Celtics - Lakers

I am one of those people who constantly wishes that I had grown up a generation before my time. It's not that I wanted to be older (I'm trying to reverse the aging process already) or that I missed the Spuds McKenzie commercials or that I wanted to see White Snake perform at the peak. I always wished that I were a product of the 1980s because of the rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers. Celtics versus Lakers is what the NBA is all about. The NBA was a dying organization with a tiny fan base before Larry Joe Bird came to Boston and Earvin Magic Johnson went to Los Angeles. The two superstars shot a bolt of basketball lightning through their teams and the league, kicking off a decade of tremendous basketball. The two teams met for the championship three times in the decade of acid washed jeans, big hair and Ronald Reagan. The Celtics won the 1984 championship and the Lakers won both the 1985 and 1987 championships. Together, the franchises combined for eight of the ten NBA championships in the 1980s and at least one of them played for the Larry O'Brien trophy during the decade. When you combine their rivalry of the 1980s and their matchups from 1959 - 1969 (when the Celtics defeated the Lakers seven times for the championship) with their total championships (16 for the Celtics and 14 for the Lakers), you have the greatest rivalry in the history of the NBA. Celtics and Lakers also transcends the NBA. It's right up there with North Carolina and Duke, Red Sox and Yankees, Michigan and Ohio State, Pepsi and Coke. Before the Lakers took the championships in 1985 and 1987, they were 0-for-8 against Boston in the NBA Finals. Most Boston fans didn't even consider the Lakers a true rival. But you bet your ass that when the Red Sox finally beat the Yankees when it counted in 2004 to actually become a rival of the Yankees that Lakers fans everywhere thought back to 1985 when they finally became the equals of the Celtics. This series will be a fabulous parade of memories -- I wonder if Kurt Rambis still gets pain shooting up and down his neck this time of year -- and the start of a new generation of Boston fans shouting "BEAT LA!!!" over $3.00 beers at Sully's Tap and Laker fans showing up right before halftime. Kobe Bryant will become the Elgin Baylor/Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/James Worthy of his era, the Laker that Boston fans love to hate. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will try to replicate the success of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish in the 1984 Finals. The people in Vegas have the Lakers as a 2-to-1 favorite to bury the Celtics and the talking heads on ESPN say that there is no way that Kobe and Phil and the rest of the Purple N' Gold can be stopped. I don't buy it. Boston is still Boston, the home of champions. Kobe might get his 30 or 35 points each night but Gasol, Odom and the rest of the cast of characters sucking up to Kobe won't get by the Celtic defense and the Lakers are so soft inside that the Celtics should score at will near the basket. KG, Pierce and Allen have there shot at immortality on the line. They will not blow this opportunity. Celtics in 6.