This is the kind of stuff that used to drive RED AUERBACH nuts. As far back as the early 60s – just a few short years after the Minneapolis Lakers became extinct – the Hollywood media elite declared that Los Angeles was now “the center of the basketball universe.” This bit of unsubstantiated goulash was served up repeatedly, with a straight face, in spite of the fact that the Celtics had 1) more titles than the Lakers, and 2) owned the Lakers historically in the NBA Finals, when it matters most.
They still do.
The “center of the basketball universe” claim is debunked thoroughly in one of the best books (period) that you’ll ever read: Winning the Hard Way (Red Auerbach). Aptly enough, this fabricated issue is exposed in the chapter titled It’s Easier With a Typewriter. Mr. Hollinger plies his trade behind a computer keyboard these days, but the misleading drumbeat emanating dully from LA has not changed in 50 years.
Where to begin? With the ultimate measure of team’s greatness, of course: championships. The BOSTON CELTICS (not the Minneapolis-Oshkosh-Tallahassee-Boston Celtics) have earned 17 championships. In one city. That makes little Boston, Massachusetts the gold standard of basketball success by any standard you can manufacture.
And boy do those new standards keep coming!
How about head to head, winner-take-all battles against your closest rivals when all the chips are on the line? When the time came to decide which team would take the other’s lunch money in front of a televised audience, the results are:
Boston Celtics: 9
Los Angeles Lakers: 3
There’s your real story. By the way, in a more just world, those numbers would read:
Boston Celtics: 11 - Los Angeles Lakers: 1. (We’ll talk… there are so many other real-time myths to debunk at the moment… such as…)
Performance in the NBA Finals:
Until last year, the Lakers actually had a losing record in their combined NBA Finals appearances. Hardly the hallmark of a championship franchise. That kind of performance in any other major professional sport does not earn you the title of “best ever.” Just ask the Buffalo Bills.
Oh by the way, The Boston Celtics have won 17 championships in 21 Finals appearances. Questions?
Number of Appearances in an NBA Final:
The Lakers have 31, Boston has 21. Now, saying that the Western conference has historically been the weak step-sister to the Eastern conference is to declare that water is wet. The Celtics spent years punching their way through Wilt’s 76ers, Dr. J’s 76ers, the BadBoy Pistons and the Knicks of the late 60s/early70s, over and over, just to get to the Finals. This year alone, the Celtics convincingly handled the Cavaliers & the Magic, inarguably the strongest teams to not make it into the Finals.
What deadly rival did the Lakers have to contend with all these years? The Golden State Warriors? Portland had a couple of good years in there, I guess… The Suns are a good team, but are they great? Hmm… Were the Chicago Zephyrs more of a handful for George Mikan and his champions from Minny in the 1940s than I’m aware of? And speaking of the “Minneapolis Lakers”:
The Modern Era:
Saying that basketball during this time even remotely resembles the basketball of even the 60s, say, is ludicrous. There was no 3-second rule during most of this time, meaning that the 6’10” , 290-pound Mr. Mikan simply sat under the basket and dropped in super-bunnies. There was no one to touch this giant.
Add in the fact that the lane was 12 feet wide during this time, not 6. This game was such a tedious, unfair travesty that the league had to address these issues or lose their shaky fan-base to the lure of speakeasies and the devilish temptations of that new Charleston dance.
Did I mention that there was no 24-second shot clock either? People are still talking about that 15 to 14 game between the Rochester Royals and the Syracuse Nationals. Real nail-biter that was. Are these really the same people who decry all those Celtic titles from the 60s? What fan with any real pride in their team and a sense of history would even dare to claim titles from another city in what is essentially the dead-ball era of basketball?
Oh I know: a Los Angeles Laker fan. [aporel#18 breaks down the phony Laker titles beautifully in his previous post. This ridiculous double-standard for the Lakers gots to go].
Home-Grown vs Profiteers:
Red Auerbach vs. Phil Jackson. Let’s put it this way: Red Auerbach was the ONLY coach of the Celtics – no defensive assistant coaches, no “big man” coaches. It was all Red. He was the guy counting heads at the gate ½ hour before tip-off, the guy wangling with airlines to get the franchise a better group rate, and so much more. And, in relation to this particular subject: the only scout the Celtics had was Red Auerbach. That’s right, he’s the guy who took a chance on unknown Sam Jones out of North Carolina College & a defensive specialist named KC Jones.
These guys were not instant HOFers. They were not big-name free-agent profiteers lured to the media crap-storm of Los Angeles at the height of their stellar careers (see Wilt, see Shaq, see Gasol) by a limitless payroll cornucopia (see Jerry Buss).
Red built the Celtics from the ground-up, with intelligence and sweat. His players found glory because they adhered to the Celtic Way: play defense & distribute the ball to the open man. No star system: this is a family. You train the guy who is going to replace you, and you do it gladly, because the team’s glory will be your glory. Marginal dudes became HOFers because they played together! as Doc kept repeating during time outs. That’s the Celtics way – it’s a family way that is so powerful and life-affirming that Bill Russell said, to paraphrase: “After being in that locker room, with those guys… heaven would be a step down.”
Phil Jackson strapped a saddle on already-assembled teams (the Bulls and the Lakers). He may be a great coach, but Red Auerbach is the best there ever was. He turned basketball players into brothers for life.
What this organization has meant to be goes beyond sport, and I am writing with a lot of gusto, I know. But I am proud of them. They showed the entire world what happens when you “trust your teammate, and trust yourself”, as Doc kept reminding them. It’s a life lesson for every fan, every child, for everyone who has hardly anything left to hold onto but their faith in each other.
My wife stopped watching with 6 minutes left in game 7. She had to get up early. She watches snatches of games here and there & knows who is who, and has listened to me babble excitedly through all the ups and downs, through the tellings of everyone’s story. When I told her the next morning that we had lost, she started crying. She confessed that the tension of those last minutes was too much for her to watch. It was like watching brothers struggling together against unfair odds (the loss of Perk… not to mention the zebras).
And I realized that the best part of this 3-year trip had been all the moments in which we shared it together. That can’t ever be lost. My team played and acted like a family, and almost grabbed another brass ring in spite of all the odds. And the same can be said for all you guys, people who cared so facking much about this team that you kept returning to see what was up.
… Didn’t think I’d write quite this much. Might be a part II if anyone survives part I – I could go on and on. But as tonight’s last testament to my team:
It was twenty-two years of untimely deaths, crippling injuries & crazy-bouncing ping-pong balls that kept the Boston Celtics team out of the limelight, and nothing else. The Lakers simply waltzed into the void, and that doesn’t bestow greatness no matter how you cut it. I can’t take seeing our glorious franchise marginalized by people with their own agendas in order to inflate a franchise that has had every trumpet blaring behind it for over 50 years. And we’re STILL better.
Red said you must always roll up your sleeves and stand up for what’s yours if you want to keep what you’ve earned. The Boston Celtics are the greatest franchise in the history of the NBA in spite of everything. It’s proven. The numbers speak the final truth no matter how you twist them around.
Mr. Hollinger ought to have a more soulful feel for the game that provides his livelihood.
[This one’s for you, Red.]
Topic: Hollinger Declares Lakers Best Franchise of All Time (Read 17271 times)