Larry Bird admits that he never liked the three-point shot: "The only time I practiced them was right before the three-point contest in 1988"
Larry Bird won the first NBA All-Star 3-point contest and the next two after that. He was the first player to win the contest thrice, and only he and Craig Hodges have won it more than two times.
But while Bird was a solid 37.6% career three-point shooter, the man known as Larry Legend admitted that he didn't like the three-point shot.
"I don't know why I never liked it," Bird told ESPN. "But I liked it only in certain situations."
Larry never practiced shooting 3-pointers
Back then, Bird said they only tried to use the three-point shot when the game was close. The three-pointer can be a game-changer or back-breaker, depending on the situation. It's a killer shot that takes something out of the opposing team and deflates the opposition.
Larry led the NBA in three-point makes during back-to-back seasons in 1985-86 and 1986-87. As stated earlier, he won the first three editions of the Three-Point Contest at the NBA All-Star break.
"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 and throw the ball back out and shoot some 3s. But we didn't fire up 100 3s after every practice."
He didn't even want to join the contest in 1986
Another interesting story is that Bird had no intention of entering the inaugural Three-Point Contest in 1986. But when several of his teammates told him he wouldn't win the competition, he had to prove otherwise.
"I didn't really know if I wanted to be in the Three-Point Contest until my team, a couple of my teammates, told me I wouldn't win it anyway. So, then I had to go out and prove to them that I could win the thing," remembered Bird.
Bird dominated Hodges in the final round 22-12 to become the first-ever 3-Point King. His prize was $10,000 and a trip for two to Hawaii. Larry could not go for a four-peat because he almost missed the entire 1988-89 season after undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs in his heels. Still, Larry winning three in a row despite not practicing the shot is stuff that legends are made of.
