(Sports Network) - The latest chapter in one of the most storied rivalries in sports tips off tonight as the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers welcome the Boston Celtics to Staples Center for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Familiar Foes: Celtics, Lakers Set To Renew Rivalry With 12th Meeting In NBA Finals
The league’s two marquee franchises will be fighting over the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy for a record 12th time.
Their finals history dates all the way back to the 1958-59 season when the Lakers still called Minneapolis home. Boston and the game's ultimate winner, Bill Russell, dominated the early years of the rivalry. The Red Auerbach-era Celtics took the Lakers all seven times they met in the finals, although the Jerry West, Elgin Baylor fueled LA clubs did manage to take Boston to seven games on three different occasions.
The rivalry lay dormant for 15 years until Larry Bird and Magic Johnson "saved" the NBA by bringing their own storied college rivalry to the pros. Bird avenged his loss at Indiana State to Magic's Michigan State Spartans in the 1979 NCAA Finals when the Celtics got past the Lakers in seven games to win the 1983-84 NBA title.
Johnson and his Lakers responded the next season as LA finally beat Boston in the finals for the first time. Magic also won the rubber match two years later before the rivalry went cold again, this time for 20 years as the Celtics struggled mightily in the post-Bird era.
Boston basketball chief Danny Ainge re-ignited things by acquiring both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen before the 2007-08 season. The two All-Stars teamed with Paul Pierce to create the "Boston Three Party" and the Celtics were relevant again. A 17th Boston championship was the result as Garnett and his Celtics got the best of Kobe Bryant's Lakers.
A rematch could have been in the offing last season but a knee injury to Garnett derailed any hopes of a Celtics repeat. Instead, LA earned its 15th championship by taking Orlando in five games.
"Obviously, one is special but the other groups have a couple, and we'd love to join that club," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of the other Boston dynasties. "It's not going to be easy for us. We've talked about that we want to join that club. No one can ever take away the first title. But we want to join another club too."
“I only think about this one matchup,” Bryant said. “The happy times of Magic winning against Boston, or the sad times of Jerry West losing to them, has no impact on me whatsoever. I have a series to play. I have a series to win. I’ll just focus on that.”
The Lakers secured a chance to repeat as champs and avenge their loss two years ago last Saturday when Bryant poured in 37 points as Los Angeles gained their third straight trip to the Finals by ousting Pacific Division rival Phoenix in six games.
The Celtics, meanwhile, will be gunning for their record 18th title, and have already knocked off LeBron James and Cleveland, which had the league's best record, in the East semifinals, as well as Orlando, last season's Eastern Conference champion.
Pierce totaled 31 points, 13 rebounds and five assists the day before the Lakers clinched their trip to the finals as the Celtics made sure history was not made in the East. The Magic had staved off elimination in back-to-back games and had momentum on their side in trying to become the first NBA team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
“This is where we thought we would be,” Rivers said. “So we’re not surprised.”
The Lakers, who snapped a seven-game playoff skid in Phoenix during the West finals clincher, are bidding to become the first repeat champion since they won three in a row (2000-02) when Bryant teamed with Shaquille O’Neal.
“Last time we played [the Celtics], it was a great learning experience for us,” Bryant said. “It taught us what it takes to be a champion. With the defensive intensity they play with, the tenacity they play with, we learned a great deal in that series.”
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who surpassed the legendary Auerbach with his 10th championship as a coach last year, an NBA and major North American professional sports record, is glad he has a chance to avenge one of his two losses in the finals.
"After we came back in the playoffs last year, I ran into Paul Pierce in a complex where my daughter lives in LA," Jackson said. "I said, 'Get it back, we want to meet you in the finals.' So here it is almost a year later. We have this opportunity, both of us, to renew this rivalry."
Unlike in 2008, LA will have home-court advantage in the finals and the team is 8-0 at Staples Center in the postseason after going 34-7 there in the regular season. Boston, however, was one of the NBA’s best road teams this year and has already won five games away from TD Garden in the playoffs after compiling a 26-15 mark as the visitor during the regular season.
Pierce, a Los Angeles native, was the first to post bulletin board material for the set, downplaying the fans in his hometown.
“Our fans are a little bit more knowledgeable to the game,” Pierce said. “I think a lot of celebrities come here to get out of the house (rather) than to watch a game -- to see the other celebrities. It’s an interesting crowd, whereas I think our fans really come to watch the actual game.”
On the injury front for Game 1, Lakers center Andrew Bynum had his balky right knee drained on Monday.
“It’s the same as before it got drained, the draining didn’t do too much,” Bynum said. “It is what it is. I just want to get out there and do what I can, as long as I contribute it’s worth all the pain.”
Bynum, who missed the 2008 finals with knee problems, was able to get through practice on Wednesday, "fine," according to Lakers coach Phil Jackson, and he's expected to start tonight.
The 22-year-old originally hyperextended the knee in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinal series against Oklahoma City, and the team later found a small tear of the anterior horn of his lateral meniscus. He is expected to have surgery to correct the injury in the offseason.
For Boston, point guard Rajon Rondo and veteran reserve forward Rasheed Wallace are both battling back problems. Rondo is listed as probable for tonight's contest while Wallace will be a game-time decision.
The Lakers and Celtics have combined to win 32 of the NBA’s 63 titles coming into this series.
Game 2 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Sunday in Hollywood.
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