Bird vs. Magic: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson thrilled basketball fans with NBA's greatest rivalry

As sports fans, we love to debate the greatest rivalries in sports.

Red Sox-Yankees. Packers-Bears. Michigan-Ohio State.

But one of the greatest rivalries of all time occurred in the NBA in the 1980s—Celtics vs. Lakers.

And it also featured the greatest individual rivalry ever—Bird vs. Magic.

Also See: Jordan, Magic, Bird top our all-time NBA All-Hobby team 

Larry Bird and Erving “Magic” Johnson are both featured in the starting five of our NBA All-Hobby team. In the 1980s, they were the NBA—Bird vs. Magic, Magic vs. Bird. They combined to lead the league’s two most historic franchises to eight championships in nine seasons.

Also See: 1973 Topps Basketball filled with Hall of Famers 

Before Michael Jordan took over the league and dominated the 1990s, Bird and Magic put the NBA on the map. Their rivalry single-handedly rescued a league that was struggling so badly that its championship series was broadcast on tape delay from 1979-81.

But Bird and Magic not only made basketball cool again, they made it a national phenomenon.

Though LeBron James has entered the conversation in recent years, Jordan is still the greatest basketball player of all time. For those of us who saw him play, there is little debate.

But, to me, Bird and Magic are a close second. They were basketball savants who could shoot, pass and dominate a game like few ever had.

Magic won five NBA championships and was one of the greatest all-around players of all time, averaging 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists over 13 seasons, all while sometimes playing all five positions on the court.

Also See: Rare Magic Johnson NBA Championship card surfaces  

The versatile Bird also could do it all. He won three NBA titles, averaging 24.3 points, 10 rebounds and 6.3 assists over 13 seasons. No one in the history of the sport has ever been a better shooter and passer than Bird. Despite sinking shots from all over the court, he shot .496 percent for his career, including five seasons over 50 percent.

Other than Jordan, no one ever dominated an era and impacted the game the way Bird and Magic did in the ’80s.

Remarkably, the two all-time greats were practically tied at the hip, despite being polar opposites who played on opposite ends of the country. Magic led the Lakers to five NBA championships; Bird led the Celtics to three. They went head-to-head in the Finals three times (1984, ’85 and ’87) in three of the greatest championship series in league history.

Their rivalry began in 1979 when Magic and Michigan State beat Bird’s Indiana State team for the NCAA national championship. A year later, Magic led the Lakers to the NBA title as a rookie, while Bird won NBA Rookie of the Year.

Bird never got over losing to Magic in the NCAA finals and for the next decade, they pushed, prodded and motivated each other to become the best.

In the fabulous 2010 HBO documentary, “Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,” Bird called Magic “my main competition,” while Magic called Bird “the baddest white dude I have ever seen in my life.”

While the fun-loving Magic played with a style and flair that fit the brightest smile in sports, the shy, introverted Bird flashed similar skills, but often played with reckless abandon, pushing, shoving, diving for loose balls, and often getting into fights and scuffles. He took a swing at the great Julius Erving as a rookie, and famously scuffled with Kareem in the 1984 NBA Finals.

“I played rough,” said Bird, “the hick from French Lick” who grew up scrapping in rural Indiana. “My whole life was basketball.”

To Magic and Bird, winning was everything. They were the two most competitive players in the league and drove each other to greatness, putting the NBA on their backs and making it one of the nation’s most popular sports.

— Jeff Owens is editor of SCD. You can reach him at jowens@aimmedia.com.