Gotta love burying these guys on Pat Riley's Day.
The thing I hate most about Riley, along with people like Phil Jackson and Jamal Wilkes among others is their refusal to admit that the Celtics were the better team and that they were beaten, fair and square. I remember a bizarre quote from Phil Jackson commenting on his playing days with the Knicks, "We didn't have trouble handling the Celtics"? Huh ? You never beat Russell in the late 60's and you won one playoff series in 1973 after Havlicek was injured on a dirty play by Dave Debuscher. The next season we kicked your ass in the ECF 4-1. Of course, Jackson could be thinking of the Celtics two rebuilding seasons after Russell's retirement, which I wouldn't take any great pride in. Pat Riley is just as bad. He is still bitter about losing to the Celtics repeatedly both as a player and a coach. I always hated that the Lakers did not make the finals in 1986 to take the beating they deserved. They only beat us in the 80's when we had a starter out with an injury, Max in '85 along with Bird's busted shooting hand and half the team on one leg in '87.
Topic: Celtics (36-19) at Lakers (34-21) Game #56 2/22/26 (Read 22760 times)