Larry Bird - 41/7/7 vs. Jordan's Bulls (1987)

Bird torched the Bulls for 33 first half points. Mid way through the second quarter, MJ attempted to (unsuccessfully) guard Bird, but like usual, Bird just took him to the post and reeled six straight points forcing Doug Collins to go with someone else.

Bird may be the only player who consistently outplayed Jordan. Looking at their '87 and '88 seasons, when both were healthy, MVP caliber players, they matched up 10 times in the regular season. Bird outplayed him 7 times, Jordan only once and the other two were a wash. This individual domination continued in the '87 playoffs as Bird swept the Bulls on their homecourt while scoring 15 pts in the fourth whereas Jordan was 0/8 from the field. The irony of course is that people only remember Jordan's game 2 in '86 playoffs (Bird himself had 36/12/8 that game), while on a game by game basis, Larry would almost always outplay MJ.

I've listed their matchups below:

11/14/86
Bird - 37/10/5 (13/25 shooting)
Jordan - 48/5/1 (17/33 shooting)

Celtics win. Wash.

01/02/87
Bird - 37/8/9 (61.1%)
Jordan - 34/8/3 (41.9%)

Celtics win, Bird easily wins the matchup.

27/01/87
Bird - 24/14/3 (39%)
Jordan - 30/6/4 (38%)

Celtics win. Wash.

28/01/87
Bird - 26/5/9 (65%)
Jordan - 27/4/4 (48%)
Celtics win. Bird wins matchup.

27/03/87
Bird - 41/7/7 (58.6%)
Jordan - 22/7/7 (39.1%)

Celtics win. Bird easily wins matchup.

17/04/87
Bird - 38/8/7 (59%)
Jordan - 17/4/8 (33%)

Celtics win. Bird easily wins matchup.

12/01/88
Bird - 38/9/8 (58%)
Jordan - 42/4/6 (53%)

Celtics win. Bird wins matchup.

18/03/88
Bird - 19/10/6
Jordan - 50/9/5

Bulls win. Jordan finally wins head to head.

20/03/88
Bird - 33/7/8 (67%)
Jordan - 26/4/7 (56%)

Celtics win. Bird easily wins matchup.

21/04/88
Bird - 44/10/3 (65.5%)
Jordan - 39/3/8 (51.5%)

Celtics win. Bird wins matchup.