Bring it on: Celtics vs. Lakers (round 12)

Yes, this is the NBA equivalent of Red Sox / Yankees. Except in this case, it's the Celtics who are the evil empire with nine wins out of the eleven previous meetings in the finals against the Lakers. Where things become a little more balanced is when we look at the last couple of decades where the Lakers have actually won a slew of their fifteen championships. The Celtics on the other hand won all but one of theirs prior to 1987. In fairness, however, the last time the Celtics won a title in 2008, it was at the expense of the Lakers. And for any Kobe/Lakers fans out there, you likely still have the bad taste of the 39 point ass whooping in game 6 in Boston.

That bad taste was partially removed when the Lakers dominated the Magic in last years NBA finals. But just like the Red Sox needed to go through the Yankees in their epic 7 game series in 2004 before finally removing the Curse of the Bambino, so too do the Lakers need to exorcise their demons of 2008 be vanquishing the Celtics in this years battle royale. The problem is, the Lakers are facing an even hotter Celtic team this year with a healthy Big Three Four (including Rondo in this mix now). A team that just wiped out the number one and two regular seeds in the East -- and the top ranked teams in the NBA according to NBA.com in the last two rounds of the playoffs.

But, that's the beauty of the playoffs and the reason you don't play them on paper. On any given day, any team can win. And of course that fact has led to a little trash talk going on on Twitter between the fans of LA and the good people of Boston (former citizens included). To that end, we have all decided to put our money where our mouths are (I think) and have decided to put a little wager in place.

Here's what I'm proposing...

If the Lakers win, Team LA (members below) will pick a restaurant in LA (or somewhere convenient for the five of them) with Team Boston footing the bill (not to exceed $50/person including tax/tip). The members of Team Boston will ALSO have to don a Laker-themed avatar for exactly one week following the final game of the series.

• Tom Humbarger
• Liz Phillips
• Bennett
• Jason Kapler
• TBA (unless you guys want to go unbalanced)

If the Celtics win, Team Boston (members below) will pick a restaurant in Boston (or somewhere convenient for the five of them) with Team LA footing the bill (not to exceed $50/person including tax/tip). The members of Team LA will ALSO have to don a LakerCeltic-themed avatar for exactly one week following the final game of the series.

• Jim Storer
• Kyle Flaherty
• Jaime Punishill
• Adam Cohen
• Aaron (that's me)

An acknowledgement in the comments section below will serve as validation that you have accepted this friendly little wager. You all ready to rock?!?

One for the Pantheon

No question last night's Celtics comeback from down 24 points in the first quarter will go down in history as one of the greatest games in Boston sports lore. But how often do we get to know that as the game is happening?



I sat on the edge of my couch and didn't move for 3 hours. In the 2nd quarter, the C's showed signs of life - I was hopeful that they could cut the lead to less than 10 before the half, but a half court 3 at the buzzer left the Lakers up 18. Everyone knows the Celtics own the third quarter, so I stayed up. I had no idea it would be to witness history.

Watching the Celtics chip away was excruciating - with each block, each Posey 3 pointer, each time Van Gundy pointed out no one has come back from a deficit that big, you start to think, "Could this be it?" It was like watching Lester's no-hitter, or Ortiz come up in the bottom of the 9th against Rivera. There is a magic in the game as it is happening that just can't be scripted, except in basketball it's more drawn out over a couple of hours.

As much faith as anyone should have in the Celtics at this point, they are playing the Lakers - in the first half the Lakers were the same team that shut down San Antonio and was undefeated at home previously in the playoffs. Kobe didn't score a point in the first half, and his team was dominating. In the third quarter I got superstitious - didn't want to change my position on the couch, didn't answer the phone, didn't soothe my 1 year old after I woke him up with a "YES!!!" when the Celtics cut the lead to single digits just after 11pm EST. With all the chest thumping from the Lakers this series, there is no team that has played with more heart than the Celtics in that next hour. Ray Allen played 48 minutes and looked like he could do a triathalon after the game. All I could think after the game was, "I can't believe what I just witnessed."

Not sure where this will fall in history. The Celtics need to close out the series for it to mean anything, but I get to say this once again - what a time to be a Boston sports fan.

(Interesting side note - if the NBA had actually started the game at a decent time most of the eastern seaboard could have seen this game finish. When does Stern acknowledge a 9pm start time is ridiculous?)

Celtics - Lakers anyone still feeling that feeling ?

Just stumbled across a funny article on ESPN about finding L.A. area "Celtic haters"...
Some pretty funny quotes by celebs, players and regular folk like us (just from the wrong coast) about the existing hatred of the Celtics in Los Angeles.

For those of us who were fortunate to live through the 80s basketball heyday in Boston
as Celtics fans there is certainly as much animosity still felt for them.
Here is the link and a nice youtube flashback reminder ..

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/080610

Take this... Mr Lakers Assistant Coach / horned rimmed jackass**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r6vXeOfyQ

**I think Bill Simmons touched on this in one of his recent articles about how James Worthy shoved Rambis out of bounds to prevent retaliation, but while watching it repeatedly what struck me as more bizarre than knocking your own teammate down, was Bird actually helping Rambis back to his feet... so much for thinking that it was "old school ball" back then.