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Chris Mullin Said the Tighter the Game Got, the More Comfortable Larry Bird Got on the Bench. The Greatest Clutch Player in NBA History Turned Out to Be the Greatest Clutch Coach Too. Most coaches tighten up when the game is on the line. More substitutions. More timeouts. More complicated plays. The pressure of the moment translates directly into the huddle and the players feel every bit of it. Larry Bird did the opposite. Chris Mullin played for him in Indiana. He watched Bird in timeout after timeout, tie game after tie game, and came away with one overriding observation. "The game gets tight, he gets more comfortable. It's an incredible feeling during a timeout of a tie game. He'll say, 'Run this, O.K.? Remember, we did it yesterday in practice? Same thing. You're open; hit the shot. I saw you make 12 of them yesterday.' Larry makes the game what it is: simple." That was the whole thing. Not a complex scheme. Not a motivational speech. Just a reminder that you've done this before, the shot is there, and everything is fine. Rick Carlisle was on Bird's coaching staff. He watched the same thing from a different angle. "Really, the jewel of the job Larry has done so far is that our younger players have responded in a way we didn't expect. His sixth sense doesn't hurt, either." Jalen Rose was Bird's favorite player on those Pacers teams. The one Bird trusted most in the biggest moments. Rose described what it was like being coached by someone who understood the game at a level nobody else could. "Of course, you know him as Larry Joe Bird. He was my coach, my coach; that's something I could call him. Let me tell you about his style. When he talked, we listened. A man of few words, unlike most all-time great players, though able to analyze the game from his third eye. Not expecting every player to do what he would do. He also knew what he didn't know." Three seasons. 214 wins. 147 losses. One NBA Finals appearance. A 68.7 winning percentage. Coach of the Year in his first season. Then he walked away and never came back to the bench. The man who spent his entire playing career thriving when the moment was biggest turned out to coach exactly the same way. Some things don't change when the lights come on.

Dan Patrick believes Larry Bird at his best was better than LeBron James. “Larry Bird at his best was better than LeBron James. And we truly believe that.” Bird’s shooting, basketball IQ, clutch gene, and competitive fire made him one of the most feared players of his era. He didn’t need elite athleticism to dominate. He outsmarted defenders, delivered in the biggest moments, and made greatness look effortless. LeBron has his own incredible legacy, but prime Larry Bird is a different kind of conversation. Do you agree with Dan Patrick? Was Larry Legend at his peak better than LeBron? Via: Dan Patrick Show