Boston.com has an absolutely incredible oral history of Larry Bird's 60-point game vs. the Hawks in 1985. Among the interesting bits, Bird ran in a five-mile charity race two days before the explosion against the Hawks in New Orleans, and he may have been hung over (he denies this).
But probably the best anecdote involves one of the most famous moments, the shot after which the Hawks went berserk freaking out laughing about the shot he hit.
RIVERS: He said 'in the trainer’s lap' coming down the court, which meant it was going to be a three and it was going to from deep. Then he said, 'who wants it?' Then I think Rickey Brown, I’m not sure who it was, ran out after him, he shot this high rainbow, it goes in, Rickey bumps into him -- and accidentally knocks him on our trainer’s lap. So it was exactly what he said, it was an accident but it was almost fate. They show a shot of our bench, Cliff Levingston and Eddie Johnson are standing up giving each other high fives. It was pretty awesome.
Rivers said this in an interview years ago:
The story also reveals that coach Mike Fratello fined the Hawks for their behavior:
FRATELLO: We’re trying to beat these people. We’re not going to the movies to enjoy a show. This is our competitor. I didn’t appreciate they way they handled it, I let them know that, and we moved on. A lesson learned. Their lesson was that they got fined.
HASTINGS: Mike was so mad I think he fined each of those guys 500 bucks. But he didn’t get me. I had the towel.
WEDMAN: I understood why they did it. It was like, where is this coming from? How is this guy doing this? It might not be funny or cool if you’re on the same team, but if you know the game or play the game, especially at that level, you can’t help but marvel at what Larry was doing.
I don't think you'd see the Spurs laughing and cheering for Kyrie Irving the other night at any point. But when Kobe went for 81, there was a definite feeling of glee with the Raptors. Sometimes the individual performance just outweighs everything else. There's room in the sport for balance between the competitive spirit and appreciation of some of the greatest performances in league history.
But seriously, the Pistons would have reacted very differently. The entire story is awesome, highly recommend you go read it.
