Celtics fans that follow their favorite team on the radio know the voice of Cedric Maxwell, better known to some fans as “Cornbread,” very well. He has been part of the team’s broadcast since 2001. He is also part of the team’s storied history, having had his number retired and being named MVP of the 1981 NBA Finals.
Draymond Green took a shot at him and players in the 80s earlier in the week. The Warriors forward said that no one at that time could shoot and while everyone acts like the league was full of tough guys, the reality was there were just a few enforcers and you could fight because fines were minimal back then.
Rich Shirtenlieb brought up the comments Thursday morning on Toucher & Rich. He also brought up Maxwell’s appearance on NBA TV after the Celtics’ Game 3 victory.
“I think that Cedric was feeling it last night,” Shirtenlieb said.
He said that he had spent much of the day with Cedric Maxwell on Wednesday. The duo hosted a pep rally ahead of Game 3. Shirtenlieb described dozens of fans coming up to Maxwell. Nearly all of them wanted to talk about Draymond Green’s comments.
“I think last time was the first time he was like ‘you know, it did kinda piss me off a little bit,” he said before playing the audio from NBA TV for Fred Toucher.
“Don’t act like in the 80s he wouldn’t have been knocked out,” Maxwell said on television after Game 3 when he was asked about Green. “Let me tell you the part that insulted me. Draymond said ‘Well, if you got thrown out of a game during that time, you only could $2.’ Well, you know what? That is an insult to anyone that played with me at that particular time, because we stood on the shoulders of giants. The reason he’s making $30 million? He got on my shoulders and somebody else’s shoulders. Don’t be disrespectful.”
Fred Toucher couldn’t help but point out that Maxwell may have misinterpreted what Green was saying. Green was saying there were no consequences to fighting in the 80s because the league did not react as harshly as it does now. Maxwell seemed to think Green was saying the consequences weren’t severe because the paychecks were so low compared to today.
”I don’t think that’s the point Draymond was making, but I see how Cedric took it,” Toucher said before giving Maxwell credit for using the line “There’s only been 32 Finals MVPs. Damn it, I’m one of them,” to punctuate his point.
