During the opening round of the 1986 NBA playoffs, Chicago Bulls phenom Michael Jordan scored 63 points -- which is still the highest-scoring playoff game ever -- in a Game 2 double-overtime loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in the old Boston Garden.
It was the day Jordan officially made his mark in the league, the day Celtics superstar Larry Bird famously said, "It's just God disguised as Michael Jordan." But did Bird know how special Jordan was before his historic performance? The answer is yes, according to Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe.
"Jordan came into the league in '85. And the first night that Larry played against him, I knew he was good, but Larry said to me, 'That guy's going to be the greatest player ever. You watch,'" Shaughnessy told The DA Show on Thursday. "I didn't see it. He saw it, he was out there on the floor. I didn't think it was that remarkable, he was a good rookie. And he said after the game, 'You watch.' And I said, 'You're just blowing smoke,' which he never did. But he knew, first night.
"Honestly, he said it to me, and he never did stuff like that. He was not Mr. Hyperbole, because he had a lot of value for Oscar [Robertson] and he knew old stuff. I was a little bit cynical, like I am. I'm like, 'Get out of here.' And he's like, 'You wait.' Yeah, that happened."
In his first career game against the Celtics, back on Nov. 15, 1984, Jordan scored 27 points on 12-of-24 shooting in a loss at Chicago Stadium. One month later, in his second meeting against Boston, Jordan scored 32 points with 12 rebounds en route to a blowout win.
The entire conversation between Shaughnessy and DA can be accessed in the video and audio players above.
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