Boston Celtics: Analyst calls out Reggie Miller for strange Cs-Knicks comment

Boston.com’s Tom Westerholm was like most of us during the New York Knicks’ 120-117 win over the Boston Celtics: completely befuddled as to what Reggie Miller was talking about when he said the two Atlantic Division rivals made up the NBA’s best rivalry.

With the Knicks winning their last championship in 1973 and the Cs winning six titles since the two don’t exactly occupy the same historical tier — and that the Knicks have won one playoff series since 2000 automatically excludes them from being the game’s best rivalries. Obviously, Miller was just trying to spice up the TNT broadcast on January 26, but what can be said about the Boston Celtics’ Saturday matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers in a battle of the only two teams with 17 titles now? The Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry-Klay Thompson-Draymond Green core have established rivalries with the current Cs and the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers of the mid-2010s that deserve higher billing than the Knicks.

Westerholm wasn’t letting that comment go unaddressed, dedicating his final takeaway to Thursday night’s OT loss to New York to Miller’s commentating gaffe:

"“The Celtics and Knicks? The greatest rivalry in NBA history? In the 1970s, an argument could have been made, but now — in 2023 — Celtics-Lakers (and a great number of other rivalries around the league) would like a word.”"

The biggest Boston Celtics rivals in the modern day

Bill Russell’s Celtics beating the Wilt Chamberlain-led Lakers established dominance for the green in the 60s, and the rivalry swung back Los Angeles’ way in the 1980s when Magic Johnson’s Lakers outdueled the Larry Bird-era Celtics. 2008 saw the pendulum swing back to the Cs during the first season of the ‘Big 3,’ but Kobe Bryant won his final title against Boston in 2010.

That was truly the last time the Lakers were the true biggest rivals of Boston, though. Over the past decade, many Eastern Conference championships were decided by the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat — during both the Heatles era and in the 2020s. In addition, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks have been battling Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the postseason over the past several years.