lay down because he couldn't sit on the bench. He had to lay down because of his back and said, 'Young fellow, look like '84, huh?'"
At the time, Bird was 36 years old, but he still made sure to give a befitting reply to Rogers and that too in a memorable way. If there's any lesson from this unbelievable story, it's the fact that no player should ever try to trash-talk to Bird, regardless of his age.
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