With the fierce competition between the Boston Celtics and LA Lakers basketball teams heating up faster than a Los Angeles hot summer’s day, the next few weeks will certainly be a spectacle for sports fans across the nation.
By MANOUK AKOPYAN
Manouk.akopyan@gmail.com javascript:void(0)
It’s starting to feel a lot like 1984 again. And 1985. And 1987.
While most of us were dunking cookies into milk, scoring Flinstones Vitamins, rejecting mouthfuls of pureed carrots and running fast breaks in our diapers, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics were playing the greatest and most exciting games of basketball in league history.
Fast-forward 23 years of this history-rich series, and the days of Magic Johnson vs Larry Legend have evolved into Kobe Bryant vs Paul Pierce. Kurt Rambis being left for dead on the parquet floor has turned into Pierce being wheeled off in a chair. Stiffs like Bill Walton have turned into stiffs like Luke Walton. Okay, maybe things haven’t changed one bit. Los Angeles still hates Boston. Boston still hates LA, and the love is mutual.
As both teams convincingly steamrolled through their playoff competition, they now meet for the second time in three years for the Larry O’Brien trophy, and fans are abuzz for the anticipation of the rivalries next chapter.
While most of your memory goes as far back as seven minutes ago – let alone the 80s – let’s make an effort to backpedal to 2008 – the year Kobe won league MVP honors, and the year Lakers choked away the title.
The Celtics rallied from a 24-point deficit in game four to beat the Lakers on the road and take a commanding 3-1 series lead. They would go on to win their 17th championship in team history five nights later against a debilitated Lakers squad by 39 points with the Boston crowd chanting, “Where is Kobe?”
Adding insult to injury, Paul Pierce danced on the Celtics bench during a timeout and then drenched Coach Doc Rivers with the first Gatorade shower in basketball history – on the court... with 30 seconds left to play in the game. I guess Kevin Garnett was right, “Anything is possible.”
That’s like a little leprechaun sneaking up on you from behind, snatching your gold chain and kicking you in the balls – twice!
Not much has changed in the two years since they last met. The core of the rosters is still intact. The mainstays have aged, Rajon Rando has evolved to more than just a weird-sounding name and Paul Pierce looks like he can really use a razor blade. Pierce looks like he drunkenly passed out during a college party, and the frat boys glued pubes on his face. Speaking of face, what’s up with Doc Rivers’ grill? Looks like you can deep-fry a whole chicken on those oily cheeks.
Talkin’ shit is nothing new between Boston and L.A. If you are looking for some trash, look no further past Boston’s bench, which still employs former Trojan Brian Scalabrine.
If sports weren’t enough, Boston’s significant Armenian population also mirrors that of Los Angeles’ - at a significantly smaller population of course. Boston’s Armenian contingency is somewhere around 60,000, while the Armenian population in the state of Massachusetts is around 120,000.
The hatred between these cities has grown even more over the last two years through baseball as Manny Ramirez now roams the green grass in the Dodgers Stadium. One month after the Celtics won the title in 2008, the former Boston Red Sox outfielder spurned the city, its fans, and everything the team stood for. He forced a trade that eventually landed him in Los Angeles.
At the moment, both baseball and basketball for these cities are coming full circle. I wonder how Ramirez will be received and treated when the Dodgers visit Boston from June 18-20 for a 3-game interleague series. Will he run into the Green Monster and take his usual leak in the glorified, rat-infested shithole that is known as Fenway Park?
As if the basketball rivalry wasn’t enjoyable enough, now comes the baseball aspect of it.
With the Celtics and Lakers heating up faster than a L.A. summer’s day, the next few weeks will truly be a spectacle for sports.
It’ll all start with a victory parade down Figueroa. Can yooouuuu dig it? (Lakers in seven).
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