Avowed Celtics fan Bill Simmons, who was at the game as a young’n, described the experience as being like watching a fight between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.īoth players were ejected for the reaminder of the fourth quarter. The bad vibes–heightened, no doubt, by a near half-decade-long playoff rivalry that had blossomed between the two teams–grew until the two stars eventually came to blows, inciting a bench-clearing brawl in the process. Bird had put up a tremendous 42 points and seven rebounds by the fourth quarter, and supposedly took every opportunity to remind the Doctor of his running tally. 12 other players (six from each team) each drew a fine of $500 for leaving their respective bench during the melee.īoston was well on their way to winning the game when the bad blood started. Carr and Moses Malone each drew a $3,000 fine, Charles Barkley $1,000 for fighting and Bill Cunningham a $2,500 setback for post game comments. The two prime combatants, Bird and Erving were each assessed a pink slip of $7,500 each. In the aftermath, the NBA Office handed out a grand total of $30,500 worth of fines. One team would walk away with an unblemished mark the other team would have a mark in the right-hand loss column. Do you see where this is leading?īoth teams came into this particular game undefeated, Philadelphia at 5-0 and Boston 4-0. The Boston Celtics captured the NBA World Championship title in 1984. The 76ers were the NBA World Champions in 1983. NBA.com wrote about this a few years back:
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