Imagine: Celtics vs. Lakers, Best of The Best
Posted: June 20, 2010 Filed under: Basketball, NBA, Uncategorized | Tags: best Celtics ever, best Lakers ever, Celtics-Lakers, Celtics-Lakers best ever, Jerry West, John Havlicek, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson Leave a comment »
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, two of the best in the Celtics-Lakers all-time match.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take the best players in Celtics and Lakers history — in their primes — and square them off in a playoff series.
A seven-game playoff series with the greatest players from the two greatest teams in NBA history. Give the Celtics the home court advantage, since they have won 17 NBA championships to 16 by the Lakers. So the inevitable seventh game would come down to a showdown in the old Boston Garden.
What match ups, some seen before, some never seen. The best of the best in the 64-year history of the NBA. Here are the teams.
Celtics
C — Bill Russell
F — Larry Bird
F — Kevin McHale
G — Bob Cousy
G — Sam Jones
Coming of the Boston bench as sixth man would be John Havlicek, shown below against Jerry West. Tom “Satch” Sanders is the lockdown defensive specialist.
The other reserves, in no particular order, would be Dave Cowens, Tommy Heinsohn, and Bill Sharman from the 50s, 60s and 70s, and two current members of the team, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
Last cuts — KC Jones, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parrish
Lakers
C — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
F — Elgin Baylor
F — James Worthy
G — Jerry West
G — Magic Johnson
The top reserves are Kobe Bryant and Michael Cooper, a superior defensive player. Kobe may be the greatest Laker of them all, but with a backcourt of West and Magic, he brings more fire coming off the bench.
The bench is somewhat lopsided with Gail Goodrich and Pao Gasol bracketing three centers — George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquelle O’Neill. (Yeah, you gonna be the one to tell one of these guys they’re not good enough).
Last cuts — Slater Martin, Kurt Rambis, Bryron Scott.
Red vs. Phil
The coaches, Red Auerbach of Boston and Phil Jackson of Los Angeles, of course. Between them they’ve coached 20 NBA champions.
Imagine having Kobe Bryant and John Havlicek as sixth men.
Russell faced off against Wilt many times, but what fan wouldn’t want to see Russ against Kareem, or Shaq, or even Mikan.
So who would win? Game winds down to the final seconds tied, the old Boston Garden utterly electric. Who’s taking the lost shot? Is it going into overtime?
Imagine.
Celtics-Lakers Make History Again
Posted: May 31, 2010 Filed under: Basketball, NBA, Uncategorized | Tags: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, Celtics-Lakers rivalry, Jerry West, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Finals, Red Auerbach 2 Comments »Bill Russell and Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics combined to win seven NBA Finals against the Lakers.
Two years ago, the SportsLifer previewed the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers with a look back at their history in championships matchups.
Well the Celtics won that series in six games, their 17th NBA title overall and first in 22 years. Paul Pierce was named Finals MVP.
The Lakers responded in 2009, returning to the Finals for the sixth time in 10 years. Kobe Bryant led the way as Los Angeles beat Orlando in five games to won its 15th championship.
Now the two clubs who have combined for more than half of all NBA championships are meeting for the 11th time, with the Celtics holding a 9-2 advantage in previous meetings.
They’re the Lennon and McCartney of basketball, the Rogers and Astaire of hoops, the Batman and Robin of the hardwood.
They’re the Celtics and the Lakers. These two trademark NBA fantasies have combined for 30 championships, 16 by the Celtics.
They’ve clashed 10 times in the NBA Finals, beginning in 1959 when the Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in four straight to start Boston’s run of eight straight titles.
The Celtics won the first eight matchups; four went the full seven games. The Lakers took the final two, the last in 1987, each in six games.
In 1962, Frank Selvy of Los Angeles had an open jumper with a chance to beat the Celtics in Game Seven. He missed and Boston won in overtime behind 30 points and 40 rebounds from Bill Russell. In that Series Laker forward Elgin Baylor scored an NBA playoff record 61 points to lift his team to a Game 5 win at the Boston Garden. However, with a chance to win the championship on their home floor, the Lakers lost Game Six, and the combatants returned to the Boston Garden for the finale.
The following year, Boston’s Bob Cousy dribbled out the clock in the final game of his historic career as the Celtics once again triumphed, this time in six games.
In 1966, the Celtics held on for a 95-93 win in Game Seven to complete their run of eight straight titles. Boston coach Red Auerbach retired after the game, with Russell assuming player-coach duties.
The Celtics won another seven-game showdown with the Lakers in 1969, although Jerry West, right, was the MVP of the Series, the only player from a losing team to win the NBA Finals MVP. West, whose 29.1 playoff scoring average ranks third to Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in Game Seven, but Boston prevailed 108-106 at the Los Angeles Forum.
Lakers’ owner Jack Kent Cooke was already planning his victory celebration as he ordered thousands of balloons suspended from the Forum rafters.
The Celtics and Lakers resumed their rivalry 15 years later as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, right, squared off for the first time in the playoffs. And the Celtics again won in seven games, Bird averaging 27.4 points and 14 rebounds per game to win MVP honors.
The next year, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the Finals MVP and the Lakers finally beat Boston, 4-2, after eight straight playoff losses. And in 1987, Magic Johnson was the Finals MVP, his “junior sky hook” proving to be the turning point of the series, giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead on the way to a six-game triumph.
And they haven’t played since. The Celtics haven’t won an NBA title since 1986, The Lakers won the title again in 1988, beating the Detroit Pistons. Los Angeles last won in 2002, completing a three-peat with a sweep of the New Jersey Nets.
Four Teams, Four Stories, One Survivor
Posted: April 2, 2010 Filed under: Basketball, college basketball, NCAA, Uncategorized | Tags: Butler, Duke, final four, Jerry West, John Wooden, Michigan State, West Virginia Leave a comment »
West Virginia, led by Jerry West (44), made its last Final Four appearance in 1959.
For a while there last weekend, it looked like the NCAAs would have a fresh Final Four, comprised of four teams that had never won the tournament.
Butler and West Virginia did their part on Saturday, but then three-time champ Duke and twice-crowned Michigan State spoiled the fun.
You need to go back 20 years, to 1990, to find the last time you had four teams that had never won in a Final Four. That year in Dallas UNLV’s Runnin’ Rebels crushed Duke 103-73 to win their first and only championship. Arkansas and Georgia Tech lost in the semifinals.
And way back in 1959 was the last time that four teams — California, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Louisville — made the Final Four for the first time.
Cal won its only title that year, beating West Virginia 71-70 in the championship. The 
Mountaineers’ great guard Jerry West — Zeke from Cabin Creek — scored 28 points and was named the outstanding player of the tournament despite the loss.
West Virginia Returns
West Virginia is back for the first time in 51 years to try and capture that elusive title. And Jerry West’s youngest son, Jonnie West, is a reserve guard for the 2010 Mountaineers.
Michigan State has been to the Final Four eight times — six times since 1999 — and won championships in 1979 with Magic Johnson and 2000.
The Spartans went to their first Final Four in 1957, when they lost to eventual champion North Carolina in three overtimes in the semifinals. The Tar Heels beat Wilt Chamberlain’s Kansas team in another triple overtime game the following night for their first championship.
Duke has been to the Final Four 14 times, winning it all in 1991, 1992 and 2001. The Blue Devils made their first appearance in the Final Four in 1964, Despite a height advantage, Duke lost in the finals to coach John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins, who finished 30-0 and won the first of Wooden’s 10 championships.
Butler has never been to the Final Four, but the Bobcats don’t have to travel far to get there, just 6.2 miles to Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, according to Google maps.
Believe It: No Celtic Has Ever Led The NBA in Scoring
Posted: June 11, 2008 Filed under: Basketball, NBA | Tags: BAA, Bernard King, Boston Celtics, Celtics-Lakers, Jerry West, Joe Fulks, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, NBL, New York Knicks, Wilt Chamberlain 5 Comments »Incredibly, no Boston Celtic has ever won the NBA scoring title
The Celtics, along with the New York Knicks, are the only original NBA teams dating back to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) which began in 1946. The Philadelphia Warriors, who moved to California to become the Golden State Warriors in 1962, were also part of that inaugural BAA season.
Just before the start of the 1948-49 season, four teams from the National Basketball League (NBL) joined the BAA — the Fort Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis (now Los Angeles) Lakers and Rochester Royals (now Sacramento Kings).
Before the 1949 season, the six remaining NBL teams — Anderson (Ind.), Denver, Sheboygan (Wis.), Syracuse Nationals (now Philadelphia 76ers), Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now Atlanta Hawks), and Waterloo (Iowa) — joined the BAA, along with the new Indianapolis Olympians, and became the National Basketball Association.
As for the two other original teams, the Knicks have had one scoring champion, Bernard King in 1985. The Warriors have had a number of scoring champs, including Joe Fulks, right, in 1947, Wilt Chamberlain (6), Neil Johnson (3) and Paul Arizin (2). However the Warriors have not had a scoring champ since Rick Barry averaged 35.6 points per game in 1967.
BTW, Lakers who led the league in scoring were George Mikan, three times with Minneapolis beginning in 1949, Jerry West in 1970 and Shaquille O’Neal in 2000.
Related NBA reading: Celtics-Lakers Would Be Historic NBA Final
Celtics-Lakers Would Be Historic NBA Final
Posted: May 25, 2008 Filed under: Basketball, NBA | Tags: Allen Iverson, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Celtics-Lakers, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, NBA Finals, NBA playoffs, Red Auerbach 3 Comments »
Bill Russell and Red Auerbach combined to win eight NBA Finals against the Lakers.
They’re the Lennon and McCartney of basketball, the Rogers and Astaire of hoops, the Batman and Robin of the hardwood.
They’re the Celtics and the Lakers. These two trademark NBA fantasies have combined for 30 championships, 16 by the Celtics.
They’ve clashed 10 times in the NBA Finals, beginning in 1959 when the Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in four straight to start Boston’s run of eight straight titles.
The Celtics won the first eight matchups; four went the full seven games. The Lakers took the final two, the last in 1987, each in six games.
In 1962, Frank Selvy of Los Angeles had an open jumper with a chance to beat the Celtics in Game Seven. He missed and Boston won in overtime behind 30 points and 40 rebounds from Bill Russell. In that Series Laker forward Elgin Baylor scored an NBA playoff record 61 points to lift his team to a Game 5 win at the Boston Garden. However, with a chance to win the championship on their home floor, the Lakers lost Game Six, and the combatants returned to the Boston Garden for the finale.
The following year, Boston’s Bob Cousy dribbled out the clock in the final game of his historic career as the Celtics once again triumphed, this time in six games.
In 1966, the Celtics held on for a 95-93 win in Game Seven to complete their run of eight straight titles. Boston coach Red Auerbach retired after the game, with Russell assuming player-coach duties.
The Celtics won another seven-game showdown with the Lakers in 1969, although Jerry West, right, was the MVP of the Series, the only player from a losing team to win the NBA Finals MVP. West, whose 29.1 playoff scoring average ranks third to Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in Game Seven, but Boston prevailed 108-106 at the Los Angeles Forum.
Lakers’ owner Jack Kent Cooke was already planning his victory celebration as he ordered thousands of balloons suspended from the Forum rafters.
The Celtics and Lakers resumed their rivalry 15 years later as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, right, squared off for the first time in the playoffs. And the Celtics again won in seven games, Bird averaging 27.4 points and 14 rebounds per game to win MVP honors.
The next year, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the Finals MVP and the Celtics finally beat Boston, 4-2, after eight straight playoff losses. And in 1987, Magic Johnson was the Finals MVP, his “junior sky hook” proving to be the turning point of the series, giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead on the way to a six-game triumph.
And they haven’t played since. The Celtics haven’t won an NBA title since 1986, The Lakers won the title again in 1988, beating the Detroit Pistons. Los Angeles last won in 2002, completing a three-peat with a sweep of the New Jersey Nets.
