Larry Bird revealed that Julius Erving would have gotten the better of him if it wasn’t for his Celtics teammates.
Before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird changed the NBA in their primes, Julius Erving or ‘Dr. J’ was one of the league’s premier superstars. Between 1976 and 1987, Erving played for the Philadelphia 76ers, regularly clashing with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
Larry Bird and Julius Erving faced off in 68 NBA games, which included 24 playoff battles. And writing about facing the legendary Dr. J in his book, Drive: The Story Of My Life, Larry Bird made a humbling admission.
“My biggest defensive worry was trying to keep players like Dr. J from just doing whatever they wanted to do on the court,” Bird wrote. “I was afraid they were going to go around me every time or that I would get caught back on the fast break in an isolated situation.
“My teammates very quickly started to help each other out, however, and that saved me. If you put me out there and asked me to guard Dr. J one-on-one, he’d have beaten me every time. Once we all learned about each other and started covering up for each other, it was a lot easier.”
Julius Erving averaged 21.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in games against Larry Bird, with his scoring average falling below the 24.2 points per game he racked up throughout his career. Whatever Bird and the Celtics did certainly helped.
Larry Bird And Julius Erving Had An Incredible Rivalry
Larry Bird and Julius Erving played in the highest stakes games, and emotions ran so hot that they once got into a really infamous fight. But the basketball on display was even better. The Celtics and the Sixers faced off in the Eastern Conference Finals four times between 1980 and 1985.
Julius Erving and his Sixers won in 1980 and 1982, claiming a championship in 1983. Bird and his Celtics won in 1981 and 1985, winning the championship in 1981. This is one of the greatest rivalries the game has ever seen and Larry Bird and Julius Erving are both bonafide Top 20 basketball players of all time.
