Cedric Maxwell reflects on the fights, hatred (food was left!) and future of Celtics-Sixers rivalry

Few teams in the NBA have ever had a rivalry as intense as the Celtics and Sixers. The two teams have battled it out a league-record 20 times in the postseason over the past century, with epic battles in the 1960s between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain and the 1980s between loaded squads on both sides.

One player that was at the center of those heated battles of the 1980s is Cedric Maxwell. He suited up for the Celtics all four times they faced off with the Sixers in the playoffs over the course of six seasons from 1980-85. BostonSportsJournal.com caught up with the current Celtics radio color analyst this week to reflect upon his most vivid memories from that era and whether today's blooming rivalry could ever reach that level.

BSJ: How would you describe those battles in the 1980s to someone who did not get to experience that era?

Cedric Maxwell: I always tell people that I've never been to war but I felt like that was the closest I've gotten, the rivalry and playing those guys.

It seems so vivid right now, thinking about David Zinkoff, their great announcer, Sunday in Philadelphia, high noon, Grover Washington Jr. playing the national anthem, CBS. It just conjures these memories of intensity.



BSJ: Do you have a most memorable series or moment? The 1981 comeback? 

Maxwell: It would have to be 1981, when we were down 3-1 and we came back to beat the Sixers. For me, that will always hold a memory about the greatness of our team. To come back and be the team that was a great team and having to beat them at home, you marvel at that feat, to go in and win three games in a row after going down 3-1.



BSJ: What was your mindset as a young player going through those matchups? How did it impact you on a daily basis?

Maxwell: In my career, early on, you just think about how the games are played, the focus, the intensity, the rivalry, and every day that you play that you are getting up thinking about those guys and them thinking about you. The ultimate vision that I have is even with Dr. J and Larry Bird having that fight and then the fight that I had with Moses Malone...



BSJ: That fight with Moses happened in an exhibition game right? 

Maxwell: You want to talk about having a hatred for a team, that is bigger than big, because you're looking at exhibition games. I mean, we had an exhibition game that we played against the Sixers in Knoxville, Tennessee one year. There is only one restaurant there (by the arena) to eat in and after the game, we happened to get there first. They came to the restaurant after we sat down. They looked at us and we looked at them and they said, "We ain't eating." They left. They left! They weren't ordering any food. They just turned around and left. No NBA player leaves food! But we were there and they didn't want to eat.

BSJ: How do you get into a fight during an exhibition game? Was just that bad blood boiling over from the prior season?

Maxwell: It's just a hatred we had for Billy [Cunningham] and the hatred they had for us. Billy didn't like us. Doc didn't like us. It was just like the whole thing. If you came to Philly, you couldn't wear a Celtics jersey in the stands. There were so many fights in the stands all the time. You had to be a real brave soul to wear one. I'm looking at some of the Sixers people now at the Garden, coming here with Sixers uniforms on now and I'm going, 'You have to be kidding me.' That did not happen during the 80s. That was a death sentence for you.

BSJ: Did you gain a respect for the Sixers over the years as the rivalry developed or was it always animosity?

Maxwell: Once you get through playing, you become like old soldiers. You talk about the battles that guys had and have a healthy respect. Now, I would actually shake Doc's hand or Toney's hand. Back then, I wasn't shaking any hand. I didn't want to. I talked to Doc recently and he was telling me about a house he stayed at in Martha's Vineyard that somebody I knew owned. We were laughing about it. That seemed weird to me because there was no way that would have ever happen back then.

BSJ: These two teams in 2018 clearly look like they will be battling for years to come based on the age of their talent across the roster. Could this matchup eventually lead to the type of rivalry that reaches that type of intensity again? 

Maxwell: It can never happen again because the way the game is played and officiated now. No one is going to throw any elbows, nobody is going to throw any punches, nobody is going to get thrown out. I would be shocked if that happens.

BSJ: How much of a factor does the friendships off the floor with offseason workouts, etc. factor into the rivalry never being able to match the level of the 80s?

Maxwell: That's a problem because you don't want to cross that line because that might be your friend. You don't have to worry about that because none of them were my friends.