
40 years Ago Larry Bird trash talking Julius Erving before their brawl: "Can you do any better?"
Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics
November 9, 1984. The Celtics won 130-119.
The NBA ref remembered Bird trash-talking Dr. J before the two started choking each other.
At the start of the second half, Bavetta was left to officiate the contest by himself after Dennis Johnson dived for a loose ball and broke his colleague's leg. After the referee was carried off on a stretcher, Dick made his plea to both coaches.
"I get K.C. Jones, and I get Billy Cunningham and I said, 'Coaches, listen, I'm by myself, I'm gonna work for two men, I'm gonna work as hard as one person can possibly work. But this is only gonna be successful if I have your cooperation,'" Dick said on the Hall of Fame's "60 Days of Summer."
The contest turned into a Larry Bird show, with the Boston Celtics legend dropping 42 points on 17 of 23 from the field in a 130-119 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Julius Erving, on the other hand, had one of his worst games of the season, scoring only six points on 3 of 13 from the floor in 23 minutes of action.
"Of course, as luck would have it, Larry Bird has an unbelievable night. Every shot he took — Erving is guarding him — and as every shot went in that Larry took, he went further back and kept on saying to Erving, 'Aren't you going to guard me? Can you do any better?' He was the greatest softspoken trash talker I've ever met," Bavetta added.
Julius' frustration grew with every made basket. It culminated in the third quarter after the two exchanged words near the Celtics' bench following Bird's offensive foul on Dr. J.
"It got too much, and I look up and I see them choking each other... So I just kind of stepped back and watched what was going on, and in so doing, I informed them both Bird and Erving are gone... That was the first and only time both of them were thrown out of the game," Dick concluded.
The two Hall of Famers were fined $7,500, but didn't receive suspensions. The league levied a total of $30,500 in fines to 18 individuals involved in the brawl, including 17 players and the Sixers head coach.
Charles Barkley, Philadelphia's rookie at the time, also had to pay $1000 for his part in the fight. To this day, the legendary forward still hasn't forgiven the NBA for fining him.
"They fined me because they said I was holding Larry Bird so Dr. J could hit him. I was trying to break the fight up," Barkley said on "The Dan Patrick Show" in 2017. "I thought somebody had Doc. I didn’t know Doc was punching Bird when I was holding him."