{"id":748840,"date":"2026-05-31T13:54:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/748840\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T13:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:54:42","slug":"no-two-teams-in-professional-sports-want-each-others-throats-like-these-two-teams-julius-erving-on-phillys-biggest-rival-in-the-80s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/748840\/","title":{"rendered":"“No two teams in professional sports want each other’s throats like these two teams” – Julius Erving on Philly’s biggest rival in the ’80s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure, when Larry Bird arrived, he made the Boston Celtics<\/a> a must-watch TV spectacle and the team skyrocketed the television ratings. Many to this day believe that the Celtics vs. Showtime Lakers’ legendary rivalry helped ignite worldwide interest in the NBA.<\/p>\n

However, it wasn’t just two teams battling in the NBA Finals thrice in a four-year span that brought fans to the edge of their seats. But the fierce rivalry between the Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> for supremacy in the Eastern Conference also played an equally important role in elevating the league’s popularity.<\/p>\n

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That is something Julius Erving<\/a> firmly believed. In fact, Dr. J admitted that those playoff battles were fueled by genuine animosity, with players on both sides determined to prevent the other franchise from adding to its legacy.<\/p>\n

“No two teams in professional sports want each other’s throats like these two teams,” Erving said<\/a>. “This is definitely the ultimate.”<\/p>\n

The 76ers vs. the Celtics were intense battles<\/p>\n

This intense rivalry began the moment Bird transformed the Celtics’ fortunes. After Boston went from registering 29 to a league-best 61 wins in the ’79-80 campaign, their hype was ended in exquisite fashion by the 76ers in the Conference Finals.<\/p>\n

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Dr. J averaged a series-high 25.0 points per game to hand Bird & Co. a gentleman sweep, a harsh reality check that they needed more poise and experience to dream about the Larry O’Brien trophy.<\/p>\n

A year later, both teams met again in the Eastern Conference Finals. This time, the Celtics accomplished what only three teams (to that date) in NBA history had managed, overcoming a 3-1 deficit. With many writing the Celtics off, Bird dropped game-high points in each of the last three contests to guide the Celtics into the championship round.<\/p>\n

This rivalry only intensified in 1982. The stage was the same \u2014 Conference Finals \u2014 and so was the trajectory. After falling into a 3-1 hole, Boston forced a Game 7.<\/p>\n

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However, this time the spotlight was hogged by Andrew Toney, who earned just two All-Star nods in his NBA career, scoring a game-high 34 points to eliminate the Celtics.<\/p>\n

The final postseason showdown in that era between these two legendary teams came in 1985. With both meeting again in the Conference Finals, this time the Celtics reminded the Sixers that they were a squad well beyond their reach.<\/p>\n

With Kevin McHale and Bird combining to average 42.0 points per game, the Celtics handed a gentleman swipe to the 76ers, marking the end of the Dr. J era in Philly.<\/p>\n

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Related: How an antisemitic slur ended Miami Heat center’s NBA career<\/a><\/p>\n

Others shared a similar sentiment<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Erving wasn’t the only one who shared that sentiment about the rivalry. Even Tiny Archibald, who played for the Celtics until 1983, described the Celtics vs. 76ers playoff battles as all-out “wars.”<\/a><\/p>\n

“It was a war against us and Philadelphia,” Archibald said on the ‘Cedric Maxwell Podcast.’ “I always tell people, war was Philadelphia, okay?”<\/p>\n

Sure, the Showtime Lakers made their presence felt by winning the 1980 and 1982 championships, but in the early years of that decade, the 76ers and Celtics should also be credited for elevating the NBA’s standards and fanfare.<\/p>\n

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Related: How Julius Erving turned routine ABA nights into unforgettable entertainment: “Every game I’m watching was like going to a circus”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, when Larry Bird arrived, he made the Boston Celtics a must-watch TV spectacle and the team skyrocketed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,75,2209,1409,3497,92117,6,678,207,3817,6668],"class_list":["post-748840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-conference-finals","tag-eastern-conference","tag-larry-bird","tag-legendary-teams","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers","tag-showtime-lakers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116669530980475180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}