‘I can’t keep myself up’ – Michael Jordan goes in-depth on why he’s no better than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson

“Accolades wise, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”

This is the starting line from nbaOfficial legends profile highlights Chicago Bulls Legend.

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While this may be true, Jordan himself disagrees.

In a moment of rare humility, ‘His Airness’, renowned for his killer mentality and ferocious competitive edge, once admitted that he did not see himself above any of his predecessors in the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) debate. can keep, especially larry bird And Magic Johnson.

“I don’t put myself above them,” said Jordan, a six-time NBA champion. slam in 2013.

“I think we’re all on parallel ground here. You know, he educated me about a lot of things about the game from a team standpoint. So, I can’t top myself… I mean Yes, people try, but we played in different eras.”

Bird and Magic further Air Jordan’s unprecedented dominance, rekindling the once-great rivalry between the two boston celtics And Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and, in turn, in the league itself.

Their fierce rivalry – intense, but always respectful – was born in college during the 1979 national championship game between Bird’s Indiana State and Magic’s Michigan State, and lasted until Larry Legend’s retirement in 1992.

Bird and Magic dominated the association for 10 years.

‘The Hick from French Lick’ captured three championships, three MVPs and two Finals MVPs in the 80s.

Magic, a member of the ‘Showtime’ Lakers along with NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, captured five titles, three MVPs and three Finals MVPs during the same decade.

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But by 1988, the year he won his first MVP, a young shooting guard from North Carolina had taken the league by storm.

Bird witnessed 23-year-old MJ’s greatness firsthand in 1986, when the hungry young Chicago Bulls dropped a playoff record 63 points on a group of Boston legends and Hall of Famers in a first-round playoff series.

“God disguised Michael Jordan“That was Bird’s only explanation for Jordan’s supernatural heroics.

Even magic knows greatness when it sees it.

He once famously said, “There’s Michael Jordan and then there’s the rest of us.”

‘Air Jordan’ – an unstoppable and undeniable force of nature – had well and truly arrived.

MJ was unquestionably better than both Bird and Magic, but he always respected those who paved the way before him.

Bird and Magic gave the NBA the star power it had lacked after the lows of the 1970s, and helped the league become a global enterprise.

Without his impact on the game, there would be no Air Jordan.

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The Bulls icon heaped praise on the pair for what they have done for the game, and couldn’t put himself above or below them when asked.

Instead, MJ saw Bird and Magic as teachers from whom he learned much.

His prime never overlapped with theirs, which is why he was so reluctant to put himself above them.

“I had the opportunity to go against him at the peak of his career when I was younger,” he said.

“And I went against them when I was at my peak, when they were at the other end. So, it was going through the trends there, and we never had the opportunity to play against each other in the peak years. Mila. You know, so it’s hard to say that I’m above them, in no way do I like to consider myself parallel to them,” he explained.

With Bird and the Magic on their way out and Jordan the face of the league, the Holy Trinity of NBA superstars finally got a chance to form a team.

This trio suited up for Team USA in 1992 olympics In Barcelona, ​​Spain, however, co-captain Bird played only a minor role.

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The iconic ‘Dream Team’ won the gold medal that summer and, perhaps more importantly, captured the hearts of basketball fans around the world.

Bird retired later that year, admitting to Johnson, “Magic, you know, you and I were then, and Michael Jordan is now.”

Jordan proved Boston very right, surpassing anything accomplished by Bird or Magic.

No. 23 went 6-0 in the NBA Finals with six Finals MVPs.

He was also a five-time MVP, ten-time scoring champion, nine-time All-Defensive First Team member, ten-time All-NBA First Team selection and Defensive Player of the Year – a resume that is unlikely to be seen again.

For some, the all-time leading scorer Lebron James Now GOAT is in discussion.

But for most fans, Jordan remains the greatest player to ever touch a basketball, even if he won’t admit it himself.