It’s always fun when longtime NBA players share incredible stories about some of the game’s greatest players.
During a recent episode of “Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles,” 12-year NBA veteran Jamal Mashburn shared a story about an encounter he had with Larry Bird in 1992 when USA Basketball brought several college standouts, including Mashburn, Allan Houston, Rodney Rogers, Eric Montross, Chris Webber, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill, to scrimmage the Dream Team.
It all started when Bird, well known for his trash talk, approached Mashburn and Chris Webber and asked if they were “those college guys.” When Mashburn and Webber responded that they were Bird “looked at (them) and said ‘get some (expletive) rest, it’s gonna be a long week.”
The scrimmage, now an infamous moment among basketball circles, did not go the way most thought it would. The young, hungry college kids came out and punched the Dream Team in the mouth, and before the legendary squad could make their comeback Chuck Daly ended the scrimmage.
According to Mashburn drama ensued shortly after the scrimmage. Rodney Rodgers went up to Bird, Magic Johnson and a group of Dream Team members and said “Hey Larry! You ain’t hit a jumper since ‘84.”
(Clip features adult language.)
While the naive college students thought nothing of the comment, they set something off in Larry Legend. With Magic feeding him the ball, and Rodney Rogers giving his best defensive effort, Bird was catching the ball and telling Rogers exactly what he was going to do before he did it.
“One dribble pull-up, going left off glass. One dribble, going right. Spin. Shot. Bucket.” Mashburn said mimicking Bird. “He scored nine times or eight times in a row. Left the court to go lay down because he couldn’t sit on a bench. He had to lay down because of his back and said ‘Young fella, look like ‘84 huh?’”
Needless to say the college players had a rough rest of the week and were a great tuneup for the Dream Team going into the Olympics.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jamal Mashburn shares Larry Bird trash talk story from 1992 Dream Team