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How to Buy Online: Lakers to Renew Rivalry with Celtics It's like old times in the NBA. On Friday night the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons (on the road, no less) to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1987. Awaiting them is the team that beat them in 1987: the Los Angeles Lakers, their archrivals from a generation ago, in the time of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Should you not be from New England or Southern California , a primer: Since 1959 the Celtics and Lakers have met 10 times in the Finals. Six of those meetings came in the 1960s, when Bill Russell and Bob Cousy led Boston and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor were the stars of L.A. All six went to the Celtics, as did their meeting in 1984 (and the one in 1959, when the Lakers played in Minneapolis and thus had a name that made sense). The Lakers emerged victorious in 1985 and 1987. The total title count is Celtics 16, Lakers 14, meaning those two teams have won nearly half of the titles in NBA history. Oh, and iconic Celtics architect Red Auerbach died with nine titles on his coaching resume, tied for first on the all-time list. The man he's tied with? Current Lakers coach Phil Jackson. Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen will renew the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. In Saturday's Boston Herald, Steve Buckley's thoughts turned to the Lakers before the vanquished Pistons were even cold: "Celtics-Lakers. You probably said it a dozen or so times before you went to bed last night. Celtics-Lakers. Bet you texted it to an old buddy, maybe one who lives in Los Angeles . Celtics-Lakers. Nevermind saying it. It's more likely you screamed it, screamed it so loud that you'll need those extra days between now and Game 1 of the NBA Finals to rest your vocal cords." The Fix will stick with Mr. Buckley for a look back before Bird and Magic, to those now-ancient Celtics-Lakers battles he says helped build the NBA. "It took a long, long time for the NBA to become a sport whose reach has extended beyond our borders and become truly international, and the Celtics and Lakers of the '60s helped make it happen," he writes, adding that "while the Celtics had the Lakers' number in those days, the games were great, the competition intense. And once Wilt Chamberlain came over from Philly to add yet more pizazz to the Los Angeles roster, those great Celtics-Lakers showdowns took on even greater importance. It would be nice if, at some point during this upcoming series between the Celtics and Lakers, the NBA did something to honor the great players from long ago who blazed the trail on which we now so happily tread." In the Los Angeles Times, Barry Stavro recalls that in that era, only players winning their first championship got rings - there wasn't enough money for repeat jewelry. "Back then the NBA was an eight-team league, with teams in Syracuse , St. Louis and a club in Minneapolis called the Lakers," he writes. "To draw extra fans, sometimes there were doubleheaders: two out-of-town teams played the first game, then the Celtics played another team in the nightcap. Rival teams flew on the same commercial flights. Players shared hotel rooms and their meal money was $7 a day." Nostalgia is marvelous, and leagues forget their history at their own peril. But Bird and Magic and Red and Kareem and Wilt won't be on the floor come Thursday night - it'll be Ray Allen trying to match up with Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce against Lamar Odom, Rajon Rondo pitted against Derek Fisher, Kendrick Perkins facing Pau Gasol. In the Washington Post, Michael Wilbon writes that "we can look forward to this because these Celtics and these Lakers had the best records in their respective conferences in the regular season. We can look forward to this because Pierce, after holding his own with LeBron James and stuffing Tayshaun Prince, will now draw Bryant, because Pau Gasol will get the full brunt of left tackle-size Kendrick Perkins, because Garnett will square off against Lamar Odom. We can look forward to seeing how the Lakers, after waltzing through two series with relatively little physicality, will do against the bump and grind of the Celtics. And if that ain't old times, what is?" "The old highlights will roust memories, allow each of us to recall where we were when Magic did this or Bird did that," Jeff Miller writes in the Orange County Register. "Red Auerbach will be resurrected and Kurt Rambis will be buried, again under a landslide of Kevin McHale's DNA. It will make for a wonderful, nostalgic and warm lead-in. And have about as relevance as M.L. Carr's short shorts had leg room. . As the Lakers and Celtics prepare for each other, history eventually will have to take its rightful place - in the past. This is right and good because the greatest thing about a rivalry isn't the memory; the greatest thing is the potential to add to that memory." Sign up for last minute specials, merchandise giveaways and more!
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