It required two practices for Cedric Maxwell to be shut down by Larry Bird.
Cedric Maxwell, a forward with the Celtics in his second season at the time, excessively stereotyped Larry Bird. It happened during Bird’s second Cs team practice. Even though the sessions weren’t taped, “Larry Legend” had already helped everyone visualize that he wasn’t the dull, white man Maxwell had assumed him to be.
I only ever knew about Maxwell’s name from my trip to Boston to attend a game. I had no idea who he was. He was there, talking a lot, when I stepped in. Max is the sole person still standing after Curtis Rowe and Sidney Wicks were cut after our first practice. However, Sidney and Curtis were genuinely good guys. It was all Cedric who was speaking. By the time of the second practice, Cedric was the only one left. And it took no time at all to quiet him down,” Bird stated to Andscape in 2019.
The Caucasian man arrived to engage in games.
Maybe Maxwell was occupied with something else at Indiana State University when “The Hick from French Lick” was making waves across the country. He had to find out for himself that Bird was a fantastic player since he missed the memo.
However, Larry knew going onto the majority black Celtics team that things wouldn’t be all sunshine and lollipops. However, Bird doesn’t give a damn about what his teammates think. His approach was to let his play speak for itself from the outset.
“You walk into these situations thinking, ‘Well, I’m not taking no s—, but I don’t know how I’m going to be treated. The Hall of Famer continued, “We have to leave if they want to.
Let’s let Max explain.
As the most of us are aware, Bird was not one of those all-time greats who enjoys discussing the specifics of their victory, much less a wonderful team practice performance. Fortunately, Maxwell can still clearly remember how Bird silenced him that day.
“I see that he is slow. He’s unable to release his shot. He is not very powerful. We’re going to lay it up here. .. Whoa! thwarts a jump shot. [I consider] Well, perhaps that was just lucky. Once more, [He] wins the ball. Whoa! Makes another successful jump shot. You know what, I’m going to D this man up, I’m thinking now. 20 feet away, whoa! Boom! from twenty-five feet away! “All I could think about all the time was, ‘Wow, this White guy could play,'” Maxwell later remembered.
