The NBA Finals are set, and in several days they'll even begin. The match-up, of course, is a classic: the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Celtics and Lakers have met in the Finals 10 times. The rivalry is best-known today for Larry Bird and Magic Johnson's encounters in the 1980s, though they only faced each other for the championship three times, with the Lakers winning twice. But the Bill Russell/Sam Jones-era Celtics faced the Lakers seven times in the Finals (including in 1959, when the Lakers were still in Minneapolis), with the Celtics winning every single time. And yet Jerry West is the guy who ended up with the "Mr. Clutch" nickname and his silhouette on the NBA logo.
West did win the first-ever Finals MVP award in 1969, which made sense, because even though the Lakers as always lost to the Celtics, at least they dragged it out to seven games that time.
That series is one of my favorite Finals ever. Though the Celtics had beaten the Lakers in the Finals the year before, they were getting old: it would be the last season for Russell and Jones. The Lakers had the homecourt advantage for Game Seven and, anticipating a victory, owner Jack Kent Cooke had thousands of balloons hanging from the ceiling, waiting to be dropped when the Lakers won. The Celtics, as proven as proven winners come (Russell already ten rings at this point; Jones had nine) were incensed and jumped out to a quick lead. Though the game was close at the end, the Celtics held on to win the championship. See awesome quotes from Red Auerbach in this story on NBA.com, and from Bill Russell in this Wikipedia article. (There's no source for those quotes that I can see, but I swear NBA.com used to have an awesome interview with Russell where he talked about that series and the balloons, but I can't find it.)
That's history. And Bird and Magic you know about, too. (I think I heard Bird say once that he considered Philadelphia to be Boston's true rival in his early years, though.) Terrific players, outstanding teams, and fantastic games. This year what do we get? Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.
No disrespect to those players—actually, yeah, a very slight disrespect intended. Garnett's fierce, a great worker, and one of the most memorable players of this era; Kobe perhaps even more so. But has either one reached the Bird/Magic level of greatness, let alone the Russell stratosphere? With a ring or two of his own, Kobe could perhaps belong in the picture near Magic, though let's see him earn it first.
Will Kobe get that ring? The odds are probably in his favor. The Lakers have the best player and coach in the series, a formula that's helped the Bulls, Spurs, Lakers, and Heat win titles in recent years. The only recent exception is the Detroit Pistons, who interestingly were aided by Kobe's selfishness/overconfidence, though I don't anticipate that being a problem this year. There's a ton on the line for Kobe—only the validation of his whole career, if the Lakers win—and he'll relish the opportunity.
The Celtics have a chance, too (they won more games than the Lakers this year), and I'll be pulling for them like crazy. I think a lot of their hope comes down to what Paul Pierce can accomplish. He's a talented enough player, and a basketball junkie by all accounts, that he could be the X-factor Boston needs to counter Kobe. He's surely fired up for his big chance, as well. I hope to see Garnett play well on the game's biggest stage, too. But that won't make him Kevin McHale.
This could be a terrific series; just don't expect the franchises involved (the laundry, as Jerry Seinfeld would say) to have much to do with it.
Comments
I detest Kobe and I've never liked the Celtics which makes this finals showdown nearly unwatchable for me. I suppose my hatred of Kobe is slightly stronger than for the Celtics, so I will be pulling for Boston. I would really like to see Pierce get a ring (I could care less about KG and Allen).
The best way for this series to end up would be for Kobe to try to take over and stop sharing the ball, and consequently lose the series for the Lakers. More than anything, that's what I'm hoping for.
That all said, I hope the Celtics beat the tar out of the Lakers (although I suspect the opposite is more likely, for the reasons you mention). I hate Kobe and Phil Jackson, would love to see Garnett win one, and would love even more to hear Kobe demanding a trade in the post-game press conference right after he loses the series on a last-second miss.
John, the more I think about it the better I feel about Boston's chances. They did have a great season and the Lakers get a ton of pub just for being the Lakers, which is odd because that only makes them maybe the second-best franchise in NBA history. I also think the longer the layoff (and six days or whatever is long to me), the better for Boston because Kobe will spend all week ruminating on his greatness.
I loved Phil Jackson with the Bulls but he was probably just as egotistical then. Guess it helped him to have such a likable star.
I also like your demanding a trade reference. Sportswriters get a lot of crap for having bad predictions, especially when they've "never played the game". But has anyone ever been as spectacularly wrong about a season as Kobe was about the Lakers this year? Granted this came before the Gasol trade but still, they were fine without him.