The Tape
Was Larry Bird better than Patrick Ewing?
Larry Bird, 1979-1992, against Patrick Ewing, 1985-2002. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Larry Bird is the bigger scorer: 31.5 a game in 1987-88 against 30.5 for Patrick Ewing in 1989-90. That is a real gap of 1 points, not an era illusion — Larry Bird's league averaged 108.2 and Patrick Ewing's averaged 107.
Larry Bird is the passer: 6.1 assists a game to 2.2, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Larry Bird: Three straight MVPs, a 50-40-90 season, and the best passing forward before Jokic. Patrick Ewing: A 21-and-10 center for 15 years who was the second-best player in almost every series that mattered.
The numbers are free. The verdict is in the Vault.
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Read the file: Larry BirdPatrick Ewing
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