ESPN Ranks Lakers as Greatest Basketball Franchise in History

In a recent article for ESPN, John Hollinger ranks the NBA Franchises.  To no one’s surprise, he ranks the Los Angeles Lakers first and the Boston Celtics second.

No. 1: Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are the greatest franchise ever because of their incredible collection of trademark stars.

1. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: 80.2 POINTS PER SEASON (1947-2010)

• Wins: 3,027
• Playoff wins: 426
• Series wins: 106
• Titles: 16
• All-Stars: 127
• Best player: Magic Johnson
• Best coach: Phil Jackson
• Best team: 1971-72 (69-13, won NBA title)
• Intangibles: +150. Endless stream of superstars — on the court and in the seats.

Magic. Kareem. Jerry West. Kobe. Shaq. When it comes to superstars, the Lakers are so far out in front of everybody else it’s not even funny — their all-time starting five would crush any other team’s; in fact, it might be better than that of the rest of the league’s put together. So star-studded is their legacy that I left Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and George Mikan off my five-man team that opened this paragraph, also neglecting the likes of James Worthy, Bob McAdoo and Gail Goodrich

And those big names won, too. Although the Celtics have more championships, the Lakers have more of everything else — wins, playoff wins, playoff series wins and conference titles. About the only thing that hurts L.A. in the all-time rankings is the penalty for relocating from Minnesota to Los Angeles in the 1950s.

The story begins with the Mikan years up north, where he led Minneapolis to five championships in six seasons in the formative years of the NBA. As the league’s first dominant big man, he established something of a tradition.

FRANCHISE HISTORY

Los Angeles Lakers (1960-Present)

Minneapolis Lakers (1948-60)

Since then, the Lakers have almost always had at least one monstrous big man — Mikan, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Pau Gasol — and one electrifying perimeter star to go with him (Magic, Jerry West, Baylor, Kobe).  About the only thing the Lakers haven’t been able to do is best the Celtics head-to-head. In 11 meetings against Boston in the Finals, L.A. has prevailed just three times. In that regard, Baylor’s Minneapolis team got the ball rolling in 1958-59 in the team’s last season before heading west, and in the ’60s, Chamberlain and West were foiled by the Celtics five times

Ultimately, those Lakers broke through with a 69-13 season in 1971-72 that featured a 33-game winning streak — still a record for North American pro team sports — to win the team’s first title in L.A.  After a brief lull in the late ’70s, they would get five more rings when Magic arrived to join forces with Kareem. Although there was one more painful loss to Boston interposed — a seven-game defeat in 1984 — L.A. avenged it by becoming the first team in nearly two decades to repeat as champs, winning in 1987 and 1988. A hamstring injury to Magic Johnson in the Finals the next year derailed the Lakers’ quest for a three-peat, but they would get one a decade and a half later after Phil Jackson came to Tinseltown to guide Shaq and Kobe.

That team provided plenty of last-second excitement — most notably the alley-oop from Kobe to Shaq that cemented a Game 7 conference finals comeback win over Portland in 2000 — and produced one of the most dominant playoff runs in history with a 15-1 romp through the field in 2001.  Amazingly, the franchise has missed the playoffs only five times in its 62 years. The Lakers, who have played in seven Finals in the new century, are now only one title behind the hated Celtics after defending their title in 2010 with a dramatic seven-game win over Boston.

Lakers Vs Celics Game 7 NBA Finals Highest Ratings in 12 Years

Game 7 drew the highest preliminary rating for an NBA finals game since 1998. The Lakers’ 83-79 win Thursday night on ABC earned an 18.2 overnight rating. That’s the highest for an NBA game since Michael Jordan won his last championship with the Bulls in Game 6 of the 1998 finals against the Jazz, which posted a 22.9.  The rating was 32 percent higher than the only other Game 7 of the last 16 years. Pistons-Spurs in 2005 drew a 13.8.  Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Overnight ratings measure the country’s largest markets.  The game drew a 39.7 rating in Los Angeles and a 33.9 in Boston.

Paul Gasol Versus Kevin Garnett 2010 NBA Finals

As a Laker fan I have been sick of the Celtics players and Celtics fans calling Pau Gasol soft.  In 1998 he averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds a game, but the Celtics won the series.  So rather than just shout at my Celtics friends I thought we should compare the “Big Ticket”, Kevin Garnett to Pau Gasol in this 7 game series of 2010. 

Let’s break down the statistics between Garnett and Gasol for the series. 

• Gasol edges KG by averaged 18.5 points a game to Garnett’s 15.2. 
• Gasol wins over KG for blocked shots 18 to 9.
• Gasol Wins over KG for Assists 26 to 21
• Gasol Wins over KG the Rebounds 81 to 39
• Gasol Wins over KG Offensive Rebounds 35-8

KG is clearly on his way to the Hall of Fame, but for the “Big Ticket” to get less than half as many rebounds as Gasol underlines the dominance that Pau demonstrated over Garnett in the 2010 NBA Finals.  Let’s consider that this future Hall of Fame power forward for the Celtics came up with 3 rebounds in a Game 7 NBA Finals versus the Lakers when their starting center was out.  If ever there was a night that KG needed to come up with 15 boards it was last night’s game 7.  Kobe Bryant came up with 15 rebounds—But I forgot we were comparing Garnett to Gasol.  Oh yeah, Pau Gasol had 19 rebounds last night. 

Pau Gasol is NOT SOFT!  Gasol clearly dismissed the “Soft” tag and now it’s KG’s turn to wear the soft sign for the summer.  Gatorade is going to have to get pretty creative on their TV ads in the future.  I can’t wait to see how Gatorade spins  the soft play of “Big Ticket.”  KG pounding his chest with 3 rebounds…

Artest Comes Through When Lakers Need Him Most

In a sobering interview after the game Ron Artest thanks God for giving him a second chance.

He was the only one on the floor who played without the weight of the world or at least the city on his shoulders. He was the only one who bought into the cliché that it was simply another game, because maybe in Ron Artest’s mind it was.  Maybe he thought there would be a Game 8. Maybe he forgot he was playing in the NBA Finals. Maybe he thought it was a regular-season game in November. With Artest you just never know. Whatever it was, the Lakers’ mercurial forward was the only player on the court for much of the Lakers’ 83-79 win against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals who wasn’t wound tighter than a spring coil.

He allowed the Lakers to remain within reach of a game they trailed by 13 points in the third quarter. In the process, he cemented his place in Lakers history. Artest was all over the court, finishing with 20 points, five rebounds and five steals, and making key play after key play while changing the momentum of a game that was seemingly slipping away from the Lakers from the opening tip.  History will remember Kobe Bryant as the Finals MVP, but there is no way he celebrates the honor and a fifth championship without the help of Artest, who scored 12 points in the first half (all in the second quarter) while the triumvirate of Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum went 7-for-31 for 16 points and the team shot a collective 25.5 percent from the field.  It was Artest who kept the team within striking distance with his defense on Paul Pierce, who finished with 18 points, and his hustle on both ends of the floor. He was responsible for two of the game’s signature moments and ultimately was the reason why the Lakers won their 16th championship.  He converted a three-point play when he hit a six-footer while getting fouled by Pierce in the paint to tie the score at 61-61 with 7:28 left after the Celtics had led for much of the game. He then essentially put the game away when he made a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 79-73 lead with less than a minute to play.  This was the moment Artest had dreamed about when he signed with the Lakers in the offseason. After his childhood friend Lamar Odom — who told Artest he would win a championship if he signed with the Lakers — tossed the ball into the air as the clock expired, Artest ran around the court as mindlessly as he did while dribbling the ball during the Lakers’ loss in Game 2 of the Finals.  As much as the players on the Lakers admire Bryant, look up to Derek Fisher and confide in Odom, there isn’t a player on the team more liked than Artest. He’s essentially the lost puppy who simply wants to please everyone but more often than not trips over himself in the process. The reason everyone on the team ran to the other end of the court when Artest hit the winning layup in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns wasn’t only because it was a big shot but because it was Artest who made it.

As Artest sat in front of his locker after the game, surrounded by his family, he began showing them around like a school kid showing his parents his classroom. “This is where I do my interviews after games,” he said as he held a bottle of champagne. When he was asked about the toughness he brought to the Lakers, he looked up at his father standing above him and pointed to him.  “When you talk about tough Ron, that’s my dad,” he said. “My dad threw me on the floor, roughed me up real bad and used to make me real mad. He prepared me for this moment right here. That’s why when you see me I can’t control it. That’s my dad. I played hard because my dad did. Don’t blame it on the alcohol, blame it on my dad.”  As Artest spoke, his brother Daniel, gave Artest the Larry O’Brien Trophy, which he cradled in his arm like a baby before looking at his 7-year-old daughter, Diamond.  “You want to kiss the ball,” he asked her as she laughed and put her right hand over her face.  Before Artest could answer another question, he screamed he was losing his voice, prompting Diamond to whisper to him, “If you talk low, it comes back.” Artest smiled and nodded his head, “OK, I will.”

Artest’s carefree demeanor in the locker room mirrored his attitude on the court for much of the game, which he credited to a sports psychologist he has been seeing. In fact, after the game when he was being interviewed on the court he made it a point to thank his psychologist and mention the release of his new single, which he recorded last year.  “I was nervous as a mama, but I have to thank my doctor,” he said. “She came and saw me last night, and she’d come follow me on the road because there’s so much going on on the road and I know myself. I know in these situations I don’t think the right way and I need help to think the right way and focus and stay relaxed. All I did was relax at the moment I took the 3-pointer. I settled in and trusted in myself.”

Later pressed about the shot, Artest said God told him to shoot it when he wasn’t so sure. “A voice came down and told me to shoot the ball,” he said. ” ‘Shoot the ball,’ he said. God told me to shoot the ball and I shot the ball.”  If it all sounds a little crazy, it’s because you’d expect nothing less from Artest, who clutched the trophy in his arms after the game and admitted he didn’t fully realize he was playing for the championship until he was handed a championship cap after the game.  “I really couldn’t feel where I was at,” Artest said. “I couldn’t feel the Finals. I was more in the game and what my coach wanted me to do. When we won, I didn’t even know we won. I honestly didn’t know we won. I actually cried before the game. How stupid is that? How dumb is that? How do you cry before the game and then you don’t cry after you win? Daddy, you raised a dumb child.”  He then smiled at his parents, standing above him and laughing, then kissed the trophy again.  “Hey, Daddy. Hey, Mommy. Look at me now!” he screamed. “Look at me now!”

Lakers Beat Celtics in Game 7 to Win 16th NBA Championship

A Game 7 classic and this time, it finally went the Lakers’ way. The Lakers came from behind to win 83-79 over the pesky Boston Celtics and become the 2010 NBA Champions.  Bryant, the finals MVP, scored 23 points despite 6-of-24 shooting, and the Lakers won their 16th NBA championship Thursday night, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA finals.  Bryant earned his fifth title with the Lakers, who repeated as NBA champions for the first time since winning three straight from 2000-02. Coach Phil Jackson added his 11th, matching Russell’s total and possibly putting a cap on his remarkable career if he decides to leave the Lakers.  “This one is by far the sweetest, because it’s them,” Bryant said after the Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game 7. “This was the hardest one by far. I wanted it so bad, and sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My guys picked me up.”  Ron Artest added 20 points for the Lakers, who didn’t exactly show a champion’s poise while making just 21 shots in the first three quarters, even hovering around 50 percent at the free throw line.  Yet with Bryant driving the lane for eight free throws and Pau Gasol finally coming alive with nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles reclaimed the lead midway through and hung on with a few more big shots from Gasol, who had 18 rebounds, and Artest, a first-time champion as the only newcomer to last season’s roster.  “Well, first of all I want to thank everybody in my hood,” Artest said in an ABC interview right after the game. “I definitely want to thank my doctors … my psychiatrist, she really helped me relax a lot.”

Watch Game 7 Lakers Vs Celtics NBA Final

Jackson won his fifth ring in Los Angeles to go with his half-dozen from Chicago. And it might be the last: Weary of the regular-season grind and facing a likely pay cut with the Lakers, Jackson hasn’t determined his future, though he previously said another title would make him more likely to chase an unprecedented fourth threepeat next season, when he’ll be 65.  “I’ve got to take a deep breath. I’ve got to take some time to think about this,” Jackson said, wearing a satisfied grin underneath his championship hat. “This was great. I’ll wait to make that decision in a week.”  With his hands already full, maybe Jackson will follow Russell’s lead and put that 11th championship ring on a chain around his neck—and Bryant isn’t likely to settle for just one handful of rings.  He made that clear to his coach.  “He knows how bad I want him back,” Bryant said. “I’ve been openly blunt about how much I want him back.”  With their fifth title in 11 seasons, the Lakers moved one championship behind Boston’s 17 banners for the overall NBA lead.  Amid the confetti and streamers after the final buzzer, Magic Johnson rushed the court to congratulate Bryant, who now has the same number of titles, and to hug Artest.

Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who just couldn’t finish the final quarter of a remarkable playoff run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett(notes) added 17 points, but Boston flopped in two chances to clinch the series in Los Angeles after winning Game 5 back home. “Listen, give the Lakers credit,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They were terrific.”  Rivers knows changes are coming, even saying afterward that the ’10-11 Celtics will be different than the ’09-10 team.  “We were the tightest, most emotional, crazy group I’ve ever been around in my life,” Rivers said, adding that he’ll wait a while before deciding on his oft-speculated future. He called this team “crazy close” and throughout the playoffs, the Celtics only got closer. Down by 14 in their first playoff game against Miami, they won that night and rode that instant burst of confidence not only past the Heat, but through Cleveland and Orlando in the next two rounds. The Celtics were a .500 team for the final two-thirds of the season, prompting many to wonder if they could turn it back on for the playoffs.  That question was answered long ago. Yes, they could—and one or two more stops on Thursday, they’d have won an 18th title.  “There’s a lot of crying in that locker room,” Rivers said. “A lot of people who care. I don’t think there was a dry eye. A lot of hugs, a lot of people feeling awful. That’s a good thing. Showed a lot of people cared.”

The Celtics had never lost a seventh game in the finals. Despite nursing a lead through most of the night while holding the Lakers to ridiculously low shooting percentages until the final minutes, Boston couldn’t close it out on the coast, becoming just the seventh team to blow a 3-2 finals lead after winning Game 5.  The Lakers tied it at 61 on Artest’s three-point play with 7:29 left, and Bryant’s free throws 90 seconds later gave the Lakers their first lead of the second half. The Lakers forged ahead by five points before Bryant and Sasha Vujacic(notes) hit free throws in the final seconds to keep Los Angeles ahead by at least two points on every possession.

Bryant said he had to downplay the magnitude of the rivalry during the series, but it was a gigantic part of his motivation for this title, without question.  Because it was Lakers-Celtics, the best rivalry in league history. And because it was against the team that denied him a title in 2008, the Celtics then blowing out the Lakers in Boston in Game 6 two years ago for their 17th championship. That loss drove Bryant all last season, and drove him again Thursday night. He was not at his best in Game 7, and acknowledged as much. Didn’t matter— he still captured the finals MVP award, after averaging 28.6 points in the series. He’s won three straight crowns before, and is already eyeing another three-peat try. “Let’s go for it again,” Bryant said, moments before hoisting the finals MVP trophy.

The Lakers will hold a parade Monday, with the team riding floats from Staples Center down Figueroa Street to the USC campus in downtown Los Angeles. A rally at the Coliseum last year attracted 95,000 fans, but the Lakers are skipping the arena in favor of a more interactive celebration, the team said.  The Lakers will relish this title because they took it from the Celtics, their greatest rivals, with fourth-quarter poise and defense. The teams have met in 12 NBA finals, but the Lakers won for just the third time.

Exactly two years to the day after Boston beat the Lakers by 39 points to clinch the 2008 title, Los Angeles got revenge for perhaps the most embarrassing loss of Bryant’s career—even if he did little more than grab 15 rebounds for most of the night.  The Celtics had much more poise from the opening tip in Game 7, playing vicious defense that forced Los Angeles to miss 21 of its first 27 shots. Bryant and Gasol were a combined 6 for 26 in the first half. But forget how it looked, because history will. Bryant even did something Jerry West and Magic Johnson never could: He beat the hated Celtics in Game 7 of the finals. The Lakers are the first team to rally from a 3-2 deficit to win a finals since Houston did it in 1994, beating the New York Knicks. Although Los Angeles stumbled to the brink of elimination for the first time in these playoffs last weekend in Boston, Bryant’s teams still are spectacular finishers: They’ve closed out their playoff opponents on the first try 10 times while winning three straight Western Conference titles over the last three years.

Home teams improved to 14-3 in Game 7 in the finals. No road team has won a title in Game 7 since 1978. … The Lakers are 14-1 in a seventh game at home, losing only the 1969 finale to Boston. … Garnett nearly flattened Jack Nicholson when he chased a loose ball into the front row in the second quarter, but the Lakers’ most famous fans got back up smiling. Other fans near courtside included Jake Gyllenhall, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Seacrest, Timbaland, director Todd Phillips and George Lopez in purple-and-yellow plaid pants.

Fisher Ices Game 3 to Give Lakers the Victory Over Celtics

The Los Angeles Lakers won game 3 in the 2010 NBA Finals over the Boston Celtics, 91-84.  Derek Fisher broke down the court after yet another miss by Ray Allen, with nothing between him and the basket. And nothing — not even three hard-charging Celtics — was going to keep the Los Angeles Lakers guard from finishing off a Game 3 victory.  A hard foul from all three pursuing Celtics sent Fisher sprawling to the floor, but not before he laid in his fifth basket of the fourth quarter and converted the three-point play to help the Lakers beat Boston 91-84 and take a 2-1 lead in the NBA finals.  “Truthfully, he’s done it over and over and over again,” said Kobe Bryant, who scored 29 points. “So it’s almost his responsibility to our team to do these things.”

Bryant had 25 points after three quarters, but he did not score for the first 10 minutes of the fourth. That’s when Fisher took over, hitting four of five Lakers baskets after Boston cut a 17-point first-half lead down to one point to reclaim the home-court advantage they lost when the Celtics won Game 2 in L.A.

Game 4 is Thursday night in Boston, and a Lakers victory would put them within one win of avenging the loss to their longtime rivals in the 2008 finals — not to mention the eight other times the Celtics have won an NBA title at the Lakers’ expense.  “Our thoughts are really just still on how disappointed we are, or were, losing that second game on our home court. I think that had more of our attention and focus than what happened in ’08,” Fisher said. “We didn’t doubt our ability to win here. … We understand when you want to be the best, you have to win wherever, whenever.”

Fisher finished with 16 points, and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum had 10 rebounds apiece for Los Angeles.  Kevin Garnett, who had just six points in Boston’s victory Sunday, had 25 in Game 3. But Allen, who had 32 points in Game 2, missed all 13 field goal attempts — one shy of the NBA finals futility record — many of them while Fisher was guarding him. “It’s a hell of a swing, I’ll tell you that,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s basketball. That’s why you can’t worry about it. He’ll be back in the gym tomorrow and getting ready for the next game. … It happens to the best of us.”  The Celtics had high hopes after splitting the opening two games in Los Angeles, but the “Beat L.A.!” chants at the TD Garden couldn’t help them overcome poor shooting.  And it couldn’t stop Fisher.  “Derek Fisher was the difference in the game,” Rivers said. “He’s just a gutty, gritty player and he gutted the game out for them. I thought Kobe was struggling a little bit, and Fisher — he basically took the game over. … I don’t know what he had in the fourth quarter … but most of them were down the stretch.”  Fisher, 34, came into the league with Bryant in 1996 and has a history of clutch shots, from the heave with 0.4 seconds left to beat San Antonio in the 2004 playoffs to the late jumpers in a series-swinging victory over Orlando in Game 4 of last year’s finals. The Lakers went on to beat the Magic in five games, earning their 15th NBA title — second only to Boston’s 17.

“I think as you grow in this game and you put in the work that’s required to still be around 14 years later, you start to recognize that being in this moment, on this stage, it’s not a given. It’s not something that happens every season,” Fisher said. “Five or 10 years from now, when I’m long gone, I would have hated to feel like I didn’t just do everything I could have to help my team. Things have worked out well, and we have two more wins to get to really put a nice cap on it.”

The Lakers opened a 37-20 first-half lead, but Boston cut the deficit to four late in the third quarter and then made it 68-67 early in the fourth on consecutive drives by Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Rajon Rondo. With a chance to take the lead, Allen was called for an offensive foul away from the ball.

Fisher then scored four of the Lakers’ next five baskets to give them a five-point lead with about 4 1/2 minutes left. He scored another with 49 seconds left before being flattened by Davis, among others, and adding the free throw to make it a three-possession game.  “He saw the opening and went and made a very bold play. … It was imperative that it goes in for us to win,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “When he’s got an opportunity to hit a key shot, it seems like he’s always there and ready.”

Allen and Paul Pierce combined to go 1 for 13 from the field as Boston went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal in the first half. Pierce finished with 15 points, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range, but Allen never snapped out of it.  He missed all eight 3-pointers, all five 2-pointers and got to the line just twice. He was spared of matching the worst shooting performance in NBA finals history when Garnett was called for an offensive foul away from the ball in the final minute while Allen clanged another shot off the rim.  “We obviously didn’t expect him to go 0 for 13, but it’s a tough gig for him to run around offensively the way he has to and then have to guard Kobe on the other end,” Fisher said. “I mean, that takes anybody’s legs out. It takes my legs out chasing him. So there are going to be nights maybe when his legs aren’t there because he’s having to work so hard on both ends, but we won’t see 0 for 13 on Thursday night, that’s for sure.”

Garnett matched his Game 2 total of six points in the first 75 seconds of Game 3, and Rondo had Boston’s next three baskets to give Boston a 12-5 lead. But the Lakers ran off eight straight points to go ahead, scoring 32 of the next 40 points to open a 37-20 lead with 9:10 left in the half.  Rondo, who had a triple-double in Game 3, finished with 11 points, eight assists and three rebounds.

Lakers Take Game 1 in 2010 Championship Over the Celtics

The Los angele Lakers dominated the Boston Celtics in the paint and outscored them 16-0 on second chance points. The game was not as close as the score indicated and the Lakers lead the series 1-0. Ron Artest and Paul Pierce went back-to-back with their elbows locked, both unwilling to yield even an inch underneath the hoop. The veteran forwards crashed to the court together and got up looking to rumble, earning double technical fouls.  And that was just in the first 27 seconds. This NBA finals rematch was rough from the opening tumble, but Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol made sure the Los Angeles Lakers landed the first shot on the Boston Celtics.  Bryant scored 30 points, Gasol had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and defending champion Los Angeles got tough in a 102-89 victory over Boston in Game 1 on Thursday night.

Artest scored 15 points after his tangle with Pierce in the opening minute of the 12th finals meeting between the NBA’s most scintillating rivals. It was the opening salvo in a gritty physical effort against the Celtics, who memorably pushed around the Lakers while winning their 2008 finals matchup in six games.  The Lakers are the champs now, and they’re not giving it up without a tussle or two. “I knew it was going to be physical. That’s a given,” Gasol said. “After consecutive finals, we understand the nature of the game. We understand who our rival is, how they play. You’ve got to compete, and you’ve got to match that physicality effort of the game to be successful.” 

Pierce scored 24 points and Kevin Garnett added 16 after a slow start for the Celtics, who might not want to know Lakers coach Phil Jackson’s teams in Los Angeles and Chicago have won 47 straight playoff series after winning Game 1.  “I wish I had put it in the bank, so to speak,” said Jackson, the 10-time champion. “We’ve got to play this out. … Our defense stiffened at various points in the game, was very effective. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s nice to know that (the 47-0 streak) is on our side.”

Game 2 is Sunday night at Staples Center.  If the first 48 minutes of the rematch are any indication, this series again will be a knockdown, drag-out physical confrontation — and the supposedly finesse-oriented Lakers held their ground early, leaving the Celtics frustrated after giving up 100 points for just the second time in their last 10 games. “They were the more physical team by far,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They were more aggressive. They attacked us the entire night. I didn’t think we handled it very well.”  Ray Allen scored 12 points in just 27 minutes, saddled with constant foul trouble while trying to guard Bryant. Pierce also picked up early fouls, while Garnett simply struggled, going 7 for 16 from the field and grabbing just four rebounds — even inexplicably missing an open layup with 5 1/2 minutes to play.  That’s mostly because of Gasol, the Spanish 7-footer determined to assert himself after admittedly getting pushed around by Garnett two years ago. Gasol capped a strong game by sprinting downcourt and catching a long pass in stride for a dunk with 6:21 to play. “Pau played a big game tonight,” Jackson said. “I thought they did a good job on him in the post, but his movement and his activity was important.”

After Artest and Pierce got wrapped up, the mood didn’t improve much in a game featuring 54 fouls. But Bryant’s playmaking and the Lakers’ inside advantages drove them to a 20-point lead after three quarters before surviving Boston’s final run. “You can’t ease into the game, especially in the finals,” Pierce said. “That’s one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA. We’ve just got to do a better job rebounding the ball, eliminating easy opportunities. When I look up and we’ve given up 100 points, I haven’t seen that in a while.”  Los Angeles outrebounded the Celtics 42-31 and put up a strong shooting percentage until a fourth-quarter slump, again excelling at the their two biggest areas of strength in this postseason. Andrew Bynum scored 10 points on his injured right knee as the Lakers improved to 9-0 at home in the playoffs, with 12 straight postseason home wins dating to last year’s championship run.

Rajon Rondo had 13 points — just three in the second half — and eight assists as Boston went 1 for 10 on 3-pointers, but forced 15 turnovers with active hands in passing lanes. Bryant scored just four points in the fourth quarter, but hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds. He added seven rebounds and six assists in his 12th 30-point game of the postseason.  Pierce and Artest set a resonant tone for the first quarter, which featured 18 personal fouls and 20 free throws, 12 by Boston. The Lakers took a 50-41 halftime lead, but Rondo kept the Lakers close with 10 points, including a buzzer-beating jumper.

Los Angeles took charge in the final minutes of the third quarter, when Bryant led an 11-2 run to an 84-64 lead heading into the fourth. Boston swiftly sliced that lead with a 10-1 run in the first four minutes, but the Lakers kept their lead in double digits throughout the fourth.  Boston had home-court advantage in the clubs’ 2008 meeting, but these Celtics will have to win at least once at Staples Center, where the Lakers have won 12 straight playoff games since last season’s Western Conference finals.  The arena was packed well before the opening tip for the Lakers’ third straight appearance in the NBA finals, and several thousand fans actually deigned to put on the giveaway gold T-shirts handed out by the team. The T-shirt stunt failed miserably the past two times Los Angeles tried it in the playoffs

Lakers Guide to Hating Celtics

Well, it’s on. Is it ever. Or should I say, it’s back on again. The two words in basketball that say so much and mean everything. Heck, they define an entire sport.

Lakers and Celtics.

The NBA’s two most storied franchises, two of the most famous organizations in sports history, with 32 titles between them, more than half of the 63 that the NBA has bestowed, meeting in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years and 12th time overall. This amazing, heated rivalry goes back 51 years, to 1959, Elgin Baylor’s rookie year; that was the first time they met in the Finals with Bob Cousy’s Celtics beating the Minneapolis Lakers, two years before the Lakers moved to L.A.  As a tribute to half a century of antagonism, antipathy, jealousy, mutual animosity and maybe, just maybe, the most grudging kind of respect that will never be acknowledged, but mostly because the Lakers’ record in these colossal championship confrontations is an astoundingly embarrassing 2-9, we present today, as a public service to Lakers’ fans the world over . . . 

A Guide to Hating the Celtics!

We begin with two storylines, premises, really, that you must understand up front:

1)  The Celtics cry. They cry more than Best Actress winners at the Oscars. They cry like every game is a wedding. Every time a call goes against them, there will be more tears than Kleenex can handle. They cry even after they have to dial 911 to mop up some fallen opponent who’s been mugged and beaten within an inch of his life.

2)  The Celtics also foul. They foul on every play. They foul everyone, from stars to scrubs. They foul as a strategy. They foul as a style. They foul as a tradition. They foul hard and they foul incessantly. They foul just for the fun of fouling. They probably foul their own bus driver on the way to the arena.

Now, so you can hate them properly and profoundly, here they are, the Boston Celtics:

No. 34, Paul Pierce: He is their best scorer and a load for anyone to guard, including Ron Artest. But the Celtics’ captain flops more than a large-mouthed bass taking his last breath while dangling from a fishing line at the end of a pier. Every time Pierce shoots, he acts like he’s been hit by a train. Usually, he hasn’t been touched. Two years ago, he fell during the Finals against the Lakers and went off in a wheelchair. An actual wheelchair! Five minutes later, he was dropping three-pointers all over TD Banknorth Garden. He actually came back into the game with the music from “Rocky” blaring over the public-address system. Yo, Paulie, that was such a bad con job, Sylvester Stallone is a better actor than your are.  If you’ll be seeing him for the first time, you’ll hate him before the first quarter of Game 1 is even close to over, guaranteed. And by the way, Pablo, your headband is usually crooked. [For the record: An earlier version of this post contained an inappropriate comment about Pierce relating to an incident in 2000 in which he was stabbed repeatedly. That comment should not have been published and has been removed.]

No. 5, Kevin Garnett: Last you may have seen him, he was goin’ all Karate Kid upside the arms of Dwight Howard in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Hey, K.G., who’s your instructor, Mr. Miyagi? Garnett is, or maybe was, a great player, Hall of Fame caliber, but once he joined the Celtics, he officially became annoying, arrogant and insufferable, like the rest of them. He is now impossible to root for in any manner. His emotional tearfest in the immediate aftermath of the Celtics’ ’08 Finals win over the Lakers remains today one of the truly legendary and awkward postgame microphone meltdowns. One more good cry, which is what you always expect from a Celtic. 

No. 20, Ray Allen: This guy is one of the greatest jump shooters in basketball history. Totally clutch. And he may have the prettiest stroke ever. Money when it matters. He’s also a heckuva nice guy, even though his momma stands up too much and looks like she’s even cockier than K.G. I know I’m not giving you any reason to hate him, but never forget the overriding issue: that damn green uniform.

No. 43, Kendrick Perkins: This guy looks meaner than Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades. You get scared just looking at his picture on Google images. He looks like he would shove his grandma in the middle of the back if it meant getting a rebound. Perkins has the offensive skill set of your average blacksmith or lumberjack. Instead, he does what can euphemistically be called a lot of the dirtywork for the Celtics, dirty being the operative word. He’ll have six fouls by the second quarter, two of which are called. He is also a human moving screen. He sets the only pick in the NBA where the player is actually running full-speed into the man he’s screening. This is very often not called a foul, just because he’s a Celtic. He is prone to getting technical fouls, usually immediately after waking up in the morning.

No. 9, Rajon Rondo. This is the point guard who is faster than any Laker. He’s an emerging star and acts like it, too. If he were any more conceited, he’d dribble with his left hand and carry a hand-mirror with his right. He preens more than TV news anchors. If he has a weakness, other than the villainous franchise he suits up for, it’s his shooting. He has trouble making open five-footers in empty gyms, much less full arenas. Just remember this kid is, like, 8 years old and already as arrogant as the rest of them.

No. 30, Rasheed Wallace. This old grump has been an unmitigated pain since he came into the league.   He has two emotions: angry and mad. The technical fine money he’s paid could fund many third World countries. He’s also at least 52 years old. In every game, bar none, he will a) commit the most obvious foul ever; b) cry to the ref and then, c) act like the whole world is against him. Which, in fact, it is.

No. 11, Glen Davis. They call this one Big Baby. Right on both counts. Right now he’s about two Krispy Kremes shy of Stanley Roberts, who ate himself out of the league. If he and Perkins and ‘Sheed and KG have 24 fouls between them, trust me on this, they will use all 72.

And now, in the names of Rondo and Hondo, plus the Jones boys, that hatchet, Tommy Heinsohn, the butcher Dave Cowens, that Rambis killer McHale and even Larry Legend and the infernal Cigar, Red Auerbach himself, the NBA Finals are still five days away and I already hate every one of them to pieces.  The article was written by Ted Green for the LA Times.

Kobe Hits Late Shot for Lakers to Beat the Celtics

The Los Angeles Lakers are doing their best to forget all those awful memories of playing in the Boston Garden. Kobe Bryant sank the go-ahead basket with 7.3 seconds left, and the Lakers won 90-89 on Sunday for their third consecutive victory over the struggling Celtics. Boston has not been able to make good on the traditional “Beat L.A.!” chant since winning 131-92 to clinch the 2008 NBA championship here in Game 6 of the finals. “They smacked us two years ago,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. “It was a big game for us. This is a team that’s going to be battling to be coming out of the East.”

Winners of 32 NBA titles between them including the last two the Lakers and Celtics have met in the finals 11 times, from Bill Russell against Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain, to Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird and on to the current matchup of Bryant facing the New Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. But while the Lakers’ superstar came through in the stretch for them, Boston’s couldn’t.

Watch The Highlights of Lakers Beating the Celtics

Bryant complained of a stiff ankle after Friday night’s win in Philadelphia, and it seemed to bother him during the game. He shot just 8 for 20 but made the big one: making a move toward the basket before stepping back from Allen’s defense and swishing the ball through the net to give Los Angeles its only lead of the second half. “He had a couple of looks before that that were good looks, and he didn’t put them in. We were mystified by that,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who tied Pat Riley atop the franchise coaching list with his 533rd win in Los Angeles. “He told me the next one was going to go in, so we went with him.” Bryant finished with 19, Andrew Bynum had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Pau Gasol had 11 points and 11 boards for the Lakers, who won their fourth consecutive game. “I didn’t say give me one more chance. I said give me the damn ball,” Bryant said. “I never really give him much of a choice.”
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The Celtics led 81-70 before the Lakers made the next four baskets. Rasheed Wallace hit a 3-pointer — his only basket of the game to stop the run, and it was still a three-point game with less than two minutes left when Bryant hit a pair of free throws to make it 87-86. Allen hit a pair of free throws, then Ron Artest sank a runner in the lane to make it 89-88. The Celtics got the ball to Pierce, who created a little too much space for himself, negating the basket. “I thought I made a good move. I got to my sweet spot,” Pierce said. “I guess the ref saw it differently and he made the call. That’s part of the game. That’s why you have referees.” Allen’s 3-point attempt at the final buzzer bounced harmlessly off the rim. “Ten times out of 10 times, when you have Ray open like that I’m going to give him the ball,” Pierce said. “He got a good look at it. Sometimes it falls; sometimes it doesn’t.” The Celtics fell behind 22-10 in the first quarter, when Bynum scored 12 points, and trailed 40-34 midway through the second before scoring the next 15 points.