Even a high priced event planner couldn’t have concocted a better way for the Minneapolis-Los Angeles Lakers to celebrate the franchise’s 60th anniversary than to have the team in the NBA finals against their No. 1 enemy, the Boston Celtics. It’s a dream script the Lakers are following, returning to the NBA finals starting Thursday night for the 29th time in franchise history, targeting a 15th world championship that would put them within one title of the most championships in league history. The Celtics, of course, have 16.
The Lakers have been promoting a 60th anniversary logo during 2007-2008. It refers to the Minneapolis-Los Angeles Lakers and is worn on Laker uniforms. On games televised from the Staples Center in Los Angeles the anniversary logo can be seen on the scoreboard hanging over center court.
The Lakers won five world championships in Minneapolis before they moved to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season. Only once, though, did the Minneapolis Lakers play the Celtics in the finals, 1959. Boston swept Minneapolis 4-0 as part of an era when the Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years.
After the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960 they lost seven NBA finals to the Celtics. Laker frustrations with the Celtics didn’t end until 1985 when they finally beat Boston in the finals.
The Lakers won again over Boston in 1987 and the dream script has the two teams playing against each other now for the first time in 21 years. It’s a fantasy trip for not only the teams, but also the NBA with its two most glamorous franchises sure to goose the league’s image and TV popularity (yikes, this could have been Utah against Detroit).
The Lakers are the favorites against the Celtics, according to many observers. The Lakers are viewed as the more balanced team between offense and defense. The Celtics are more likely to have low scoring games, and when a game is in need of a last minute basket Boston doesn’t have anyone who rivals the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant.
How successfully Boston defends Bryant may determine the series. From the days when Elgin Baylor played in Minneapolis to present day, the NBA has always been about match-ups. The guess is that Boston’s Paul Pierce, a muscular 6-foot-7, will defend Bryant, 6-6 and so good he’s been playing like a Michael Jordan clone.
Pierce may have some moments against Bryant but it looks like a challenging match-up and the one-on-one problems for the Celtics don’t end there. With Pierce, a forward, taking the Lakers’ superstar guard, that leaves Boston trying to figure out how to defend the long front line of 7-foot Pau Gasol, 6-10 Lamar Odom and 6-10 Vladimir Radmanovic. In addition to Pierce, the Celtics start 6-11 Kevin Garnett, 6-10 Kendrick Perkins, 6-5 Ray Allen and 6-1 Rajon Rondo.