The NBA has always had intense rivalries. Wilt vs. Russell. Bird vs. Magic. Jordan vs. Isaiah. Kobe vs. Shaq (just kidding).
One of the nastiest one-on-one rivalries of all was between Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer. Those guys really disliked each other. Some guys unquestionably got under Bird’s skin. He famously had a big fight with Julius Erving where they each had his hand on the other’s throat, and also got into a heated confrontation with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
With both though he respected them immensely and Jabbar later said that Bird was the toughest player he ever encountered.