The Lakers failed that year for a lot of reasons and the Celtics did a nice job on them in "84. However the next year with virtually the same team the Lakers beat them 4-2 and in "87 with slightly different teams on both sides. Yeah, the Celtics were a nice team in 85-86, but I'll take that '87-'88 Laker team any day. Even over the Koby teams.
I always wondered why Kareem was so hated, since he rarely trash talked on the court, played a relatively clean game and rarely if ever denigrated his opponents. Contrarily because of his size he was pounded even in college just short of Shaq. Where instead of protecting him with rule changes like Jordan, they took away the dunk because of his ability. Whereas Laimbeer often gloated about his dirty play and thus the "Jordan Rule(s)".Thanks so much for the video. A lot of new material I never saw before on other Larry Bird videos, especially those incredible touch passes.
I lived in Boston during the Bird Era, though I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan and was a huge Magic fan. Except for Magic, I could not stand the Lakers. Without question, Kareem was the player most hated, next to Bill Laimbeer, by Celtic fans . It was very difficult to obtain tickets to games at the Garden at the time, and the only game I saw was from an obstructed view seat, high up in the rafters, against the San Antonio Spurs and George Gervin. Gervin scored a lot, as usual, but the Spurs didn't have a chance against the Celtics, who played as a team, versus the Spurs boring and predictable "one-man show."
At the time, I lived in the same town (Brookline) as Larry Legend, but never saw or encountered him or any Celtic on the streets or in restaurants during my 15 years in Boston. However, I did run into Charles Barkley quite accidentally...of all places...on the streets of Tokyo, Japan.
Thanks again for the memories!
Indiana State, actually, wasn't it?
Frankly from my perspective Bird and Rick Barry were some of the worse, often complaining to the ref WHILE THEY WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOT. Bird of course had to take the time off from being the biggest trash talker I'd ever seen. Admittedly although Bird was bad, Barry took compaining to epic proportions. As we all know as well as being a master complainer and trash talker, Jordan mastered the "hidden" third step to the basket which was rarely called by the refs; without him of course there would be no flagrant foul rule. Doc was different, living off of his rep obtained while playing in the ABA, although he wasn't as protected as Jordan by the refs. Doc was also only a mild trash talker. Gervin was better.
