The clash of purple and green, huh? So this is that rivalry that I’ve been hearing about my whole life. This is the rivalry that made the NBA what it is today, and this is the rivalry to end all rivalries in a sport that doesn’t have them anymore.<\/p>\n
Well, I have to tell you, 2008 Lakers and Celtics: you’ve got a lot to live up to.<\/p>\n
All of the acronyms (NBA, ABC, ESPN) rejoiced when you both defeated the “boring” and “plodding” Spurs and Pistons, a potential NBA Finals that was already attempted once and failed miserably. Nevermind the sound basketball and stellar defense, or the brutal seven-game series that pitted wit against strength. BORING!<\/p>\n
But you, Los Angeles and Boston, you saved us from that tragedy this time. For that you’ll be worshipped. Even if it turns out to be a dud (which it wont), then hey, at least it wasn’t Spurs\/Pistons.<\/p>\n
So you two teams have a lot to live up to. Not only must one of you win a championship, but you’re being relied on to carry the entire league out of its Finals ratings slump. And with that, carry the league in general out of its ratings slump. You’re going to have to win, but not just win – win with style and grace and beauty, like the Celtics of Bird and the Lakers of Kareem… oops I mean Magic.<\/p>\n
Because you’ve got to convince ME that this is the greatest rivalry in basketball. As long as I’ve been able to comprehend the sport, one or both of you have been tankers. This hasn’t been a true-life rivalry in 21 years. That’s a whole lotta nostalgia that you’re running on. I never saw those games. I never saw those fights.<\/p>\n
Convince me, and more importantly, my generation, that this is the matchup we will remember another 21 years from now. When we can tell our kids about the old Celtics of Kevin and the Lakers of Kobe. Convince me that this rivalry trumps the greatest one of my generation: Bulls\/Knicks.<\/p>\n
There really hasn’t been a good one since. Go ahead, try to think of a great NBA rivalry in the last fifteen years. Having trouble? That’s because Michael v. All Of New York will not be topped. But go ahead and try, Lakers and Celtics – it’s worth a shot. <\/p>\n
Look, it’s going to be a great series either way. One that I guarantee will go six games and I am almost positive will go seven. In fact, I’m putting that in print right now: This series is going seven games. It’s going to be great. But last year’s Pistons\/Cavs was great. The NBA doesn’t need great – it needs legendary. It needs a series so colorful, so competitive, so highlight prone that past-NBA fans will find themselves unable to resist. The star-power is there, the history is there, and so is the talent.<\/p>\n
Convince me that this is now the pre-eminent rivalry in a League more loaded with talent than it has ever been before. Convince me that there is nothing I can do that is more important than sitting down to watch this series.<\/p>\n
Because this League needs it. This League deserves it. Hold on to your recliners, sports fans. We’re in for a hell of a ride.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5767"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5767"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}