The Lakers, Celtics "rivalry" has faded out since the days of Chamberlain and Russell |
These two teams don't play in the same division, don't play in the same conference, geographically are miles apart and the cities don't even match. Despite the fact that these two NBA franchise combine for 33 of the 64 NBA championships, New York and L.A. actually rival each other in terms of city prowess. The media hypes this rivalry up so much, thanks in large part to the insane amount of Top 50 players that have suited up for the Lakers and Celtics over the years.
This "rivalry" was truly only a "rivalry" in the 1960s when there were only 9 NBA teams and only two of them were good, the Celtics and Lakers. That was a time when it was guaranteed that L.A. and Boston were going to match up in the finals, actually make that an absolute guarantee. From 1959-1969, the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals seven times. SEVEN TIMES. That's when it was a real rivalry. Since 1970 the two have only met 5 times. In the 80's it wasn't as much a rivalry between the two teams as it was Magic vs. Bird. When the two met most recently in '08 and again in '10, it was just a media re-hash of the matchup so the ratings starved NBA could increase its ugly TV numbers. And while the ratings did rise, the rivalry didn't grow.
The Lakers and Celtics meet in the regular season twice every year. For TNT, ABC and ESPN they savor over the matchup, when most of America doesn't care. The Lakers and Celtics are both trending south and Kobe vs. Pierce is hardly a fierce battle. Kobe is far superior a player than Paul Pierce is and I don't think the two "hate" each other like Bird and Magic did. They certainly don't play each other enough for any dislike to form. A rivalry, especially in today's 30 NBA team league, can only thrive when the teams play each other four times a year, or in the playoffs regularly. The Heat and Bulls are a rivalry now. The Celtics and Knicks, Thunder and Mavericks are as well.
Just because the Lakers and Celtics are clearly the best two franchises in the NBA and several greats call these teams their home, doesn't mean that they can still call their game a "rivalry." So let's slow down with this "rivalry" talk, it's not 1968, Chamberlain and Russell are long gone, Magic and Bird talk to each other again and the Lakers and Celtics don't play enough for the young generation to truly hate the Lakers or truly hate the Celtics. This rivalry is about as alive as the Maple Leafs, Blackhawks rivalry is. When you turn on TNT tonight to watch the Lakers and Celtics play, enjoy the game, don't expect any fisticuffs or hands to the throat.
0 comments:
Post a Comment