There are not that many players that truly managed to make the great Larry Bird angry during his prime with the Boston Celtics. Larry Legend was simply too good, he torched just about anyone and everyone and talked trash to them while he was doing it. But as the Detroit Pistons would become a major rival for Michael Jordan a few years later, the rivalry between them and the Boston Celtics in the 80s was just as intense.
The’Bad Boy’ Pistons were masters of physical play and their penchant for using the dark arts meant that nobody liked them very much. Bird hated one particular Piston with a passion though, and that was center, Bill Laimbeer. Laimbeer had a reputation for being hard-nosed and almost dirty, with Bird himself criticizing the big man time and time again.
The two got into a serious altercation when the Pistons and the Celtics faced off in 1987 in the playoffs. Laimbeer almost tackled Bird, who retaliated by throwing the ball in his direction no love was lost between the two men. So It’s unsurprising that Bird has taken a number of shots at Laimbeer after they retired from the NBA. Perhaps the best quote came on Larry Legend’s jersey retirement night (via Sportscasting).
“It seems like a perfect night, except for the fact that Bill Laimbeer couldn’t be here,” Costas said, according to the LA Times. “What would you tell him if he were here?”
In typical Bird fashion, he answered, “That we would probably hang him up with (the banners).”
The Eastern Conference in the 80s was run by the Boston Celtics till it wasn’t, the Pistons would go on to win 2 titles of their own. However he may have felt about it, Bill Laimbeer also became a champion and an All-Star just like Bird and their feud is unlikely to end anytime soon. And while the physical play gets in the way, it’s nothing that would’ve kept Larry Bird off the floor.
