If you haven’t spent some time in our ImaSportsphile memorabilia section….you should….cuz Bone Daddy, the original Sportsphile…..collected a vast array of sports collectibles over his 60+ years of collecting….and one of my favorite pieces in the collection is the photo seen above….as BD purchased two framed copies of that photo from The Boston Herald newspaper back when the photograph was originally taken…..which cost him $50 per copy in 1984 on the day it appeared in the paper after Larry Legend and Dr J had gotten in a fight the night before…and since these guys were two of his favorite players during the 1970’s and 1980’s….he just had to have approved copies of the photo.
It was a brawl that happened between the 76’ers vs Celtics back in 1984 that caused the outspoken Hall of Fame teammate of Dr J’s, Charles Barkley, to get defensive when interviewer Bill Simmons (a Celtic fan) said…. “Back in your day, you and Moses [Malone] held Larry Bird’s arm back while Dr. J punched him,” …. threw at Barkley. “I was trying to break up a fight,” Barkley said. “I didn’t know Dr. J. was punching him.”
Both the Sixers and the Celtics came into that November match-up undefeated….but it was Boston who dominated the game…with Bird scoring 42 points in just 30 minutes….while Julius Erving shot just 3-for-13. After drawing an offensive foul, Bird threw an elbow at Erving, which the according to 76’ers Coach Billy Cunningham…“Larry Bird is probably the best player in this league today,….but when he has to throw elbows and do those things to players, he’s got expect it in return, and he doesn’t like it that way.” You can watch the video of the incident for yourself, but it does appear both Barkley and Malone grabbed Bird trying to be peacemakers.
Anyway, that fight generated this picture…..which is nothing but “pure gold” in our ImaSportsphile treasure chest of vintage memories…..cuz here are the two faces of the NBA Eastern Conference for the better part of two decades….who are showcased in this video herewith…..and they got each other by the throat. It just doesn’t get any better than that!!!
