"When I got there, the president of the club was a woman, she had two sons, we heard one of her sons they said, 'He's pretty good at hockey,'" Bird said during the broadcast. "To make a very long story short, you fast forward to the next year, he gets drafted. The name of our (team's) president was president Ovechkin. Her son was Alex.
"We knew him as Sasha which is a common nickname for Alexander in Russia. And we just heard that a certain record has been tied," she said, gleefully as Taurasi applauded.
Bird of course was referencing Ovechkin's two-goal game on Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks to tie Wayne Gretzky's career goals record of 894. When Bird and Taurasi met him, he hadn't even been drafted by the Capitals with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL draft.
Ovechkin's mother, Tatyana, was a legendary point guard in Russia, leading the team from the former Soviet Union to gold medals in both the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, the 1975 World Championship and six European League titles. She currently serves as the head of the Russia women's national basketball program.
Tatyana also wore No. 8 during her playing days.
Both Bird and Taurasi offered congratulations in Ovechkin's native language to conclude the segment.
