Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer have genuinely hated each other for over 30 years
Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer stood in the middle of an intense Celtics-Pistons rivalry spanning the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the individual feud between those two wasn't just a battle within that war. It was personal. It was beef.
Starting with his trade to the Pistons in the early 1980s, Laimbeer built a reputation as not just a strong rebounder and scorer, but a relentless pest. On one hand, he'd make dirty and dangerous plays, then act like nothing had happened. On the other hand, he'd flop and whine to bait the referees into calling fouls on his opponents.
Nobody despised Laimbeer for this quite as much as Bird did. Bird's public campaign against Laimbeer's style of play dated back to the Celtics-Pistons playoff series in 1985, and really took off after Laimbeer started a brawl by fouling Bird hard in the 1987 playoffs. Bird accused Laimbeer of intentionally trying to injure him, and never withdrew the accusation. Even decades later, these two NBA legends maintain an icy distance because of how things played out on the court.
This beef might never end, so in this episode, we learn about what built it.
Written and produced by Seth Rosenthal
Directed and edited by Jiazhen Zhang
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Hello, it's Seth! Thanks for watching this Beef History, and thanks for being you. Wanted to drop a quick note encouraging those of you who enjoy our channel to click the "subscribe" button. If you do that: 1. You'll be notified when we post new stuff. 2. You'll get to see occasional updates (and sometimes offer input!) about what we're working on. 3. We'll get to go to our bosses and be like "hey look we have a lot of subscribers" and they'll think that's cool and maybe find us more friends to help make even more videos. We love you, come be part of our community.
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That's how the game was played back in those days
Opl
420th like *nice*
Do one for Isiah Thomas vs Michael Jordan
"Bird was interviewed by a fan" absolutely killed me. Also, does anyone read the Ringer? Does anyone pay attention to Bill Simmons anymore? I sure as hell don't.
That Laimbeer interview about Birds executive decisions and coaching made me spit out my drink. "That would drive me nuts. I'd probably quit."
Ya know, we grew liking Magic Johnson and these guys on the West Coast, but ya gotta give Bird his respect, that's for dang sure.
Ngl I'd hate laimbeer too
Bill Simmons = "a fan" hahahaha
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It is such crap the Celtics don't get any hate for doing the exact same thing as the Pistons and walking off the court.
People love to hate on the Pistons, (and Detroit in general) and act like they were the only team to ever play dough, which is obviously total BS. They're just mad because they did and won and couldn't give a crap less about the other teams. Would you rather have that or today's watered down trash NBA?
Bird saying Laimbeer and the Pistons got all the calls. Yea, I'm sure they did.
Bad boys for life feel lucky to have watch alot of these games
DUDE U NEED TO HAVE NBA APPEARAL LINKS ON VIDEOS I WAS READY TO BUY A RICK MAHORN AND LAMBEER JERSEY BAD BOYS BAD BOYS
If any of these players were ever left in a room alone together someone would need an Ambulance(or Forensic Scientists to identify): Bill Laimbeer & Larry Bird Charles Barkley & Charles Oakley Rajon Rondo & Chris Paul Ron Artest & Ben Wallace Isiah Thomas(1) & Scottie Pippen Kevin Garnett & LeBron James Isaiah Thomas(1) & Karl Malone Alonzo Mourning & Dennis Rodman Alonzo Mourning & Larry Johnson
Larry, you look like a bird.
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I love the sneak diss of Simmons, “...he was interviewed by a fan.” So smooth!
Bill wanted to be known as a tough guy, but he wasn't tough. So, he resorted to dirty instead and it filled a need.
Larry Legend. 🏀💪🤚
"In 2013, Larry was interviewed by a fan" lol
Laimbeer just petty af “I don’t pay attention to them but they suck right? I hate that I’d quit” 😭
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The Bad Boys were my favorite team of all time.
You aren't mentioning the fact that Larry's back problems were so bad, he spent most of his time laying on his stomach on the sidline.
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I love how you deny the Pistons superiority, when no fights occur. I love how you never show how Larry was dirty af too. It's 80s basketball.
How was Larry dirty? He got in some scrapes but wasn't out there deliberately trying to injure people
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“Refs favor Bill Laimbeer and give him all the calls” - Larry Legend was quite the whiner, possibly the original LeBron in that sense.
I think this like my third time watching this. 80s Baby from Detroit. This era will never get old.
Laimbeer played the most underrated role in all of sports (or life for that matter); he was the guy that took all the hate to relieve the pressure from his teammates, allowing them to thrive.
People hate laimbeer for what every single player in the league did its hilarious
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As the general public, We need to start holding people and/or teams like the "Bad Boys" accountable when their run of dominance ends in the most embarrassing ways imaginable. Detroit won mainly from their hard physicality and borderline dirty style of play. They also carried this collective attitude with them where they saw themselves as every other team in the nba much bigger and stronger older brother that just bullied their way to wins and would dare you to whine about it. But they should've never been labeled as Bad Boys ever again once they lost to the bulls and left the floor minutes before the game ended, without showing any sense of sportsmanship
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Ahhh, Bill Laimbeer. The old man's Zaza Pachulia.
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My favorite part is describing Bill Simmons as "a fan" 😂 not wrong
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They don't call that man Larry Legend for nothin..#Bird33
Larry Bird look like he was 45
Pistons played smart basketball true it’s ruined today’s game where even a mean glance can get you T’d up but they beat teams that had more talent they had a very smart game plan
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Who likes Laimbeer?
Larry Legend = GOAT
Dude you coach the WNBA stfu
You’re talking about an old beat up 1988 L.B
When the game had guts now you got soft players who are well over 7 feet tall chucking 3s (Bol, Portzingas) afraid to post up and get dirty
So he was the 80s Zaza Pachulia
Lol I find it so crazy the pass bird and the Celtics get when they walked off the court just like Detroit did to the bulls
God Laimbeer is the ultimate villain
Let them fight, Larry woulda whipped him ass☆
This was one of the best mini-docs I have ever seen. Great work!
Ground beef = GROW YOU IN DEAD BEE FOOD // THEM HUGE CAVES WITH THE WAXY SUBSTANCE COMING FROM THE CELINGS PROBABLY FULL OF BEES AT ONE TIME M************ KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING !!
U need to do beef Jordan vs thomas. It's long overdue . Now we have the last dance with Jordan calling thomas an ahole & saying he " hates him" & the recording of jordan saying he did not want thomas on the dream team which Jordan lied about.
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The Boston beef with lambier and the pistons is why the Celtics did get along with the pistons. When Boston lost to the pistons in their last finals, it was a given Larry and the crew was not going to shake their hands. The most interesting thing is, laimbier&Isiah use this stupid rationale for not shaking the bulls hands after the pistons were beaten in the Eastern Conference final. Yet, each time the Bulls lost to the Pistons, they shook their hands prior to beating the Pistons. This is why Mike Jordan took it very personal. And, took reprisal on Thomas to another level to make a ledgedary point. Mj refused to play with Thomas if Thomas was on the dream team. And, the added twist is, Magic said he had instrumental power in keeping Isiah off the Dream Team. Because, Thomas allegedly back stabbed Magic with non support, rumors surrounding manhood when he contracted aids. As a result, as everyone knows, Thomas did not play on the dream team 😆😉🤭🤔
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Laimbeer didn't hide anything and Detroit was considered dirty BUT it was the 76ers and Celtics rivalry that really brought the tough "hard foul" into the 80's. When the Pistons took it to Jordan, though, they were the dirtiest team. Celtics had been every bit as dirty years before. It was an okay kind of dirty, then. That's how they beat the Lakers, 76ers, Rockets and so on.
The 86 Celtics were definitely not lucky to not face the Pistons. That's literally one of the greatest teams of all time. They would've torched the Pistons lol.
Bird was like ' I cant hit with a clean punch but I'm going to tag his ass with this ball '
Larry bird has the worst hair on a person ever...he has a little old lady hair cut😄😄 Just shave it bro😄😄
The nba seemed so much more raw in the 80s. Nobody was really watching so they where wilding
Bill Lame Beer
Please do a 1983 sixers collapse
Yep Laimbeer was a dirty player but that was the Pistons culture at the time and he wasn't the dirtiest Pistons player either having said that the NBA basically blackballed a hell of coach by not giving him a chance, his WNBA record speaks for itself, it's unfortunate
Funny to say someone who was known for rebounding, defense, and general tough play had nothing to play for due to coming from a wealthy family. Must have had a change of heart between college and NBA.
Laimbeer-Bird fight is game 3. Nothing happens in game 4. Parish decides to retaliate at home in game 5. He didn’t have the balls to do it in Detroit.
Your last words man♥️ forever
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Man imagine if they had social media back in there day 🤣
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Bad Boys! That was my team!
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If they would have let Bird and Laimbeer fight it out, Bird would have killed him, this coming from a Lakers fan.
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Great pitch by Larry.
There could not be two NBA stars who stood at the extreme opposite ends of the human spectrum! Bird said little and let his skills do the talking (shouting). Offensively he matched up with anyone! Laimbeer, on the other hand, relied on his size and demeanor to intimidate anyone trying to invade his paint! Laimbeer was the center of that Detroit Piston team that took pride in how many flagrant fowls they could rack up in a given game. Boston prided themselves in sticking with the great Red Aurbach's team ball approach. Yea, when these two met on the court it was not going to be pretty.
Laimbeer was a thug intentionally injuring players who he couldn't keep up with.
Everyone blasted the Pistons for walking off on the Bulls, and that’s kind of fair, but no one gets on the great white hope Celtics for something similar
Detroit should never have won a championship. They cheated every one.
Detroit was absolutely the cause for NBA 's drop off
Detroit cheated big time
Laimbeer was a legendary troll
Robert Parrish: answering the question, if Frankenstein's monster were black and played in the low post.
This video really doesn't go into the fact that Larry Bird was also a dirty player second only to Bill Laimbeer. It makes him look like "the good guy" which he really wasn't.
When basketball was watchable 👍
Love the dig at Ben Simmons.. “interview with a fan”😂😂
Bird had every right to chick the ball at laimbeer
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Even jordan was not as clutch as bird no man. Jordan didn't like because the original basketball jesus was white. All the black players thought they were superior to white players still do.
Bill Laimbeer is a bad version of Clark Kent. 😂