Celtics vs. Lakers, Sunday night 6:30 p.m.
Five years ago, an exhausted, exhilarated and euphoric Los Angeles Lakers team walked off the Staples Center court in a haze of glory. It was different than most championship walks even though the confetti and streamer serenade was similar to years past. What was more acute was the happiness. It was razor sharp. It was happiness at the mercy of the Boston Celtics and because of everything that meant, because of the history and the rivalry, because the Celtics humiliated the Lakers two years earlier, because it was a game 7, the ecstasy of the victory was something the players could no longer hold in.
Also, beginning their exit, was the Staples Center crowd whose deafening noise rivaled a jet plane. But now, they too were going their separate ways, to the Valley, to the Westside, to the South Bay, to Malibu, though the outside crowd had just begun creating havoc because of their desperate pleasure and in some cases mayhem. It was not quite a riot, but just enough of we-beat-the-Celtics craziness to need police reinforcement.
Dec 30, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) during the game against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center. The Lakers won 111-103. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Inside Staples Center, players were drenched in the scent of champagne. Consumed by the love and happiness of his children, Phil Jackson was larger than he had ever been, coaching 11 champions. Dr. Jerry Buss took in the scene as if he was an observer. Beating the Celtics on his home floor was something he never imagined, not when he bought the team 31 years earlier. Kobe Bryant hardly felt the tugging pain in his knee as his fifth championship cemented his legacy post-Shaquille O’Neal, especially repeating as a champion, something he had done twice before. Indeed, he had come full circle.
All of it was a nice last chapter to a storybook ending for a franchise that always made the right moves. Dr. Buss did not know it then, Mitch Kupchak did not know it then, Phil Jackson did not know it then, Kobe Bryant did not know it then. That night in June, around midnight, would be their last great basketball moment for a long, long time.
Five years ago, an exhausted, angry and defeated Boston Celtics team walked off the Staples Center court. The confetti and streamers were a reminder of how badly they had failed here, how they had the lead, how they had a one-legged Kobe Bryant, how they had the intensity of a lion eating a deer. But it was their toughness that was missing. In their locker room, they could hear the consequences of their failure and because it was a game 7, because this was it, because they had to win here to change the narrative of the win in 2008 that many considered a one time fluke- it hurt. It felt like a stab in the heart and now all of them, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, had to fall on their swords. They had lost the game they simply had to win.
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Of course, there was the injury to Kendrick Perkins that changed the Celtics chemistry and fate but it must be noted, again, the Celtics, in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, had a double digit lead. Kobe Bryant was 6-24. But, he had 15 rebounds and he took 15 free throws as he limped his way down the court, finally passing to Ron Artest. The Celtics were outhustled by the Lakers which was a travesty and a sin. Everything the Celtics were known for, toughness, physicality, durability, confidence, withered away in the Staples Center air.
Sadly, neither team is what they were on that glorious night in June. Only one from that game 7 remains. Only Kobe Bryant who is a ghost now as he recovers from his shoulder injury can talk about what happened the night he could barely move and could not shoot, how he played in such egregious pain it felt like his leg was exploding, how he continually went to the free throw line, how he wanted to win more than any one night in his 19 year career. It was more than a desire and it was more than a compulsion, which he had in spades. He was hungry with the need to beat the Celtics. He would die for it.
Feb 8, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers reacts from the sidelines against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
For The Celtics, their dismantling started with Ray Allen. He defected to the Miami Heat. And then Doc Rivers left and then Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. They started rebuilding then. They hired a college coach, assembled a team of young players and did not hide the fact they were starting over when they traded Rajon Rondo.
For imagery sake, the Lakers pretended they were not what they were. But all you had to do was look. Their perimeter defense was no longer playoff worthy as they were embarrassed by the Mavericks in the 2011 playoffs. Then came their multiple mistakes. They hired Mike Brown and not Brian Shaw. They fired Mike Brown. They hired Mike D’antoni. They acquired Steve Nash in a sign-and-trade- giving up multiple draft picks they are still paying the price for now. They gambled on Dwight Howard, hoping he would be a franchise player but, curiously, they did nothing to invest in the relationship with Howard.
In the NBA, five years is a long time. Of the Lakers starters in game 7 of the NBA Finals, only Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are NBA players. The Celtics have two starters who are doing other things: Ray Allen and Rasheed Wallace. Careers die in five years, turn over happens. When you consider championship teams are built on the achievements of veterans, five years is an eternity.
The Celtics- Lakers rivalry is a long ago phenomenon that matters to the old-timers, the ones who can tell the Showtime stories, the ones who remember. They’ll talk about M.L. Carr and Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting. They’ll lament the old Boston Garden without air conditioning and the Lakers being suffocated by heat and sweat in game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals. They’ll rage about Kevin McHale’s take down of Kurt Rambis and then nearly weep at the memory of the Lakers beating the Celtics in Boston Garden, in the 1985 NBA Finals, to secure a championship, the first time ever in Boston.
For both franchises, this is all that remains. Memories of how perfect things used to be.