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NBA BEAT - LAKERS vs. CELTICS - A HEATED RIVALRY

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

As the Lakers sharpen their elbows the Celtics will have to toughen their chins to get through this series to add another title to their history of domination of the lads from Hollyweird.

THE TITLE HEAT IS ON!!!

Thursday June 3, 2010

As we now know Shaquille O'Neal failed in his declaration when he signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers to get a ring for the king aka LeBron James. The much anticipated NBA final match-up between James against the Lakers and Kobe Bryant is on hold. The silver lining of this is there will be a clash between one of the most heated rivalries ever in the NBA the Lakers verses the Boston Celtics and their Big 3 Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen + 1 with the one being point guard Rajon Rondo.

The Celtics 2008 NBA champions and the 2009 defending champion Lakers pits an aging Celtics club against the more age balanced Lakers who in Phil Jackson have the winningest NBA title winning coach with 10 as a coach with six with the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and four with the 21st Century Lakers as well as one as a player on the title winning New York Knicks in 1973.

The Celtic/Lakers rivalry dates back to the 1958/59 season when the Celtics began their title winning streak of winning nine of 10 titles including eight in a row with a four game sweep over the then Minneapolis Lakers. The only team to interrupt their streak during that period was the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers who some consider the best ever team for one season.

During the sixties the Celtics and Lakers faced each other five times in the finals with the Celtics walking away the victor every time. Boston won 20 of the 32 games they played against the Lakers in the finals in 1962 (4-3), 63 (4-2), 65 (4-1), 66 (403) and 69 (4-3).

It was the 69 win that was the most surprising as the Celtics finished fourth in the eastern Division with a 48-34 record. They battled through the playoffs only to face a Lakers team that was one of the best teams ever assembled with three players now in the basketball Hall of Fame Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

The Celtics then player coach gloats about the 69 title game seven in Los Angeles as he reminisced that the then Lakers owner Jack Kent Cook was so sure that his team would win that he had victory balloons hanging in rafters to be released after that Lakers won the title. Boston won on a buzzer beating shot 108-106.

The rivalry picked up again in the eighties when the Lakers became the dominate NBA team led by Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson. The Lakers were the champions of that decade winning five NBA titles 1980, 82, 85 (vs. Celtics), 87 (vs. Celtics) and 88. The Celtics led by Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale won three 1981, 84 (vs. Lakers) & 86. During that period the teams met in the finals three times 84 Celtics won, 85 Lakers won and 87 Lakers won with the Lakers winning two of the three head to head finals for the title.

The head games are on as Lakers coach Jackson accused the Celtics and Kevin Garnett of playing too rough. Jackson is out of his element on this one as the Lakers appear to have an elbow practice with Kobe Bryant being the most abusive as we observed during the series between the Lakers and Sacramento Kings in 2002 where Bryant was blasting away drawing blood from Mike Bibby's nose without being called for a foul BUT A FOUL WAS CALLED ON BIBBY. That series will be best remembered as the FIXED GAME SERIES and those non calls bear that theory out.

They got away with the same tactics in the 2001 finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. The one sided calls in favor of the Lakers prompted the Sixers Allen Iverson to hang his head in disgust knowing that something was very wrong with the officiating.

In the Lakers Western Final series against the Phoenix Suns video footage clearly showed Lakers sub Sasha Vujacic blasting away with his elbows to the face of the Suns guard Goran Dragic. The strange thing about that incident is they are both International players from the same country Slovenia. The bottom line being if its dirty basketball you're looking for the Lakers have it.

For this series the Lakers have home court advantage and are very tall. During the regular season they split with each winning one game. The Lakers are undefeated at the Staples Center this postseason. The Celtics defeated the Lakers when Bryant was injured. The Celtics have heart but the main question is will their age affect them, will they be too pooped to pop?

The Lakers will be seeking revenge for the 131-92 thrashing the Celtics gave them in 1998 game six when Boston won the NBA title taking the series 4-2. Since the NBA began the Celtics have won nine of their 11 NBA finals meetings over the Lakers. This series is too tough to call but injuries will be a major factor in the outcome.