What a wonderful moment in the NBA’s greatest rivalry
As you probably know, the NBA rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers dates back to the 1960’s. L.A. had Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, who were later joined by Wilt Chamberlain, while Boston had Bill Russell, Sam and KC Jones, John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn and many others.
After retiring as a player, West went on to put together the Showtime Lakers with Kareem, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper and other luminaries, who had epic clashes with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and other great Celtics. Later West managed to draft Kobe Bryant and pair him with Shaquille O’ Neal for another dominant run.
Even so, he said he never returned to Boston Garden. Too many bad memories for the logo.
And as you probably also know, the Boston fans can be brutal. Philly fans are probably the worst, but Celtic fans don’t take prisoners either.
However, they do recognize greatness when they see it, and when Kareem broke Wilt Chamberlain’s field goal record, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. This was in 1984, in the heart of the Bird-Magic rivalry and it was one of the more touching moments in the history of the rivalry. Usually stoic, Kareem actually bows to the crowd in appreciation.
