AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Philadelphia forward Charles Barkley sent Detroit center Bill Laimbeer a note prior to the game which ended in their exchanging punches.
Several sports writers witnessed Barkley writing a two word note, the second word of which was 'You.' He addressed it to Laimbeer, signed it 'Charles' and had a ball-boy run it over to the locker room.
Barkley scored 36 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to their first Atlantic Division title since 1982-83 with a 107-97 victory Thursday night over the Detroit Pistons.
With 14 seconds to go, Barkley charged Laimbeer after the Pistons' center flipped the ball in Philadelphia forward Rick Mahorn's face after the ex-Detroit forward scored a basket on a driving layup.
'He did. He hit me first,' Laimbeer said. Asked what Barkley said, he replied, 'What he said was insignificant.'
Referee Jake O'Donnell, who ejected both from the game along with Pistons forward Scott Hastings, had to restrain Barkley from going into the Detroit dressing room at the end of the game.
The two players exchanged taunts on their way off the floor. Barkley saying something to Laimbeer and the Detroit center answering with a 'bye-bye' wave of his hand.
'I asked him why he ran away,' Laimbeer said. 'I don't know what he said to me. It was unintelligible -- that's basically how he talks.'
'It was very cheap what they tried to do,' Barkley said. 'But there was no way we were going to get out of here without a win. He (Laimbeer) had a shot at the title -- and he lost. I got in 3-4 good punches.'
'When I was growing up,' said Detroit guard Isiah Thomas, ejected with 3:40 to play for throwing a punch at Mahorn, 'we got in some good fights. This was a controlled fight.
'No, I did not want to be out there. My teammates handled themselves quite well.'
Philadelphia beat Detroit three of four times they played this season and they could meet again in the Eastern Conference finals.
'I think we've been losing our poise all year,' Detroit forward Dennis Rodman said. 'The Lakers are on a roll right now and we seem to be going downhill. If we don't come together and play as a unit, I think there's going to be early vacations for us.'
'Our team has been kind of lacsidaisical (sic) lately,' Laimbeer said. 'We needed something like this to get us going. I think this will be the case.'
