The Celtics and the Lakers: the NBA’s most intense team rivalry of all time.
In a basketball scoreboards feature, we look at the biggest and most exciting rivalry in the NBA!
NBA basketball is an extremely intense game with a large number of equally intense rivalries. This rivalry often occurs when there are two great players in each team, and then fans get to see a great matchup between the two. The NBA’s most intense team rivalry has been and still is between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. This rivalry started when the basketball scoreboards showed that they met for the first time on 9th November 1948. The Boston Celtics’ hall of famers includes Larry Bird, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. The Los Angeles Lakers’ hall of famers includes Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy.
The rivalry grew intense in the 1980s, when the Boston Celtics was led by Larry Bird and the Los Angeles Lakers’ by Magic Johnson. These two were the best players of their times and when they played against each other, they created fire. They both had dynamic personalities and their matchup was one of a kind. Whenever these two teams with such great players played each other, the stadium were jam packed and fans that weren’t able to get to the stadium were glued to their televisions.
When in the 1990s Bird and Johnson retired, this rivalry unfortunately came to an end. The great matches between the teams came to and end too. Both of the teams suffered a setback as none of them had any great players after the era of Bird, Johnson, Abdul Jabbar, and Bill Russell, and for about 10 years neither the Lakers not the Celtics were able to reach the top. In 2008, the Lakers acquired Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neil which strengthened their team massively. Suddenly the Lakers were again at the top of the table and there was seemingly nothing that could stop them. On the other hand, Boston Celtics traded in Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to boost their team, and they were looking better than they had for a while.
They newly traded players brought a lot of victories to their respective teams. In 2008, when the two teams met again in the finals, their rivalry was reborn. The Lakers defeated the Celtics and won the title. There was a rematch in the 2010 NBA finals when the Lakers and Celtics met again for the final face off. This time the Lakers won the championship once more. The Celtics lead the NBA championships with 17 titles to the Lakers’ championships title of 16. Their next meeting in due on 30th January 2011 and the fans expect to witness an exciting match.
The Lakers’ and Celtics’ rivalry has been and will probably be the most intense of all as the two teams have always produced quality players. The Lakers are regarded as the best time of the NBA, but if you look at the statistics you cannot deny that Celtics have given them a tough fight every time, and they will be looking to get back on the top.
For more information, go to: en.wikipedia.org
