Spring Break
Lakers and Celtics begin new chapter of classic rivalry
Two teams have not faced in NBA Finals since 1987
Jared Jackson, Staff Writer
Issue date: 6/4/08 Section: Sports
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After coming off the lowest rated NBA Finals ever and then being hit with the shocking news of the Tim Donaghy scandal, the association hopes to come full circle and cap off a resurgence of popularity with the help of two longtime rivals.
The Los Angeles Lakers are set to face the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals starting Thursday night in a historic renewal of a rivalry with the NBA title hanging in the balance.
To sum up the history behind this match-up, the Celtics have won 16 titles while the Lakers have won 14. That means that out of 61 titles won, these two franchises have combined to win an astonishing 30.
Thursday will also mark the 11th time these two franchises have squared off for the right to be called the NBA Champion. The Celtics won the first eight while the Lakers have captured the last two.
Last season, the Celtics finished a horrible 24-58, which featured a franchise record 18-game losing streak. Boston was hoping to secure a top two draft pick and pick up either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant but surprisingly, the Celtics ended up with the fifth slot in the draft lottery.
Then. the unthinkable happened. Early into the first round, a trade between Boston and Seattle was announced that would give the Celtics an All-Star shooting guard in Ray Allen and the draft rights to the 35th pick, which would become Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. All Boston had to give up was Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and the fifth overall pick, Jeff Green.
Surely the Celtics would have been a decent team under the guidance of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but it was only a month later that Boston would add the right puzzle piece to become an NBA championship-caliber squad.
Kevin McHale (Minnesota) and Danny Ainge (Boston) worked out a deal to send All-Star Kevin Garnett to Boston in exchange for five players and two draft picks. The most notable player of the deal was Al Jefferson. The move was likely done so that a player of Garnett's caliber was given the chance to compete for a title, but keep in mind that McHale and Ainge were once Celtic teammates.
While all this was going down on the east coast, Lakers star shooting guard Kobe Bryant was publicly demanding a trade on every media medium from the radio to YouTube.
The season began with critics or even fans of the Lakers not knowing how the team would mesh or how well they would do. While the team played above average, it was not until the acquisition of All-Star forward Pau Gasol that the Lakers became the favorite in the Western Conference.
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