One of sports greatest rivalries, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers are once again at the forefront of the NBA. Here’s why the Houdini thinks the rivalry is back.
It’s been roughly a decade since rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics felt like the most important story-line in the NBA. Following LeBron James‘ decision to form a superstar trio with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the east was dominated by the King.
Granted, the Celtics were very much part of the picture during his years in South Beach, having played the Heat in the 2011 and 2012 playoffs. The 2012 Eastern Conference Finals still stands as one of the great modern seven game series, with James’ game six outburst the stuff of legend.
That said, they were the doormat of the “king” in his eight-year run of winning the Eastern Conference championship. To their credit, they were at least competitive.
The Lakers have had a far rougher decade since the two teams met in the 2010 NBA Finals. In 2011, the Lakers were unceremoniously swept in the second round of the west playoffs. 2012 brought a similar result, with the Lakers falling to the Thunder in just five games.
That was the last playoff action that Kobe Bryant ever saw and an injury depleted 2013 Lakers team couldn’t muster a single victory against the San Antonio Spurs. Since that series, the Western Conference playoffs have been without the second most historically dominant franchise in NBA history.
Now, though, the tide has turned. If/when the season returns, both the Lakers and Celtics will be back in the playoff picture, with the possibility of once again squaring off in the Finals realistically on the table.
With both teams winning once again, it is safe to say that the rivalry is back. Here are three reasons why that is the case:
LeBron James’ presence on the Lakers
When I was recalling the recent playoff history of the Boston Celtics, it kept revolving around one man: LeBron James. Unfortunately for the C’s, they didn’t fare as well the past decade as they did in the 2000’s.
There was once a time where the “Big 3” C’s with Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen easily handled James’ Cavaliers teams. In both 2008 and 2010 the C’s sent James home from the playoffs.
After he took his talents to South Beach, it all changed. As previously mentioned, James’ Heat defeated the C’s in consecutive years in 2011 and 2012. After he returned to Cleveland, his Cavaliers team beat Boston again in consecutive years, besting them in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017 and 2018.
With James finally out west, the Boston Celtics can finally meet their greatest rival on the ultimate stage in the finals. It only seems fitting that their most heated rival has joined their historical rival in Los Angeles.
As they say, the enemy of your enemy is your friend, making James and the Lakers perfect for each other…and the rivalry.
The Anthony Davis trade saga
For years, Anthony Davis was pegged as a potential trade target for the Boston Celtics when his time in New Orleans was done. The thinking went as such: Danny Ainge owned significant draft capital from the Brooklyn Nets deal that sent away Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.
Well, those picks turned into Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, two top three picks in 2016 and 2017. As the pair developed–particularly during the 2018 playoff run–they looked like perfect trade pieces to acquire Davis, long known as a franchise-altering talent worth giving up future talent for.
Well, ultimately Ainge relented on a deal, even during the 2019 trade deadline. At that point in time, Tatum was taking a backseat in the starting lineup to Kyrie Irving–who wanted to team up with Davis according to rumors–and Brown had lost his starting position to Marcus Smart in a season that had flat-lined.
Even with Davis begging for a way out of New Orleans, Ainge was more interested in his own guys and the “Brow” eventually landed in Los Angeles beside James to form the league’s most deadly duo.
Knowing that Davis could have been wearing green and white but now wears purple and gold adds to the current rivalry, but seeing Tatum and Brown continue to ascend in his stead adds even more juice.
Both teams are legitimate title contenders
There’s different layers of playoff contention. On one end of the spectrum, there’s middling teams who are able to squeeze by and nab one of the lower seeds in the playoff bracket. Think the current Orlando Magic or the New York Knicks in the early 2010’s when the team had its most successful run of the millennium.
Then you have your playoff also-rans. These teams are contenders in theory, and win plenty of regular season games, but will never reach the brass ring. The current Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and the “Grit and Grind” Memphis Grizzlies all occupy/occupied this tier.
Finally, you have your bona fide contenders. This season, both the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are legitimate title contenders with a real chance of winning the title, if a winner is to even be crowned in 2019-20.
Both teams are in the top five in winning percentage, point differential and defensive rating. The Lakers possess two of the top five players in the league, while the Celtics have perhaps the best top five (Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart) of any team themselves.
For the first time since the early 2010’s there is a realistic chance these two teams can play in the finals. Superstars are leading both teams, and there would be no better NBA story than the young Celtics finally taking down LeBron for banner #18.