Lakers-Celtics Rivalry

The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry or Celtics-Lakers Rivalry is a rivalry between the two greatest and most storied professional basketball franchises in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. The rivalry has been less intense since the retirement of Larry Bird in the early 1990s. As it stands, the Celtics lead in total championships with 16 to the Lakers' 14.

The rivalry started in the 1960s, when the Celtics defeated the Lakers six times in eight years to claim the championship, and featured great battles between Bill Russell (Boston) and Wilt Chamberlain (Los Angeles), but that relationship was rather one-sided.

It continued with renewed fervor in the 1980s when both teams were strong, and was personified as Larry Bird (Boston) vs. Magic Johnson (Los Angeles). During this period, this rivalry took on many different dimensions, such as East Coast vs. West Coast and white vs. black (the Celtics teams of the 1980s were predominantly composed of Caucasian players, while those of Los Angeles were mostly African-American). Additionally, prior to the 1980s, the NBA had been struggling financially, with low attendance and low television ratings. The epic battles between these two teams contributed mightily to the success of the league. Coupled with the emergence of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan in the following years, the NBA became a media juggernaut and one of the dominant sports leagues of the United States as well as the rest of the world. The effect the rivalry had on the league is remarkable, considering that the two teams only met in the finals three times (1984, 1985, and 1987) and only played each other twice each season.

The rivalry has died down since Bird's retirement and the rise of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty in the 1990s. Both teams suffered setbacks in the subsequent fifteen years, with the Lakers finally returning to prominence with three championships in the 2000s but then failing to make the playoffs after trading Shaquille O'Neal. The Celtics have only advanced past the conference semifinals once since 1990. Since then, the Sacramento Kings replaced Boston as the team Lakers fans love to hate (see Lakers-Kings rivalry).

Lakers-Kings rivalry

The Lakers-Kings Rivalry describes the rivalry between two National Basketball Association teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. Their often tense meetings have inspired a rivalry between the teams as well as their respective fans.

The rivalry is recent, having started in 2000, as both teams rose to prominence, but has taken on a number of different dimensions, such as Northern California vs. Southern California, state capital vs. largest city, and rural vs. urban (or "slick vs. stick"). Shaquille O'Neal famously called the Sacramento team the "Queens" as in insult, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson called the city a "cow-town," to which Kings fans responded by clanging cowbells at home games.