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Lakers vs. Celtics - The Next Generation
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Location: Blogs The Sports Blog |
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| Posted by: Gregory Broome |
2/5/2008 9:11 PM |
The above-pictured game had a huge effect on my life: it enhanced my burgeoning NBA fandom, deepened my understanding of what it meant to love a sports franchise and hate its rival; and delayed me from developing a healthy interest in girls. It consumed much of my 5th and 6th-grade school years and kept my frustrated dad from playing Hunt for Red October on our state-of-the-art Tandy machine.
Pleasant MS-DOS-based memories came flooding back this week when the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol, a stick-thin 7-foot Spaniard who might be the key that unlocks a new era of the NBA's most historic but long-dormant rivalry. In its prime, this was a blood feud with every angle covered, from the teams' respective styles of play, to the East vs. West coast fan base, to the color of the star players' skin. It was riveting, disturbing, transcendent.
Nothing so pure could ever be replicated, and a potential Lakers-Celtics rivalry in the late 2000s would be a subdued imitation of the Magic-Bird cage match that was the 1980s. Check out these lineups:
Kendrick Perkins vs. Andrew Bynum
Kevin Garnett vs. Pau Gasol
Paul Pierce vs. Lamar Odom
Ray Allen vs. Kobe Bryant
Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher
James Posey vs. Luke Walton
and these:
Robert Parish vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kevin McHale vs. A.C. Green
Larry Bird vs. James Worthy
Danny Ainge vs. Byron Scott
Dennis Johnson vs. Magic Johnson
Jerry Sichting vs. Michael Cooper
There's plenty to like in this year's version - KG vs. Gasol is a decent head-to-head, and Allen and Kobe have some history - but nothing like the epic battles of the vintage rivalry. Thing is, the best part about a potential Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals in 2008 is all of the history it will bring flooding back to our TV screens. I'll happily relive the genesis of my love for the NBA, especially if it means an end to a heartless Dirk Nowitzki, an expressionless Tim Duncan or a defenseless Steve Nash in the Finals. For every lifelong NBA fan forced to watch the Nets, Pacers, Mavericks and Cavaliers contaminate the Finals in recent years, Lakers vs. Celtics needs to happen. Please. |
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