Paul Pierce - whatever it takes Photo by Tony Gutierrez- AP	Kobe Bryant - looking determined Photo by Garrett W. Elwood - Getty

After having watched last night’s Lakers-Jazz game, I couldn’t help but pine for a repeat of the great Lakers-Celtics Finals rivalries of the Eighties.

Kobe Bryant seems able to break any defense at any time. The Lakers seem overloaded with terrific role-players like Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmer, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom.  Even Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic help out a bit, and what better coach is there than Phil Jackson?

In the East, the Celtics seem determined to go all the way as well.  The Celtics seemed to handle a determined Dallas team last night with aplomb, even with Dallas playing very determined basketball.  Coming just one day after their vanquishing of the equally tough Houston Rockets and breaking their winning streak, who is more likely than than the Celtics to meet those Lakers in the Finals this year?

If a Lakers-Celts final does come to pass, it will be reminiscent of the great Eighties rivalries between the two NBA stalwarts.  From 1979-80 to 1988-89, the Lakers made 8 NBA Finals and won 5 of them.  From that same 1979-80 season to 1986-87, the Celtics went to the Finals 5 times and won 3. 

The entire remarkable story actually began in 1979-1980 which marked the NBA debuts of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.  While an under-manned Celtics team lost to a great Philly team in 5 games that year, Magic was unbelievable in the Finals, playing center for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and eventually every spot on the court in a 42-point, 15 rebound, 7 assist effort.  The Lakers went on to beat the 76ers in six games.

In 1980-81, Red Auerbach pulled off the trades of the decade, acquiring both Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.  Meanwhile, Magic missed 45 games with torn cartilage, enabling the Rockets to advance to the Finals.  The Celts, after going down 3-1 in games in the East Final, came back to beat the hard-luck Sixers.  Then, with an incredible putback of his own miss in Game 1, Bird was the highlight of the Championship Series as he out-dueled Moses Malone and the Rockets to win it in 6.

Pat Riley took  the Lakers rein in 1981-82 and led the Lakers to the Finals once again while the Sixers finally beat the Celtics in the East Finals in 7 games.  A Lakers team energized further by the play of an aging Bob McAdoo beat the Sixers in 6 games for the title.

Moses Malone went to the Sixers in 1982-83 and his Philly debut landed the Sixers the NBA Title, beating who else, the Lakers, in a sweep.  This was the year of the famous Malone “Fo-Fo-Fo” prediction that he nearly brought to pass.  The playoffs run for the Sixers actually went fo-fi-fo.  In the Finals though, it must be pointed out that the Lakers were hampered by injuries to both James Worthy and Bob McAdoo.

The Celtics came back strong in 1983-84 and beat an imposing Lakers team in the Finals in seven games for their second NBA title in four years.  Marked by the first NBA Finals meeting of Bird and Magic, the Series was marked by Worthy’s bad cross-court pass that was picked off by Gerald Henderson and put back for the winning score.  The Lakers also lost in OT in Game 4.  Bird later remarked that “we should have been swept”.

Stung by their Finals loss in the previous year, the 1984-85 Lakers, led by a 38-year old Kareem, beat the Celtics in six games in the Finals after losing the first game 148-114.  It marked the first loss by a Celtics team in an NBA Final.

But the Celtics stormed back in 1985-86.  Strengthened by a trade for an aging Bill Walton, they fashioned a 40-1 home record.  The Lakers, on the other hand,  won 62 games in the regular season, yet managed to lose the West Finals to the Rockets in 6 games.  That was the Rockets team of Twin Towers Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, for whom the Lakers had no answer.  The Celtics did, however, and vanquished the taller Rockets in 6 games, featuring various double-teams by Walton, McHale and Parish, supplemented by some all-around defensive tormenting by Dennis Johnson and Larry Bird.

1986-87 marked the rubber match of their Eighties Finals rivalry.  Spurred on by a ridiculous  Magic hookshot in the faces of Bird, McHale and Parish, the Lakers took it in five. 

The Lakers were to continue their dominance for two more years in the West while the Celtics ran into the Bad Boys from Detroit.  In 1987-88, Boston won 57 games but lost to the likes of big Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn, Dennis Rodman and John Salley, inspired by the antics of one Isiah Thomas, ably supported by Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson and Adrian Dantley.  Still, the Lakers managed to beat them that first year in 7 exciting games, managing back to back NBA Championships for the first time since the Celtics in 1968-69.

The Bad Boys returned, though, in 1988-89 and swept the Lakers.  Their dominance continued into 1989-90 while the Lakers couldn’t get by Phoenix.  The Suns then lost to the Boys from Detroit.

But 1990-91 marked the continued ascension of the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, and they managed to beat the Lakers in four straight, marking the end of an era, 1991-92 wound up being Bird’s final year and coincidentally, the year of Magic’s unfortunate AIDS admission.

Could this year mark the first year of still another Lakers-Celtics rivalry? Anyone who likes basketball would have to hope for it.   Both teams are relatively young, have legitimate current and potential superstars, and some great coaching.  Big guys, great nicknames, KG and Kobe, and has anyone ever seen Paul Pierce play with such passion?  Does any team have a more promising center than Andrew Bynum?

I’m certainly ready for a changing of the guard  The Pistons are aging.  I’ve had it with Shaq.  Is anyone awake outside of San Antonio?