"He comes in and tries to psych you out" - James Worthy sounded off on M.L. Carr's dirty tactics in Game 4 of the 1984 Finals

At the peak of the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers rivalry in the 1980s, individual animosities between players were pretty common. Among these personal rivalries, James Worthy harbored a distaste for Cedric Maxwell and M.L. Carr , who attempted to unsettle him during the highly staked 1984 championship round.

Worthy called M.L. Carr a psyched player

There's no denying that the 1984 NBA Finals were unique in strategic complexity. Both the Celtics and the Lakers recognized the necessity of psychological warfare in addition to their on-court performance. While Kevin McHale's clothesline of Kurt Rambis is often reckoned as the turning point of the series, another incident in Game 4 proved equally pivotal in shifting the momentum in Boston's favor.

Worthy was awarded two crucial free throws as the game went into OT. However, he missed the first attempt. Maxwell and Carr seized the opportunity to get into the Lakers forward's head. While Ced crossed the line, putting his hand on his neck to indicate how "Big Games James" choked in a clutch situation, Carr attempted to unsettle Worthy with sharp remarks.

"That's the kind of player he is. He's a psych player. That's his game," Worthy said . "He comes in and tries to psych you out, but I didn't pay much attention to it."

Maxwell continued to remind Worthy

That particular miss overshadowed the fact that Worthy scored 30 points in Game 4, more than any Celtics player. However, fans only remembered him coming up short in the clutch and, along with Magic Johnson, costing their team the game 129-125.

One would think that the Celtics players would let go of that moment and just remember winning the series. Still, Maxwell kept boasting about poking Worthy , who couldn't prove to be the difference maker.

"How about this: did I poke the bear when I did James Worthy like this, gave him the choke sign? Did I poke the damn bear?" Cedric asked on his podcast. "He was supposed to be the bear."

So, while the Celtics vs. Lakers rivalry from the 1980s is well documented, those battles were far more intense than today's fans could imagine, entailing both physical and psychological challenges that are a rarity in the NBA now.

Related: Pat Riley points out how fighting off James Worthy trade paid off for Lakers: “There's Bird and there's Wilkins, but there isn't anybody better in his position”