Boston vs. L.A.: Will This Rivalry Ever Be Renewed?
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by Oneflydude
The atmosphere in the arena last night was electric. Flashes of the 80's rivalry came to me. The sell out crowd had t-shirts with the words, "BEAT L.A." on it. Everytime Kobe Bryant touched the ball, the place was echoed by boo's. Celebraties such as Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Ellen Pompeo were in the building. Celtics fans who have been happy with the start of Boston's season. You gotta love it.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost last night's game 107-94, to the Boston Celtics. Kobe scored 28, the "Big Three" scored 59 all together (Garnett 21, Allen 18, Pierce 20), and the Celtics improve to 10-1 (7-0 at home). Kendrick Perkins scored a career high, 21 points along with 9 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists. Vladamir Radmanovic scored 18 points behind Kobe, but it wasn't enough to give the Lakers a win, sending them to a 7-5 record. But after this game, I have been thinking.
As a 16 year old, I wasn't been blessed by the days of the original rivalry. I never got a chance to see Larry Bird face off with Magic Johnson in the 80's. Or the days of Jerry West and Bill Russell in the 60's. I have always heard about it from the old heads in my family, but I haven't seen it.
The past couple of weeks, Kobe Bryant has been pretty quiet about wanting to be traded. He has played like he usually does, and has kept his mouth shut. But there still is no indication yet if Kobe will have a new address this season.
Suppose Kobe isn't traded...
Will this Celtics-Lakers rivalry come back?
The Celtics now have a team that is able to compete in the NBA. With
the addition of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, there is no doubt that this is a playoff team. They have already proven it so far,
starting off the season 8-0 and now with a 10-1 record. They seem to
be better than people expected, or at least better than I expected. The
past few years, the Celtics weren't even a threat. Now, they are
starting to become the team to beat. Boston missed the postseason in
six consecutive seasons from '96 to '01. During that time, L.A. was in
the proccess of building their own dynasty. The Lakers won three
straight titles from '00 to '02. The Celtics were in the playoffs in
'02 and they had a chance to renew the rivalry in the Finals, but they
lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. Those were the days of the
dynamic duo of Shaquille O'neal and Kobe. But those days for the Lakers
are gone. The Celtics-Lakers rivalry, hasn't been a big thing lately.
Since Boston is in the Eastern Conference and L.A. is in the West,
these two teams only have a few chances to play each other during the regular
season and they will only play one more time this year.
Now if Kobe were to stay in L.A. and the front office were to build a team that is able to compete, will this rivalry come back? Don't forget, the Lakers have been to the playoffs every since '95, so they are still a playoff team as long as Kobe is leading them. If they were to pickup some help for him, could they make it further into the playoffs? And if Boston were to keep playing the way they are now, could they end up meeting in the Finals ever again? It could happen. Maybe not this year, but it could possibly happen in the future. Maybe it won't ever happen again. Only the future could bring back the days of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Like Kevin Garnett said, "If you don't know anything about the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, then you don't know anything about basketball."
The rivalry mostly occured in the NBA Finals, so what are the chances that both teams will make it to the Finals again, as often as they did in the past? Probably not high, but that is for the future to determine.
The future does look promising for both teams. The youth in Jordan Farmar and Andrew Bynum for the Lakers. The youth in Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins for the Celtics. Could these young players give us anything to look forward to in the future? Only time can tell if this rivalry will ever be the way it was.
What do you think?
