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THE
second to the last time the Celtics were in the National
Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, I was out dancing
in an Iloilo disco with Mon Fernandez, Freddie Hubalde,
Willie Generalao, Padim Israel, Tony Torrente and a
dozen or so Tanduay fans and Elizalde employees led by
Jovie Valenzona, Coach Turo’s cousin.
The then
Elizalde franchise had cooked up a storm in the
Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in the summer of
’86 after winning their first-ever championship. We were
dancing up a storm on the dance floor to celebrate the
Rhum Masters’ winnings. Curiously, the disco video
screen was showing a replay of the Celtics-Houston
Rockets Finals.
When you
have hard-core basketball exponents and fanatics as
company, disco dancing has to give way to watching the
more interesting NBA action. If I remember right, this
was the game that erupted in violence between the
Rockets and the Celts.
Game
Five it was when seven-foot-four Ralph Sampson started a
brawl with Jerry Sichting, who was 13 inches shorter.
Sampson was ejected. But Houston went on to win the game
on the wings of Jim Petersen’s efforts. But Sampson’s
“sampling” motivated the Celtics (who had taken Games 1,
2 and 4) to end the series in Game Six at The Garden.
Larry Bird took the Rockets apart in Game Six
methodically, unforgivingly.
That was
the NBA Finals championship that came to be known as the
Celtics’ Sweet Sixteen. Bird, the Finals’ Most Valuable
Player, averaged 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists
per game for the series. It was also the Celtics’ last
championship to date. Unless…
****
Despite
the first-class cliffhanger action of the
Celtics-Rockets’ Finals series, the Tanduay cagers who
watched the action from the dance floor verbalized what
majority of Pinoy fans wanted to see in an NBA finals. “Mas
maganda ‘yan kung Celtics-Lakers,” said Marlowe
“Jac” Jacutin. That was, for Pinoys—and for many
others—the Crispa-Toyota and Ateneo-La Salle matchup of
the NBA.
The
Celtics-Lakers (or Lakers-Celtics) rivalry started in
the ’60s with Boston and LA establishing themselves as
“the gold standard for the NBA.” Their rivalry is as
intense and bitter as rivalries go.
The one-upsmanship
originated in the 1960s, when the Celtics defeated the
Lakers six times in eight years (1962, 1963, 1965, 1966,
1968 and 1969) behind legends Bill Russell (Boston),
Bob Cousy (Boston) and Jerry West (Los Angeles). In
three of those NBA Finals (‘62, ‘66 and ‘69), the series
went the full length of seven games, with the Celtics
winning every time.
The next
big wave of the rivalry came in the 1980s in what is
known as the Larry Bird (Boston) vs. Magic Johnson (Los
Angeles) era. There were many angles and facets of this
rivalry then: East vs. West; White vs. Black (Celtics
teams in the ’80s had mostly white players, despite
Robert Parrish and Dennis Johnson; while the Lakers were
mostly blacks, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy
and Magic Johnson leading the way); Showtime (Lakers)
vs. Teamwork (Celtics).
Above
all, the Lakers and Celts can be credited with bringing
the NBA back to its feet. In the 1980s the NBA had been
floundering financially, with low attendance and low TV
ratings. Lakers-Celts battles in the ’80s recaptured the
imagination of a global audience. Bird and Magic,
together with the latter emergence of Michael Jordan and
the Chicago Bulls in the ’90s, became the NBA’s ticket
to the global success that it is now. According to
Wikipedia, “The effect the rivalry had on the league is
remarkable, since the two teams only met in an ’80s
Finals three times [1984, 1985 and 1987] and only played
each other twice each season.”
****
Now, the
rivalry is again in full bloom. For the first time in
over 20 years, the Celtics are in the best position to
clinch a finals slot in June. The Lakers, too, have done
their assignment and are looming large in the horizon.
Can it be? Will it be? Avid fans of both teams are on
tenterhooks imagining what the outcome might be.
“They
are a pair of gilded franchises, traditional
pro-basketball heavyweights separated by geography and
philosophy but joined in their grudging respect, and
historical distaste, for one another,” says USA Today.
“The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have played
in more combined Finals [47] and won more titles [30]
than any two teams in the NBA. They showcase two of the
most dynamic players—Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, MVP
candidates who have led their teams out of last season’s
malaise.”
“Come
June, the top two playoff seeds might be coming to
high-def television to reprise one of sports’ most
contentious rivalries. The Celtics and Lakers haven’t
had a Finals reunion since, well, since they wore those
embarrassing short shorts, back in 1987.” But first,
they must survive the NBA’s two-month playoff grind.
Today
says, “Magic Johnson gets stoked merely fantasizing
about the possibility of a rekindled rivalry.’
[Muhammad] Ali needed [Joe] Frazier, and vice versa.
Boxing needed them, too….Same thing here. Forget the
league—the basketball world needs the Celtics and the
Lakers.’”
****
Local
Celtics and Lakers fans are as eager as Magic. I’ve been
getting lots of e-mail and text messages from fellow
fanatics who are dreaming of the third coming of this
most fancied rivalry.
Laker
James Worthy also relishes the memory of the rivalry.
“We really respected each other. A lot of people didn’t
realize that the Lakers and the Celtics had the utmost
respect for one another and probably feared each other
the most. We knew we were equally talented and we knew
that we balanced each other out on the floor, and there
had to be an edge.”
Danny
Ainge, who engineered the visionary Kevin Garnett-Ray
Allen Boston acquisition at the start of the season,
chimes in: “We enjoyed it. We enjoyed playing each
other. And yes, we felt like it would last forever. Why
wouldn’t it? Both teams had the players, both teams had
tons of money, there was history, everything!”
If all
goes well, we can see forever in June. But first, there
are the Cavs and the Jazz.… |
