“You’re Backing Down, You’re Being a Pus*y!”: Larry Bird Had to Overcome Brutal Spat Between Celtics Team to Beat Warriors in 1991

The Boston Celtics are the most successful team in the NBA with 17 championships. The Celtics remained a dominant force in the league for three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s. However, the domination slowly started to fade away after the franchise’s 1986 championship win. The Celtics legend Larry Bird helped the team win three championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986. But, things started to crumble for Boston in the late 1980s and 1990s when they did not win a single championship.

During a tough phase for the team, Larry Bird had to overcome a brutal spat between the head coach Chris Ford and player Brian Shaw to secure a victory over the Golden State Warriors in 1991.

Larry Bird was just recovering from a severe back problem in 1991. At the same time, former Celtics forward Kevin McHale suffered an injury ahead of an away regular-season trip to play with the Warriors. The C’s were in a difficult team situation in McHale’s absence, leaving the burden of scoring on Larry Bird.

Larry Bird faced a difficult Celtics team spat

During the game, the Golden State veteran Tim Hardaway restricted former Celtics star, Brian Shaw, from playing freely. This led to a brawl with former Boston Celtics head coach Chris Ford as he hurled some offensive comments. Ford said, “You’re backing down! You’re being a pu**y.”

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Brian Shaw was unimpressed by Ford’s comments and gave him a response during the timeout. Shaw said, “I’m not backing down. I’m no pu**y!.”

Celtics beat the Warriors amid chaos

Larry Bird bore witness to the spat between Shaw and Ford, but he was still hell-bent on winning. Shaw also upped his game after Ford’s comments and was supported by Former Celtics star Dee Brown to deal with Hardaway. Reserve forward Eddie Pinckney playing for McHale, also chipped in a valuable contribution, prompting a rare ‘Attaway, Pinckney!‘ praise from Larry Bird.

The 12-time All-Star took the charge to the Warriors by scoring a three-pointer as the Celtics led by 106-93 with 6:15 left on the clock. The men in green eventually sealed the victory against the Golden State Warriors by 128-112. The Celtics went 2-0 on the trip as they bettered their regular season record to 37-12, second best record in the league.

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Thus, Bird held the Boston Celtics during a tough phase. He overcame a difficult team situation and helped the Celtics secure a comfortable victory against the Warriors in 1991. This was just one of Larry’s multitude of resolute victories!