Dominique is the Hall Of Famer who was actually PLAYING against Bird, MJ, Isaiah, Barkley, and Malone back then.
I’ll take his word over some white man
Nique is talking about the fact that hand checking was still legal back then and how it made perimeter play more difficult vs now it's an automatic foul if the player has the ball and the defender puts their hands on them.
He's not talking mainly about Pistons type basketball
Why are we taking "his word"? Why not watch the damn clips?
This is Finals defense in 1986, should be the peak of what Bird faced outside of the Pistons:
1:30 Open 3pt on a broken play
1:45 Open 3pt off a screen, against a shooter that defender should have gone over the screen not under it.
1:55 Open layup off the fast break.
3:00 Backs down defender in the post for a turnaround 15 footer, weak challenge to the shot.
4:05 Backs down defender for a 10 foot turnaround, better challenge
4:40 12-foot jumper with defender in front of him, defender bites on pass fake and shot is not challenged
5:03 15-foot turnaround, decent challenge to the shot
5:15 Wide open three, defender was just lost on the play
5:35 Drives inside, foul called on moderate contact
5:45 Bird is left open from 15 feet but seems indecisive and fakes twice before driving, ball slips out of his hand, regains it, left open from 18 feet and shoots
7:57 Soft defense on a three-pointer
8:28 Bird comes off a pick and shoots from 18 feet, defenders switch but don't challenge the shot
8:35 Defender gets lost and Bird has an open three, chooses to drive rather than shoot but loses his dribble, gets the ball again and shoots while defender seems to be trying for a too-late steal instead of challenging the shot
8:45 Tries to break down defender but fails, then tries to draw a foul by jump shooting into the stationary defender's chest (no call)
9:30 Bad switch leaves Bird open under the hoop, defender closes and gets a bit physical but it's still an easy layup
10:00 Entire team clears out for a 20-second iso backdown, Bird fakes the jumper then spins for a nifty scoop shot
10:20 Quick turnaround from 18 feet against good defense
10:53 Awful defensive breakdown allows Bird to catch the ball at the hoop for a wide-open layup
Overall Bird had a great game, 12-19 for 31 points including 3-5 from 3pt range and had some nice assists. In fact it probably goes down as one of his top-3 Finals games of his career. Celtics won in a blowout. But where is this physical perimeter defense? It doesn't look any more physical than a regular-season game today, and they're putting forth far less effort to deny Bird space to get his shot off than they do for Curry, even when he's inside the 3pt line.
