Lakers-Celtics Rivalry

By Lew Freedman

Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers is one of the great rivalries in professional sports, much like the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees, Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers and Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs.

For a rivalry to be characterized as great or special, it must transcend not just the cities that harbor the teams involved but engage the sport or the sports world as a whole. This is true of Celtics-Lakers. Here we are with the two teams matched in the Finals for an eleventh time. But it seems as if the entire basketball universe has developed amnesia.

Yes, the 1980s were terrific with the Larry Bird-led Celtics going teamo-a-teamo against the Magic Johnson-led Lakers. It was great stuff with Bird and Johnson playing the roles of chief gladiators and other Hall of Fame players in the mix. This rivalry spawned some of the most popular memorabilia in the history of the game - Larry Bird jerseys and Magic Johnson jerseys are still best-sellers today.

But by then the Celtics-Lakers rivalry was old news. Hello? Does anyone remember Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn? K.C. and Sam Jones? Does anyone remember Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain? Fans must remember, because Wilt Chamberlain basketballs are still a hot ticket, and fans can still buy a Jerry West Adidas jersey to wear proudly.

Once upon a time in the 1960s, it was a foregone conclusion that the Celtics would emerge from the NBA’s Eastern Division and the Lakers would emerge from the Western Division to battle each other for the right to hold the championship trophy.

Year after year the Lakers dreamed and the Celtics dashed their hopes. Year after year Jerry West was unstoppable and the Celtics stopped the Lakers. Between 1957 and 1969, the Boston Celtics won the NBA crown 11 times in 13 years. They missed out on one because Russell suffered a sprained ankle in the Finals. The other time, in 1967, the Philadelphia 76ers were simply superior.

The first time the Celtics and Lakers met in the Finals the Lakers were still located in Minneapolis (if anyone wonders how an LA team got the nickname Lakers, it is because the franchise originated in the state of 10,000 lakes). Boston swept the series. A young headliner of magnificent skills, supreme jumping ability and phenomenal explosiveness made his debut that season. Baylor averaged 24.9 points a game and was the original Michael Jordan.

The next time the Celtics and Lakers collided for the title was 1962. By then the Lakers’ home base was California and a second superstar was in the lineup. Guard Jerry West, “Zeke from Cabin Creek” West Virginia, averaged 30.8 ppg. that season. Boston won 4 games to 3.

And so it continued. In 1963, the Celtics won the series, 4-2. In 1965, Boston won 4-1. Baylor and West were frustrated. The Celtics, always with a few more weapons, were jubilant.

The Lakers (the league’s original dynasty while in Minneapolis, in the early 1950s with player-of-the-first-half-century, center George Mikan) did finally gain a title for West during the 1972 season when Baylor was finished by a knee problem. But the trophy was only claimed after Russell and most of his championship running mates retired. George Mikan jerseys, with their retro styling, are best-selling fan favorites.

For the Lakers, 1969 was the most exasperating. Certain his club was the best and with the deciding game in Los Angeles, owner Jack Kent Cooke foolishly and premeditatedly planned a victory celebration. The rafters of the Forum were crammed with balloons. A sheet of paper with the step-by-step celebration procedures was passed out.

Celtics players got hold of the schedule. Of course they rained on the Lakers’ parade. As far as anyone knows, the balloons are still there. Boston fans are famously loyal, wearing their Celtics jerseys proudly...but Lakers fans are just as demonstrative in their love for their team, and Lakers jerseys are just as popular.

(Lew Freedman is a Chicago-based sportswriter and the author of the forthcoming “Dynasty – The Rise of the Boston Celtics” from Lyons Press.)