What did Larry Bird say to trigger Julius Erving? Danny Ainge reveals the reason behind their iconic fight

Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird is widely regarded as one of the fiercest trash talkers in NBA history. Bird regularly used trash talk to get inside his opponents’ heads and gain a leg up on them throughout his illustrious 13-year career.

However, occasionally his trash talk escalated beyond just exchanging words. One such example came on November 9, 1984, when Bird provoked Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius Erving into initiating a physical altercation.

Bird’s Celtics (4-0) and Erving’s Sixers (5-0) were both undefeated at the time and were viewed as two of the premier teams in the Eastern Conference. Bird had been trash-talking Erving throughout their early-season matchup. Late in the third quarter, Erving’s frustrations started to boil over, resulting in a massive fight between Bird, Erving and other players from both teams.

During a recent appearance on the “Knuckleheads Podcast,” Bird’s former teammate, Danny Ainge, spoke about the infamous altercation. According to Ainge, the whole ordeal was completely unexpected and took place after Bird told Erving that he needed to retire.

“The most uncharacteristic one was he usually didn't trash talk to Magic (Johnson), Dr. J (Erving), guys like that, he just had so much respect for them,” Ainge said.

“But I remember the big fight between him and Dr. J, with Moses (Malone), and we were holding him back, and Dr. J was swinging. It was so uncharacteristic of Dr. J. You guys know Dr. J, he's the nicest guy in the world.

“But Larry had scored like 35 on him, like halfway through the third quarter, and he was just jogging back down the court and said, ‘Man, you need to retire.’ And it was just like, Dr. J lost his mind, and that's where that story had started,” he added.

Erving had been struggling mightily before the fight, meanwhile, Bird was having a monster game. So, the disparity in their level of play likely only added to Erving’s frustration. However, both players ended up getting ejected anyways.

Erving finished with just six points, three rebounds, five assists and one steal on 23.1% shooting over 23 minutes. Bird, on the other hand, recorded a whopping 42 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks on 73.9% shooting in just 30 minutes. After the two stars were ejected, Boston went on to defeat Philly 130-119.

Following the game, $30,500 in fines were doled out to players from both teams who were involved in the altercation. This includes Bird and Erving being dinged $7,500 apiece.

Danny Ainge says Larry Bird used his own trash talk as motivation

Former Boston Celtics guard Danny Ainge and Celtics legend Larry Bird

Despite being a world-renowned trash talker, Larry Bird was never an obnoxious person, according to Danny Ainge. During his Knuckleheads Podcast appearance, Ainge also spoke about the reasoning behind his former teammate's trash talk.

Ainge said that Bird was always a fun person to be around. He added that the Celtics legend usually used trash talk to motivate himself, rather than to be malicious.

“Larry was a quiet guy, and he wasn’t a loud and obnoxious personality,” Ainge said.

“But he had a great sense of humor. He was a character. Most of the time, his trash-talking, it seemed like it was for motivation. It wasn’t like he was always just trash-talking everybody. It was spotty, but when he did it, it was big. … He just really wanted to motivate himself,” he added.

It appears that Bird received all the motivation he needed and then some. This comes as the Celtics legend is now viewed as a near-consensus top 10 to 15 player in NBA history.