Celtics - Lakers Rivalry Among the World’s Best
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
We are extremely lucky here in New England. Not simply because of the great run that our professional sports teams have been on for the past decade. But also because our teams have been and continue to be a part of some of sports greatest rivalries.
The Patriots are relatively new to the dance with all of the franchises success coming in the new millennium. Even so, has there been a better rivalry in the NFL over the last decade than New England and Indianapolis? Brady versus Manning? I think not.
In the NHL, it’s been a while since the Bruins have been relevant to the point where we can consider them serious contenders. Even so, we were all salivating at the idea of a Boston-Montreal Eastern Conference Final which almost came to pass. There is a lot of history between these two storied franchises and the level of intensity when they meet on the ice is still among the best the league has to offer.
In baseball, there is only one great rivalry. It’s Red Sox versus Yankees and everything else is a distant second. From the “Curse of the Bambino” to the Yankees memorable choke in the 2004 ALCS, these two franchises provide more drama for their fans than the infamous “Who Shot JR?” season finale of Dallas 30 years ago.
And now, we get to partake in the drama of yet another great sports rivalry. It is the very best that the NBA has to offer. It’s east coast versus west coast. It’s the NBA’s two most storied franchises. It’s the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.
There have been 63 champions crowned in NBA history and more than half of them are owned by these two teams. Boston has won 17 to LA’s 15. One will soon add another to their total making it 33 out of 64 NBA champions from this rivalry.
While the Celtics have dominated the head-to-head match-ups with the Lakers in the NBA Finals 9-2, they have not lacked for excitement.
In the early years from 1959-1969, the teams met 7 times for the NBA title with all seven going the way of Boston. Stars like Bill Russell and Bob Cousy lead Red Auerbach’s Celtics during that great run while the Lakers featured stars like Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
15 years later the two franchises would meet again for NBA supremacy but this time is was Bird versus Magic. Many believe that these two players were responsible for elevating the NBA to a level of popularity it had never achieved before or since.
They met three times in the 80’s with Bird’s Celtics winning in 1984 thanks in part to a series-turning clothes line of Kurt Rambis by Kevin McHale in game 4. Boston won the game in overtime in LA to even the series at two. They would go on to win it in 7 games for their 15th NBA title.
But Magic’s Lakers would get the best of Boston in 1985 and 1987. The 1985 win was particularly memorable as series MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led Los Angeles to its first ever championship victory over Boston by becoming the first and only visiting team to claim a title at the old Boston Garden.
And now we are in the midst of a new era between these two great franchises. Kobe Bryant may be the best the NBA has to offer with all due respect to Cleveland’s LeBron James. The Celtics, on the other hand, have a new “Big 3” with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Some are calling it the “Big 4” now with the emergence of Rajon Rondo as one of the league’s premier point guards.
They met two years ago in the NBA Finals with Boston winning the best-of-seven series 4-2. The Celtics demolished Los Angeles in the sixth and deciding game 131-92 for the largest margin ever in a Finals clinching game.
What will 2010 hold in store? We do not yet know. That story will begin to unfold starting Thursday night. And what a treat it will be for all of us in New England who continue to be spoiled by another great rivalry.
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