Getty Glen Davis #11 of the Boston Celtics.
LeBron James stirred the pot quite a bit when he labeled Boston Celtics fans “racist as f***” during an episode of The Recount. In light of LeBron’s remarks, former Celtics players like Glen “Big Baby” Davis have talked about their personal experiences playing in Boston. Davis, who played for the Celtics from 2007 to 2011, told VladTV that he never experienced racism in Boston firsthand, but that was because he played for the hometown team.
“Boston never showed me no racism,” Davis said. “You know it’s there. You feel it… but they never showed it to me because I was like one of their own. In Boston, I would think they don’t like Bill Russell (because of his) color, but they love Bill Russell! I’ve never seen (racism). I never had an issue with anybody talking about racism. I’ve dealt with that more in the south than anything.”
Davis grew up in Louisiana and played for Louisiana State University before being drafted by the Celtics in 2007.
Davis reflected on other Celtics memories in the past.
Davis Reflected on Winning a Title
Davis was a rookie in the NBA when the Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to win their 17th championship as a franchise in 2008. When asked about winning, Davis went into detail about how amazing the journey was leading up to winning the title against the Lakers.
“It was great, man. It was an epic series because you got the new era of the Big Three. The Lakers, the Celtics, that whole tradition right there. Then our journey through the playoffs was just amazing. We played Atlanta tough, we played Cleveland tough. It was just a great series… then coming to the Laker game for the finals was just like the mega joint.”
Davis also admitted that because he was so young, he didn’t fully appreciate that moment then like he does now.
“At the time, I really didn’t understand, as I do now, how important that moment was. It was a great experience. I had a great time whooping the Lakers ass.”
Davis Revealed More on Ray Allen-Rajon Rondo Conflict
Having been their teammate for four years out of the five years they played together, Davis knew all about the feud between Allen and Rondo. During his interview with VladTV, Davis went into detail about how Rondo didn’t like that Allen had been pushing for Chris Paul and how Doc would single out Rondo’s mistakes but not Allen’s.
“Ray was supposedly wanting Chris Paul in a trade. That was after we won it. Rondo didn’t like that. Then sometimes Ray, on defense, would suck ass, and Doc wouldn’t say s***. Doc would say, ‘Rondo, you’re f***ing up! Chauncey Billups is killing you!’ and Rondo’s like, ‘Chauncey Billups ain’t f***ing scored this f***ing series! It’s Rip Hamilton that’s f***king busting our ass!'”
To settle the score, Rondo and Allen would duke it out in a boxing ring, where Rondo would go for the head, according to Davis.
“They had beef, so they boxed it out,” Davis said. “They put on gloves and really like threw hands. I watched it. You could just tell Rondo was trying to knock his head off.”
Before Rondo’s and Allen’s final year as teammates, Davis was traded along with Von Wafer to the Orlando Magic for Brandon Bass in 2011. Davis then reunited with Doc Rivers on his final team, Los Angeles Clippers, in 2014, where he would play until 2015.