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By Cameron Kiszla
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The mental aspect of basketball is a central part of the game, and some of the all-time greats found ways to augment their physical skills with mentally dominating the opponent.
One of the best ways to do that is by talking trash, and Bleacher Report recently broke down their ranking of the best to ever do it on an NBA court, and while some of those honored were more well-known for their talk than their play, the No. 1 spot went to someone who did both with aplomb.
A 'Legend' for a Reason
As explained by Dan Favale of Bleacher Report, "Larry Bird is not known as 'Larry Legend' only because of his basketball chops. He had serious trash-talking skills."
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As an example, Favale mentioned Bird's famous game-winner against Xavier McDaniel, who himself came in at No. 38 on the list.
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McDaniel and his Seattle SuperSonics teammates fell 104-102 to Bird and the Celtics when Bird hit a game-winning shot — after telling McDaniel exactly what was about to happen.
“This man literally told me where he was gonna get the ball, and I was like, ‘Okay. Cool. I’mma be here,'" McDaniel told the "No Nonsense" podcast, as detailed by Orel Dizon of Basketball Network. "And you can see us going at each other, talking. He hit it, and he looked at me and said, ‘Damn, I didn’t mean to leave nothing on the clock.'”
Bird also would personalize his trash talk to each opponent to the point that Michael Jordan — No. 3 on the list — would ban his teammates from speaking with Bird.
Perhaps Bird's most famous trash talk, though, wasn't related to a real game at all.
"Bird walked into the locker room before the 1988 All-Star Weekend Three-Point Contest just to ask the participants at large, 'Which one of you guys is playing for second?' Bird, of course, would go on to earn his third straight victory in the three-point competition," Favale wrote.
That ability to walk the walk while talking the talk is why Bird was honored with the top spot.
If anyone wants to dethrone Larry Legend, they have a tall task ahead of them.
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