Rare is the day Larry Bird compares himself to anyone.
Yet that is what one of the best basketball players of all time did, when talking about Chris Mullin.
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Larry Bird hailed Chris Mullin’s basketball abilityCredit: GETTY”He plays the game the way I liked to play,” Bird said in a 1998 edition of SLAM Magazine.
“He knows when to pass and when to shoot and when to cut…he fills a big hole for us.”
Bird and Mullin played against one another while Bird was on the Boston Celtics and Mullin was on the Golden State Warriors.
The two were even teammates on the Team USA Dream Team together in 1992, when they won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
READ MORE NBATheir paths would cross once again when Bird became the head coach of the Indiana Pacers in 1997.
With Mullin on the tail end of his career, Bird still believed the former Warriors star could play and have an impact.
Mullin was traded to the Pacers and played for Bird for three seasons while in Indiana.
The five-time All-Star opened up how thankful he was to get out of Golden State at the time and to come play for Bird.
“By last summer, I was dying to get out of Golden State, and I had to keep working so that I’d be ready if I did get to go somewhere better,” Mullin said.
But most 34-year-olds are being told they’re not wanted anymore.
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Mullin lost seven times to Larry Bird during his careerCredit: GETTY
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Larry Bird is considered one of the greatest players of all timeCredit: Getty”It felt really good for Larry to let me know he wanted me.”
Together they made the Eastern Conference Finals all three times, before reaching the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.
They lost to Shaquille O’Neal and a young Kobe Bryant in six games.
It was the last time the Pacers had reached the Finals, until this year.
Indiana defeated the New York Knicks to reach the sport’s grandest stage for the first time in 25 years.
The franchise is still in search of its first ever NBA championship.
Larry Bird recalls the other moment he told Magic Johnson that Michael Jordan was the greatest
But to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy, they must defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Led by league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder have had a historic season and were heavy favorites going into Game 1.
However, the Pacers stole Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals with a stunning late-game comeback that has become their trademark this postseason.
They erased a double-digit deficit and the ‘clutch king’ himself Tyrese Haliburton hit a game-winner with 0.3 seconds left to clinch a 111-110 victory.
No doubt both Bird and Mullin will be pulling for them to win three more games.
