The Ultimate NBA Rivalry May Be Returning: Optimism for a Celtics-Lakers Final

It's time for the NBA playoffs again, and many cities and many fans are hopeful that their teams will contend for the big prize. If you are over thirty and have some kind of memory that ponders on the past, you may be reminiscing to an earlier, somewhat more innocent day, when tradition rang supreme and the coming of May meant the basketball playoff runs. My first experience with the NBA came in the early 1970s when teams like the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics and Sixers were contending every year, and the ABA was sort of secondary thought. It was a time when the Milwaukee Bucks, in a small market, had drafted the likes of Lew Alcindor, soon to be known as Kareem, and Wilt Chamberlain was rounding down a great career. I had missed the initial stages of that great Celtics-Lakers rivalry that obviously had been one-sided.

The history books and almanacs are filled with the names of the players in those days, and the coaches that seem legendary and beyond human existence today. Some have referred to the 1970s as bad times for the league, but it makes little of the characters that made us watch basketball before the days of the salary caps and the intense marketing. In fact, many may not even know of the early greats, when the Lakers were originally midway through the continent and the Bulls and Magic did not exist. Return, if you will, to a day when basketball was the least known of the professional sports, and before Kobe, Shaquille, and Tim Duncan. Imagine a world where two franchises ruled supreme and it seemed no one could end the dominance.

In the first days of the professional leagues that played basketball, there was no real television revenue or marketing potential. There was a league referred to as the BAA: the Basketball Association of America. There were other leagues not getting alot of the press, but it seemed likely that the country could only keep up with one. It's first season was 1946-47, with 11 teams. (Only three of those remain; the Celtics, the Knicks, and the Warriors which at that time were in Philadelphia) A year later the rival NBL (National Basketball League) lost four of their teams to this BAA, including the powerful Minneapolis Lakers. With some shuffling around of existing franchises and the closing of a few failing ones, the decade closed with the merging of the two leagues. History was now to be set so that the newly named National Basketball Association would be the primary league.

Most people don't remember, or haven't heard, that in those early days the team to beat was the Minneapolis Lakers. After getting George Mikan in the draft and with coach John Kundla at the helm, the team rattled off five NBA championships in those early years, way before the Boston dynasty began. The team was staffed with excellent talent, with the names of Jim Pollard, Slater Martin, Bob Harrison and Vern Mikkelsen leading the way. Soon after this run, and still competitive, the team would be moved to a bigger and wealthier market out to Los Angeles to make hopefully even more history. Before this move occurred, a rookie by the name of Elgin Baylor began playing to continue the superb play of the Lakers. However, with the retirement of Mikan and the building of a new powerhouse, the Lakers were to begin their turn at second fiddle.

The change began with the move of Red Aurbach from the Washington franchise to Boston, and the start of the careers of Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, and of course Bill Russell. As the 1950s progressed, this tandem, under Red's guidance, and the excellent drafting and trading, the Boston Celtics would do something that no other professional, and maybe, no other amateur team has ever been able to do: win eleven championships in thirteen years. Sure, there were less teams back in those days and the rules were different, but it is possibly a record that will never be matched, let alone be surpassed.

The Celtics would, over those years, add players like Sam and K.C. Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Tom Sanders, Frank Ramsay, Jim Loscutoff, and yes, the unaging John Havlicek. Players such as Hal Greer and Bailey Howell would also join the team at some point, and the eight straight titles is hard to imagine today. When the string was broken in 1967, everyone thought the Celtics were done, but when retiring coach Aurbach picked Bill Russell to replace him, the Celtics returned to form the following two years to repeat.

During this time, the now Los Angeles Lakers were staying quite competitive. Not being able to beat the Celtics was to be their legacy in those days,with Baylor being joined by other future greats like Frank Selvy, Rod Hundley, and the tall, skinny kid from West Virginia, Jerry West. The team would lose several of those NBA finals to the Celtics, starting with one in Minneapolis and then six in L.A. Under coach Fred Schaus, the Lakers tried to change their luck against the Celtics, but to no avail. Imagine, losing seven times in eleven years in the finals to the same team! This was what Lakers fans had to deal with, and they only looked with enthusiastic eyes as most of the Celtics greats retired. Still, with a loss in 1970 finals to the New York Knicks, it seemed likely that the Lakers would be bridesmaids forever.

That was to change soon. The Lakers finally broke through in 1972, beating the Knicks for somewhat of a revenge and ending their losing ways, at least temporarily. Greater days were coming, though, and with former Celtics player Bill Sharman at the helm and the acquisition of Wilt "the Stilt" Chamberlain nearing the end of his career, the Lakers fans were finally rewarded. I remember those teams, with the additional names of Jim McMillian, Happy Hairston, and Gail Goodrich, who seemed out of place on the court height-wise. Although the Lakers would try to repeat the following year, they would once again be beaten in the finals, this time by a vengeful Knicks team, returning the favor granted them the previous year. Meanwhile, the Celtics were making a sort of resurgence of their own.

A lull in Celtics success occurred after Bill Russell retired, but with Tom Heinsohn coaching and the recent recruiting of Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and the play of Paul Silas, Boston was once again on top. They would win two more titles under Heinsohn, who had been through much of the Celtics great run. Basketball had become a bit more unpredictable in those years and parity seemed to play a big role in it, with several teams winning or getting to the finals in that decade. Teams like the Sonics and the Trailblazers also won, and the Bullets and Warriors winning one each as well.

The decade that took the country by storm, and probably changed the face of the NBA for good, was the 1980s. When, in the spring of 1979, the college championship was played between Michigan State and Indiana State, few would doubt that the future looked good. The previous year a youngster by the name of Larry Bird had been drafted by Red Aurbach for Boston, but he had decided to return for his senior year to eventually play in that championship game. The team that beat his Indiana State team was led by a similarly talented player by the name of Magic Johnson (few remember his real first name: Earvin). The NBA would be set for years to come, with Magic's Lakers winning the title his first year, and Larry Bird winning the Rookie of the Year Award. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had recently come to play for Los Angeles and the edition, for a short time, of Buffalo Braves great Bob McAdoo added a scoring touch that could not be beat. As the decade progressed, it would be expected that the Lakers would win more titles and add more great players, which they did. But the excitement was anticipating a rematch of sort between Bird and Johnson. They would only have to wait a few years.

Bird's Celtics won the following year, in 1981, beating Houston and their seven footers. In 1982, the Lakers, under coach Pat Riley, would win against a powerful Philadelphia team, before losing to them the next year. Finally, the year everybody was waiting for, came. The year 1984 was memorable for the two teams that would play, and play again several times, for the ring. That year, Bird and company held off the Lakers in a suspenseful seven game series. The lineups would be memorable in those years: Cedrick Maxwell, Robert Parish, Bird and Kevin McHale, with Danny Ainge and others off the bench; Magic being joined with an aging Kareem, and James Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper, with McAdoo still playing some, the lineups are unforgettable.

Although the names would change a bit over the next few years, the stars would stay in the headlines. They were Bird's Celtics and Magic's Lakers, and the rest filled in. They were the most memorable lineups in basketball history, and we watched and picked sides, living and dying with every victory and defeat. Magic would win a total of five championship rings while Larry would win only three, but the intensity of their rivalry and their battles was worth the time. Every spring we hoped the two would rekindle their contest, and some of the time we were pleased.

That first year, 1984, the Celtics won. Both the coach, K.C. Jones, and Bird were quoted as saying that they somewhat felt lucky they had won that year, but they would not get a better chance at victory. The following year Los Angeles made them pay for their insolence. They had been in four straight finals and they had won two of them. The following year, only the Celtics made the finals, once again beating Houston for the title, but the Lakers made it back in 1987 to defeat the Celtics, who also were just finishing a four year run. The Lakers won again in 1988, becoming the first team to repeat since the Celtics had done it in the early 1970s, but the Celtics would not make it again under Bird. The team was getting old, and the spirit was waining. The Celtics would not again return to the finals, and still are waiting for a return. We may see that this year. Perhaps.

The Lakers, on the other hand, continue to revive hopes in dynasty. With Kobe Bryant and a new staff of players they are hoping to return to title form. The fans are hoping that a Celtics-Lakers match in the finals may yet come about. With Kevin Garnett in Boston, this may happen. Perhaps. The mind once again floats back to those good days of the rivalry, between star-filled teams with names of Hall of Famers. I am sure that the former players of these two fine franchises are also wishing that return. We can only hope, perhaps!! Bring them on!!