As a basketball fan I'm pretty damn happy this week. The team I follow, LA Lakers, have gone for a perfect week, 6-0, including away matches at both Cleveland and Boston. As a Lakers fan there is nothing better than when you beat Boston Celtics. Like AC Milan v Inter in football, this is the mother of all basketball rivalries.
When Boston travelled to the Staples centre earlier this season the Lakers beat them. I was really happy, but knew the Celtics would have their chance to get revenge this week. The Lakers played 6 away games in the last 9 days, one would be at Boston, the second best team in the Eastern conference, and one at Cleveland, the best team in the Eastern Conference.
You can probably imagine my excitement when I woke on Friday morning to find out the Lakers had gone to Boston Garden and faced off with the Celtics. They took them to overtime and beat them by one point ( and who says the small things don't matter?). In their back yard. They had gone face to face with the old enemy and battled through for a win. Apparently they didnt even play well, Andrew Bynum is out with a torn MCL and Kobe Bryant was only 10 for 29 from the field, and as Lakers most reliable centre and scorer respectively this was not exactly perfect.
The next stop was going to be tough for Lakers. They rocked up at The Q in Cleveland for a finals preview, yeah I went there Boston fans, Lebron and his Cavs against Kobe and his Lakers. Again Lakers had beaten Cavs at The Staples Centre earlier in the season, however winning at The Q would be different. No Andrew Bynum and the Cavs had a perfect 23-0 record at home. On Sunday afternoon I remember having a conversation with two of my U14s players about how doubtful I was of a Lakers win. But I had a good feeling when I went online to check the scores this afternoon. Sure enough Lakers had won. Kobe outscored Lebron by 3 points and the Lakers had won by double figures 101 - 91.
What was even better Celtics had lost. Again.
I now thoroughly believe the Lakers are going to win the Championship this year. They have gone on the road with a severely depleted squad and beaten the beasts of the east. They are now, deservedly, at the top of the power rankings and the only team to have not lost more than 9 games. The hold the best record in the West by quite some way and they would take some stopping on the way to the Finals this time round. And when they get there no matter who is waiting at the other side for them, whether it is Boston, Cleveland or even perhaps Orlando, they have clearly shown the fighting qualities that make winners and champions, whereas the Cetics and Cavs can't even hold their own at home.
This is our season.
It's amazing that for the first time since 1987, the Celtics are headed back to the NBA Finals, this time commanded by an entirely different "Big Three" though... The players are different, but the scenario is the same—two arch rivals battling it out to become the team that takes it all and can call themselves World Champions. Pity Lakers won really.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day the Lakers and the Celtics dominated the rest of the league, meeting in the finals six times in eight years. Each one was more exciting than the next, but none more memorable than the 1969 series, the last series of Bill Russel's career.
At the time of the 1969 series, the Celtics were an aging team, and after taking the last five finals' meetings between these two teams, most people thought it was time to throw the towel.
Bill Russell was nearing the end of his career, while Bob Cousy had already retired. The series began how most would have expected, with the Lakers taking the first two games.
However, Game Three in Boston became the point of the series. After taking it with a buzzard-beater finish, the Celtics went on the win Game Four as well. The two teams split Games Five and Six, which created the need for a deciding Game Seven in Los Angeles.
Game Seven of the 1969 NBA Finals is one of the most famous games in NBA history to this day. It was a close game, with the Celtics leading at the beginning and the Lakers, fueled by Jerry West, storming back near the end.
The game went down to the final seconds, and ended with a pull-up jumper by Don Nelson which rolled in off the back of the rim to give the Celtics their 11th title in 13 years, and the sixth championship in the Lakers/Celtics rivalry.
However, this was not the end of this epic match-up, for these two teams would meet again three times in the 1980's. Then, the Celtics, lead by the original "Big Three" Parish, Bird and McHale, were matched up against the formidable combination of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Bob McAdoo.
The first match up of the 1980's went much like the previous six meetings in the finals between these two teams. It was a close series, with Boston once again taking the trophy home. However, the Lakers had taken enough sitting down and demolished the Celtics in 1985 and 1987 finals to take home two titles and reduce the series to 2-6 for the Celtics.
Now for the first time since their epic match-ups in the 1960's and 1980's, the Lakers and the Celtics met up in the 2008 Finals once again. This time, the Lakers currently hold a two-game streak in the overall historic series. The Lakers, carried by determined Kobe Bryant, will try to keep the streak alive when he and his team face off against Boston's new "Big Three", Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Therefore, the fact that the lakers have taken home the Larry O'Brien trophy and taken the win in this historic match up between two of the greatest teams in the NBA is a bit of a travesty.
I for one admire the Celtics and their deplorable, shambolic, embarrassing, foetid, shocking, repugnant, repulsive, cringworthy inadequacies as a team, I think they are better people for it
ReplyDeleteOf course, even the smallest things metters to me.
ReplyDeletereally i disagree the most memorable is definately the 1984 series including greats like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul Jabaar and Kevin Mcahale. It is also undobutedly some of the best basketball that ahs ever been played.
ReplyDeleteDebatable.
ReplyDelete