Before the Golden State Warriors-Boston Celtics game tipped off, the Inside the NBA crew had yet another in-depth discussion on the suspension that Draymond Green was slapped with. Reiterating himself, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t budge from his stance that Green didn’t need any sort of counselling or help. Justifying his stance, the Lakers legend reminded the crew of the 1984 brawl that took place between Larry Bird and Julius Erving.
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While the entire basketball community, including Steve Kerr, agrees with the NBA’s decision to indefinitely suspend Draymond Green, Shaquille O’Neal has a different opinion. Previously, Shaq went on a rant revealing why the Warriors forward didn’t require any help. Sticking to his original take, the Big Aristotle tried explaining the same to his co-panel members on Inside the NBA.
“He needs counseling, he needs help, there is nothing wrong with that man. On the court this is how he has been playing.”
Shaq even had a different opinion on the Dray-Rudy Gobert chokehold situation. According to him, the four-time champ was only standing up for his teammate. As concerning as this take from Shaq is, he went on to state that Larry Bird and Julius Erving also got into a scuffle in 1984 that involved choking.
“Bro, he was sticking up for his teammate, stop it… When Larry Bird was fighting Dr. J, he was choking.”
Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley refuted Shaq. The Jet stated that Green required in-house counselling. Whereas, Barkley simply concluded that a player could not just go around choking and punching others.
Kenny: “I think there should be more in-house counselling in terms of Mike Dunleavy, Steve Kerr on a constant basis.”
Barkley: “You can’t choke people and punch them in the face. You can’t do that.”
The NBA has come a long way from the 80s
Basketball is a physical sport and there are bound to be instances when two players get into an altercation. However, every expert, fan, and even player admits that there’s a line for that and physically assaulting might be beyond that line. Although the league has been taking strict actions to tackle this, this was not always the case.
As for the altercation that went on between Julius Erving and Larry Bird, none of the two players were suspended. They were only slapped with fines worth $7,500 each. So, the comparison might not fit well with the current situation as the NBA was a much more violent era back then.
NBA’s Greatest Fights: Dr. J vs Larry Bird (1984)
No suspensions
Doc & Bird were fined $7.5K each
Moses $3.5K & Barkley $1K for holding Bird while Doc repeatedly punched him. Billy Cunningham was fined $2.5K for “highly inflammatory’ post-game comments https://t.co/ugRgK2hdAC— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 22, 2022
Shaq has a different opinion on this as he might relate to Dray’s situation being in a similar spot during his playing days. Famously, the 7ft 1” big man got into a physical altercation with Charles Barkley, who now is his colleague. Ultimately, their mothers helped resolve the matter by getting them to apologize to each other.
