Getty Rick Mahorn remembers the day when he began hating the Boston Celtics.
Rick Mahorn may have been the baddest Bad Boy of them all. A key contributor to the famous Detroit Pistons Bad Boys in the late 1980s, Mahorn was one of the most physical players of his era at a time when the Pistons began to overthrow the Boston Celtics as kings of the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics and Pistons found themselves battling for Eastern Conference supremacy after the Celtics dominated most of the decade. After struggling to get over the top, Mahorn and the Pistons dethroned Larry Bird and the Celtics in the 1988 conference finals. The Celtics and Pistons became rivals as the decade wore on, and Mahorn recently explained exactly when he began hating the Celtics.
Rick Mahorn Was Part of an Iconic Boston Celtics Playoff Game
It seemed as if the Pistons were about to take over the Celtics’ reign in the Eastern Conference during the 1987 postseason. The Celtics sought their second straight championship after a dominant 1985-86 season. Only the Pistons stood in the way of a return trip to the NBA Finals.
The Pistons held a one-point lead on the road with five seconds left against the Celtics in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. A win would give Detroit a 3-2 series lead with the Pistons heading home for a potential series-clinching Game 6.
Mahorn put the Pistons in great position to upset Boston in Game 5 when he deflected the ball off Jerry Sichting’s leg with his team ahead 107-106 with five seconds left. Mahorn reluctantly reflected on that Game 5 during a recent appearance on the “Cedric Maxwell Podcast.”
“I knocked it off Bird (actually, Sichting), and I was pumping my fist and looking over there at the bench,” Mahorn recalled. “Chuck Daly was telling me to call a timeout because I’m the guy who takes the ball out. And that doggone Isiah (Thomas) took the ball out. I love Zeke to death, but he — and he said it — he had a brain fart.”
Thomas quickly ran out of bounds and took the ball from the official. He lobbed a pass intended for Bill Laimbeer, but Bird famously stole the ball and passed it to Dennis Johnson, who converted it into a game-winning layup. The Celtics won the series in seven games.
Mahorn Remembers When He First Hated the Celtics
Back in the 1980s, it was the norm to hate your opponent. Rivalries were heated, and the Celtics and Pistons developed a strong hatred for each other in the mid-to-late part of the decade.
Mahorn, who is from Hartford, Connecticut, said he began hating the Celtics when he played against them during a game in Hartford.
“I was from Hartford, Connecticut, and I got tired of all those (expletive) fans in Connecticut that were Boston fans,” Mahorn said.
Maxwell jumped in and told the story about Mahorn’s mother being at the game. He said “Doc” Hurley, a notable sports figure/mentor from Hartford, spoke before the game and said, “Kiss your mama, Ricky. Kiss your mama.”
“The rest of the night, that’s all we were saying,” Maxwell said.
“You know what’s funny?” Mahorn asked. “Larry Bird, I’m posting him up, and he’s laughing. He started, ‘Kiss your mama.’ They were booing me in Hartford. I’m like, motherf***ers, I’m from here.
“As soon as that s*** started, I’m like, ‘Man, I hate Boston. I was rooting for the Knicks all the time. I couldn’t stand Boston. Still don’t like Boston.”
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Rick Mahorn Pinpoints the Day He Began Hating the Boston Celtics