boutons_
06-04-2008, 11:15 PM
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/04/sports/basketball/lakersgraph.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif (http://www.nytimes.com/)
June 4, 2008
Finals: Game 1 | Lakers at Celtics
Celebrated Rivalry Has Its Roots in ’62 Finals
By HOWARD BECK (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/howard_beck/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Before the confetti fell at Staples Center last Thursday, a chant swept through the arena: “We want Boston!” One night later, 2,986 miles to the east, the response came booming back: “Beat L.A.!”
As the two cities stretched their vocal cords, a thousand images flashed: Wilt vs. Russell, West vs. Cousy, Magic vs. Bird, Kareem vs. Parish, Kurt Rambis’s neck vs. Kevin McHale’s forearm. Baylor and Goodrich, Worthy and Scott. Havlicek, the Jones boys, Johnson, Ainge.
The Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are happily bathing in history as they open the N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) finals Thursday in Boston. The franchises have wrestled for the championship nine times since the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. The rivalry has enough chapters to fill the Smithsonian.
It began so much more subtly — four decades, three arenas and many, many Hall of Famers ago. They barely knew each other. A rivalry? When the Lakers and the Celtics first met for the title, in 1962, there was none to speak of.
Boston had won three straight N.B.A. titles and four of the previous five. The Lakers had just landed in Los Angeles and were practically begging fans to fill Sports Arena.
“I don’t think it was a big rivalry at all,” said Frank Selvy, a Lakers guard from 1960 to 1964. “We thought we had a good team. We were quite young. I think I was the oldest guy on the team at 29.”
Hatred? There had not been enough exposure to generate any. There were only nine teams then — four in the East, five in the West — and they played most of their games within their divisions. The Celtics had far more animosity for the Syracuse Nationals.
“I never remember feeling a real hatred for the Lakers that might have existed for some of the other teams back east,” said Bob Cousy, the Celtics’ Hall of Fame guard.
The Celtics and the Lakers had met once before for the title, in 1959, when the Lakers were based in Minneapolis. But the DNA for the rivalry as we know it formed in April 1962.
There was tension and heartbreak, mostly for the Lakers, who lost the series, 4-3. The games in Los Angeles were graced by celebrities, including Doris Day and Pat Boone. But the greatest attractions were on the court. The Celtics featured seven future Hall of Famers — Cousy, Bill Russell, K. C. Jones, Sam Jones, Frank Ramsey, Tommy Heinsohn and Coach Red Auerbach. The Lakers had two: Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
In many ways, the modern-day Celtics and Lakers reflect their forebears. Kevin Garnett (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kevin_garnett/index.html?inline=nyt-per), a fierce and towering defender, has stepped into Russell’s place in the paint. Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per), is the N.B.A.’s most feared clutch performer, a label long attached to West, whom Bryant counts as his greatest mentor.
The Celtics of the 1960s won eight straight titles without a scoring champion, and in 1962 they did not have a single player in the N.B.A.’s top 10 in scoring. Today’s Celtics feature three supreme talents — Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen — who similarly sacrificed to return the franchise to glory.
The Lakers in 1962 had a strong cast of supporting players to back up West and Baylor. The Lakers today have a solid co-star in Pau Gasol and a roster of willing role players to support Bryant, their one sure Hall of Famer.
Similarities beyond the court are almost nonexistent. In 1962, there was no players union, no salary cap, no video scoreboards, no blaring music, no mascots and no cheerleaders. (The Laker Girls would not shimmy for another 17 years.) Players were paid in tens of thousands, not tens of millions, and several held second jobs.
The fun of the rivalry is, as Heinsohn recently summed it up, “the clashing of cultures” — the grit and history of Boston versus the glamour and transience of Hollywood. “L.A. is a different approach to the world,” he told The Boston Globe. “I don’t think there’s a Freedom Trail out there in L.A.”
Yet when the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, there was nothing glamorous about them. The Dodgers, who had arrived three years earlier, owned the city. Their arrival was greeted by fans at the airport, a ticker-tape parade and a reception at city hall. The Lakers rolled into town after midnight, by car, via San Bernardino.
“Nobody knew we were there and nobody cared,” said Tommy Hawkins, a Lakers forward in 1960-62 and 1966-69.
To promote their games, players were dispatched in “sound trucks” — the sort once used by politicians — and read prepared pitches over the loudspeakers: Hello, this is Tommy Hawkins of the Los Angeles Lakers. Coming up Friday, the New York Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org)!
“We went up and down the streets reading these messages,” Hawkins said, chuckling.
When the Celtics made the finals that year, they took it as a birthright. For the Lakers, it was a breakthrough. And a painful initiation.
They split the first two games at Boston Garden, the Celtics taking the opener, 122-108, and the Lakers bouncing back with a 129-122 upset in Game 2. West led a late comeback at Sports Arena to win Game 3, 117-115. But the Celtics took Game 4 in Los Angeles, 115-103. Baylor scored 61 points — then a finals record — for a 126-121 Lakers victory in Game 5. Boston crushed the Lakers again in Game 6, 119-105.
A pattern had been set. The Lakers and the Celtics met nine times between 1962 and 1987, with four of the series going seven games. Four others went six games. The Celtics, however, dominated the final tally, winning the title seven times.
The defining moment of 1962, the one that set the tone for decades to come, came in the final seconds of Game 7. Boston held the lead for most of the fourth quarter, but Selvy twice drove the length of the floor, the second time tying the game at 100-100. With two seconds left, Selvy shot a baseline jumper that bounced high off the rim and was grabbed by Russell at the buzzer. The Celtics won in overtime, 110-107.
Today, they all ponder what could have been. Cousy, who was late getting to Selvy on the shot, mused about how close he came to a “Bill Buckner moment, which would have haunted me for the rest of my life.”
“Poor Frank,” he said. “I feel so bad for those guys.”
Selvy, now 75, said he got over the moment long ago.
“I surely wish I made it, but it hasn’t haunted me,” he said. “I worry about my golf game more than that.”
It took 10 years before the Lakers won a title in Los Angeles, with a 1972 victory over the Knicks. It took 23 years before they beat the Celtics in the finals, in 1985. They had lost six more finals to the Celtics before that breakthrough.
“We were one shot away from changing the entire history of pro basketball,” Hawkins said. “And it didn’t happen for us.”
.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif (http://www.nytimes.com/)
June 4, 2008
Finals: Game 1 | Lakers at Celtics
Celebrated Rivalry Has Its Roots in ’62 Finals
By HOWARD BECK (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/howard_beck/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Before the confetti fell at Staples Center last Thursday, a chant swept through the arena: “We want Boston!” One night later, 2,986 miles to the east, the response came booming back: “Beat L.A.!”
As the two cities stretched their vocal cords, a thousand images flashed: Wilt vs. Russell, West vs. Cousy, Magic vs. Bird, Kareem vs. Parish, Kurt Rambis’s neck vs. Kevin McHale’s forearm. Baylor and Goodrich, Worthy and Scott. Havlicek, the Jones boys, Johnson, Ainge.
The Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are happily bathing in history as they open the N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) finals Thursday in Boston. The franchises have wrestled for the championship nine times since the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. The rivalry has enough chapters to fill the Smithsonian.
It began so much more subtly — four decades, three arenas and many, many Hall of Famers ago. They barely knew each other. A rivalry? When the Lakers and the Celtics first met for the title, in 1962, there was none to speak of.
Boston had won three straight N.B.A. titles and four of the previous five. The Lakers had just landed in Los Angeles and were practically begging fans to fill Sports Arena.
“I don’t think it was a big rivalry at all,” said Frank Selvy, a Lakers guard from 1960 to 1964. “We thought we had a good team. We were quite young. I think I was the oldest guy on the team at 29.”
Hatred? There had not been enough exposure to generate any. There were only nine teams then — four in the East, five in the West — and they played most of their games within their divisions. The Celtics had far more animosity for the Syracuse Nationals.
“I never remember feeling a real hatred for the Lakers that might have existed for some of the other teams back east,” said Bob Cousy, the Celtics’ Hall of Fame guard.
The Celtics and the Lakers had met once before for the title, in 1959, when the Lakers were based in Minneapolis. But the DNA for the rivalry as we know it formed in April 1962.
There was tension and heartbreak, mostly for the Lakers, who lost the series, 4-3. The games in Los Angeles were graced by celebrities, including Doris Day and Pat Boone. But the greatest attractions were on the court. The Celtics featured seven future Hall of Famers — Cousy, Bill Russell, K. C. Jones, Sam Jones, Frank Ramsey, Tommy Heinsohn and Coach Red Auerbach. The Lakers had two: Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
In many ways, the modern-day Celtics and Lakers reflect their forebears. Kevin Garnett (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kevin_garnett/index.html?inline=nyt-per), a fierce and towering defender, has stepped into Russell’s place in the paint. Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per), is the N.B.A.’s most feared clutch performer, a label long attached to West, whom Bryant counts as his greatest mentor.
The Celtics of the 1960s won eight straight titles without a scoring champion, and in 1962 they did not have a single player in the N.B.A.’s top 10 in scoring. Today’s Celtics feature three supreme talents — Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen — who similarly sacrificed to return the franchise to glory.
The Lakers in 1962 had a strong cast of supporting players to back up West and Baylor. The Lakers today have a solid co-star in Pau Gasol and a roster of willing role players to support Bryant, their one sure Hall of Famer.
Similarities beyond the court are almost nonexistent. In 1962, there was no players union, no salary cap, no video scoreboards, no blaring music, no mascots and no cheerleaders. (The Laker Girls would not shimmy for another 17 years.) Players were paid in tens of thousands, not tens of millions, and several held second jobs.
The fun of the rivalry is, as Heinsohn recently summed it up, “the clashing of cultures” — the grit and history of Boston versus the glamour and transience of Hollywood. “L.A. is a different approach to the world,” he told The Boston Globe. “I don’t think there’s a Freedom Trail out there in L.A.”
Yet when the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, there was nothing glamorous about them. The Dodgers, who had arrived three years earlier, owned the city. Their arrival was greeted by fans at the airport, a ticker-tape parade and a reception at city hall. The Lakers rolled into town after midnight, by car, via San Bernardino.
“Nobody knew we were there and nobody cared,” said Tommy Hawkins, a Lakers forward in 1960-62 and 1966-69.
To promote their games, players were dispatched in “sound trucks” — the sort once used by politicians — and read prepared pitches over the loudspeakers: Hello, this is Tommy Hawkins of the Los Angeles Lakers. Coming up Friday, the New York Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org)!
“We went up and down the streets reading these messages,” Hawkins said, chuckling.
When the Celtics made the finals that year, they took it as a birthright. For the Lakers, it was a breakthrough. And a painful initiation.
They split the first two games at Boston Garden, the Celtics taking the opener, 122-108, and the Lakers bouncing back with a 129-122 upset in Game 2. West led a late comeback at Sports Arena to win Game 3, 117-115. But the Celtics took Game 4 in Los Angeles, 115-103. Baylor scored 61 points — then a finals record — for a 126-121 Lakers victory in Game 5. Boston crushed the Lakers again in Game 6, 119-105.
A pattern had been set. The Lakers and the Celtics met nine times between 1962 and 1987, with four of the series going seven games. Four others went six games. The Celtics, however, dominated the final tally, winning the title seven times.
The defining moment of 1962, the one that set the tone for decades to come, came in the final seconds of Game 7. Boston held the lead for most of the fourth quarter, but Selvy twice drove the length of the floor, the second time tying the game at 100-100. With two seconds left, Selvy shot a baseline jumper that bounced high off the rim and was grabbed by Russell at the buzzer. The Celtics won in overtime, 110-107.
Today, they all ponder what could have been. Cousy, who was late getting to Selvy on the shot, mused about how close he came to a “Bill Buckner moment, which would have haunted me for the rest of my life.”
“Poor Frank,” he said. “I feel so bad for those guys.”
Selvy, now 75, said he got over the moment long ago.
“I surely wish I made it, but it hasn’t haunted me,” he said. “I worry about my golf game more than that.”
It took 10 years before the Lakers won a title in Los Angeles, with a 1972 victory over the Knicks. It took 23 years before they beat the Celtics in the finals, in 1985. They had lost six more finals to the Celtics before that breakthrough.
“We were one shot away from changing the entire history of pro basketball,” Hawkins said. “And it didn’t happen for us.”
.