I have been thinking of this finals match-up for a long time. I thought that it will only be a fantasy. But since Boston had the Big 3, and L.A. got good players around Kobe, it made me think that this could be possible. Its like the Ateneo-La Salle Rivalry x20
Less than 24 hours after the Staples Center crowd chanted “We want Boston,” a small, upper deck cadre of Celtics fans who had infiltrated the Palace of Auburn Hills broke out their own famed refrain:
Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!
Celtics-Lakers. Nevermind saying it. It’s more likely you screamed it, screamed it so loud that you’ll need those extra days between now and Game 1 of the NBA Finals to rest your vocal cords.Amazing, isn’t it? Not only will the greatest nine months in the history of Boston sports include yet another run for yet another championship, but this one will be a throwback showdown of epic proportions.
The Celtics, 89-81 victors over the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals last night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, host the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night at the Garden, meaning there will be plenty of history and nostalgia for everyone.
The Celtics swept the old Minneapolis Lakers in the 1959 NBA Finals. They beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals in ’62, ’63, ’65, ’66, ’68 and, perhaps most famously, ’69. Did they ever get those balloons out of the Forum rafters?
And then Bird, McHale and Parish came along, and the Celtics beat the Lakers in the finals in 1984 but lost to them in ’85 and ’87.
What’s best about this is that the NBA won’t have to hold cue cards in front of these modern-day Celtics with instructions to say something light and clever about the history of this Gigantor of a basketball rivalry.
“It means everything to Boston fans,” said Paul Pierce , who gets it. “I think that’s pretty much what got me started in basketball, growing up in Los Angeles, watching the Lakers and the Celtics.
“As a kid, I hated the Celtics. And now I’m going home to play against my team that I grew up watching. It’s a dream come true, man, just thinking about it. I think that rivalry really revolutionized the game of basketball, and now I’m part of it.”
And now I’m part it. That’s wonderful. It’s perfect. By speaking those words, Pierce wasn’t merely paying homage to the great Celtics-Lakers rivalry; he was getting down on his hands and knees and thanking his maker for allowing him to add his name to the rivalry.
And then there was Kevin Garnett, whose arrival in Boston last summer made this upcoming series possible to enjoy. Unlike Pierce, Garnett did not grow up in the Los Angeles area and did not grow up hating the Celtics. But he was a kid with a basketball under his arm, glued to the TV, glued to Celtics-Lakers.
Taking us into his very own way-back machine, Garnett introduced us to the days of “. . . that big plate of food in front of me, watching the Lakers and Celtics play on Sunday, Hubie Brown and Dick Stockton doing the game.
“I remember that like it was yesterday. I remember my mom telling me, ‘Don’t get too close to the TV, it’ll kill your eyes.’ ”
Garnett then paused and said, “Man, I’m looking forward to this.”
Last Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Spurs in Game 5 to advance to the NBA Finals. On Saturday, the Boston Celtics topped the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 to meet the Lakers in the 2008 Finals. With the NBA championship on the line, the NBA’s two most storied franchises will face off.
Both teams entered the playoffs as the number one seed in their conference. The Lakers came out of the Western Conference by leaning on Kobe Bryant’s MVP skills. The Celtics are led by the trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
Boston’s biggest advantage in the Finals will be their homecourt advantage. It will be difficult for the Lakers to win a game in Boston — especially with their rowdy fans doing all they can to bring another championship to Boston. Garnett, Pierce and Allen are now all play very well and the young players on the team have grown up in a hurry.
The Lakers, on the other hand, have the best player in the planet. Bryant will be tough for anyone to stop. On top of that, their team is amazingly deep. From Pau Gasol to Lamar Odom to their young and explosive bench, it’ll be difficult to keep the Lakers from scoring. Defensively, the Lakers are also very underrated.
As a Laker Fan my Prediction Lakers in 5. Yeah I said it. !!
