Larry Bird had a great explanation of why it's tougher to win 3-point shootout than a dunk contest: 'Everyone can jump'

Though he knocked down just 649 3-pointers in his career, some regard Larry Bird as one of the greatest shooters of all time. That's because the Boston Celtics legend is one of two shooters who won three straight 3-point shootout contests, the other being Craig Hodges. Not even Stephen Curry, who has over 3,700 3-pointers for his career, could accomplish such a great feat.

At the inaugural 3-point Long Distance Shootout in 1986, Bird actually beat out Hodges in the finals, 22 to 12. After winning $10,000 and a trip for two to Hawaii, Larry made a great declaration about the 3-point contest.

"I am the 3-point king now," Bird said, per the IndyStar. "I'd rather win the MVP, but this is more exciting. This is tougher than the slam dunk contest because everyone can jump. Not everybody can shoot 3-pointers."

A different time

Larry was right. The NBA added the 3-point line for the 1979–80 season. Understandably, teams and players hesitated to jack up shots from behind the arc. The logic was simple, the closer you are to the basket, the greater the chance the ball would swish the net.

So back then, 3-pointers weren't part of the playbook of most teams. They preferred to feed it to the post or set up screens for mid-range shots. The only time teams settled for a 3-pointer was during clutch situations when they needed to either tie the game or win it all.

As a result, 3-point specialists like Bird or Hodges were a rare breed during those days. They were the only players who had the license to shoot from 25 feet.

Never liked it

Perhaps what made Larry's triumph in the 3-point shootout was that he never really practiced beforehand. He didn't like the shot and only worked on it one time.

"It's really funny," Bird said. "I never even practiced 3-pointers. We might have thrown up only a couple of them. The only time I practiced them was right before the 3-point contest in 1988. Danny [Ainge] would get the rack out, and we'd rebound, throw the ball back out, and shoot some 3s. But we didn't fire up 100 3s after every practice."

This makes it all the more interesting to see how the Celtics forward would fare in today's game. One can only imagine how much damage he would do if he spent time working on his shot. Though we'll never see such fantasies come to fruition, Bird is still a 3-point icon in our eyes. When everyone else was afraid to shoot from deep, Larry was the only courageous soul to test his stroke.