Top 30 Memorable Philadelphia 76ers Moments Of All Time
By Josh Wilson
The Brawl Between Dr. J and Bird
Boston Celtic legend Larry Bird. Philadelphia 76er legend Julius Erving, a.k.a. “Dr. J.”.
On November 9, 1984 Larry Bird fought Dr. J.
Or did Dr. J fight Bird? With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Doctor aggressively approached Bird and both benches cleared.
In any event, this featured the rivals of Larry Bird and Dr. J as co-initiators, and key members of the Sixers roster.
Multiple factors accounted for the obvious rivalry. Both teams entered the game undefeated at the Garden that night. One fighter proved graceful and athletic, the other, not so much. Bird’s game plan? Win.
If you go to the footage you see Dr. J getting in plenty of ferocious punches, and both players ejected from the game. Whatever you think about the fight, Bird proved the victor to the tune of a whopping 42 points in three quarters. The Doctor only posted 6.
$30,500 in fines later we discovered that Bird set off Doc by instructing him to “retire.” This according to Danny Ainge. It’s very possible, Dr. J thought this true enough to react. He too, a man possessed and driven much like Bird.
Sadly the Celtics routed Philly and won the game by a score of 130-119.
What’s the historical Context for this fight?
The Boston Celtics never really perceived the Sixers as a threat to their dominance until Julius Erving‘s arrival in the late 1970s. Bird’s impact shortly thereafter provided Boston a huge boost as well. For a good part of the next decade the fate of the Eastern Conference ventured through Philly and Boston.
In 1980, the Sixers beat Boston in five games in the conference finals.
In 1981, the Celtics beat the Sixers in seven games.
In 1982 and 1983, the Sixers managed to advance again. The famous “beat LA” chant emanates from these Sixers victories.
1983 set the stage for 1984’s brawl. Early in the season Moses Malone fought Cedric Maxwell. Larry Bird fought Marc Ivaroni, and Gerald Henderson squared off against Sedale Threatt.
Furthermore, Larry Bird managed to pull in and grab Sixers Coach Billy Cunningham prompting Red Auerbach to issue in from the bleachers. Red even reportedly called Moses a slur in Yiddish during the melee.
Another Hall of Famer on the court that night was NBA official Dick Bavetta. Bavetta refereed almost 300 NBA alone over his career including 27 NBA Finals games and an amazing 2,635 consecutive regular-season games.
From all of this experience Bavetta recalls the fights in 1984.
“It turned out to be the game where Bird and Erving decided to start choking each other.”
In some ways perhaps, rivalries consist of seeing yourself in the other.
A great writer once wrote, “I can entertain the proposition that life is a metaphor for boxing-for one of those bouts that go on and on, round following round, jabs, missed punches, clinches, nothing determined, again the bell and again and you and your opponent so evenly matched it’s impossible to see your opponent is you …”
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