“I had one of those in college,” Larry Bird said, oblivious to the fact that he had won his first MVP.

“I had one of those in college,” Larry Bird said, oblivious to the fact that he had won his first MVP.
The legendary Celtic didn’t care whether it was his first MVP prize.

Although there is no denying that Larry Bird is one of the all-time greats and was the league’s finest player for ten years, what really set the Indiana native apart was his disinterest in receiving individual awards.

This idea was demonstrated by Bird’s lack of excitement when he was about to win his first MVP award in 1984. Rather, he made it clear that leading the Boston Celtics to victory was his primary objective.

For Larry, being named NBA MVP meant virtually little.
Bird and Bernard King, a big for the New York Knicks, were in a close competition for the coveted MVP award in 1984. Larry Legend answered questions regarding the hotly contested MVP campaign in May, given the ambiguity surrounding the final winner. Nevertheless, in typical fashion, he answered the questions coolly and collectedly, displaying no symptoms of worry.

“I don’t worry about that, I worry about my next opponent,” Bird replied. “I got one of those (MVP trophies) in college, and it’s sitting at home, not doing anything for me now.”

The 12-time All-Star elaborated on his viewpoint and gave more details on his team-focused playing philosophy. Bird made it clear that his primary goal was always to facilitate his teammates’ lives rather than seeing himself as a one-on-one player.

“Everyone wants the ball, and everyone would like to score 20 points, but I have been in a team-oriented concept from the time I started,” Bird stated. “If I started playing one-on-one, I wouldn’t be very effective.”

Where Bird concentrated the most was evident in his greatest game.
The Great White Hope went into further detail about his team-focused style of play, stating that he particularly relished Game 6 of the 1986 Finals, in which he not only scored 29 points to win Boston’s third title in six years, but also demonstrated his selflessness by pulling down an incredible 11 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists.

“I don’t know if it was my best game, but the one I enjoyed the most was Game 6 of the 1986 NBA Finals,” Bird said on ESPN in 2015. “I could do whatever I wanted because I was in charge of the game. The game has significance.”

It was never about taking home individual awards for the two-time Finals MVP Bird—rather, it was about making sure the team took home the Larry O’Brien trophy.