I haven't told you guys this yet, but I am a certified Hoops Junkie! Yep, no offense to the girlfriend, but basketball is the love of my life. It was the first sport I played (4-years old), and the first sport that I really picked up on. You could even say that basketball was a gateway sport for me, because as my passion for the game grew, I noticed how awesome this whole sports thing really was.
I could talk about my Basketball Jones forever, but lets fast-forward this 20 years and make it a relevant post. Last night the NBA Finals began, and what a game it was. A superstar thought he blew out his knee, only to return less than 2-minutes (game-time) later and ignite his team on their way to victory. The "underdog" took game one, but both teams made believers out of anyone who dreads the fact that the NBA playoffs last longer than the regular season. It looks like we have a fantastic finals in front of us, and of course we do, its Lakers versus Celtics baby!
Lakers versus Celtics, three words that have so many different meanings to so many people. It's funny, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say Celtics versus Lakers, it just doesn't have the same feel to it. Anyway, when you close your eyes and picture Lakers versus Celtics you think of the Celtics beating the Lakers in 7 NBA Finals from 1959-'69, Russell and Chamberlain banging in the post, the most dominant scorer going toe to toe with the most dominant defender, in short shorts. Elgin Baylor getting buckets at will like James Worthy would do 20 years later. You see visions of Magic running the court in his Cons, Bird whipping his towel on the sidelines, the Chief and the Captain, heck even Kurt Rambis getting "jack'd up!" and still keeping his glasses on.
This was a rivalry so big that it prompted possibly the greatest sports video game of all-time (with respect to John Madden and obviously Barkley: Shut up and Jam!), yup, I'm talking about Lakers vs. Celtics...for Sega Genesis. Come on hoop heads, you remember this one, the first basketball game to have full names of actual NBA players in it. It was a bit old school with only 8 teams (yes, there were more than 8 teams in the NBA in 1990), and sure it may have been tainted being that it didn't have my illustrious New York Knickerbockers in it, but what an incredible game!
I apologize for getting carried away, but this game was breakthrough for me. This was the first game that I could actually dominate my older brother in, I mean, it wasn't even fair! He could pick the Eastern All-Stars, who were loaded with Jordan, Bird, Isiah (boooo!), and Ewing (yeaaa!), but all I needed was Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle, and the Suns' Gorilla (there still aren't mascots in NBA video games, but we're adding the Gorilla in this one for dramatic effect) and I could not be stopped. I would beat that jerk by like 40 points, in the first half! He hated it, he used to shut the game off, or beat me up, whichever took less effort.
This game also taught me a lot about the NBA. It included star players' signature moves and even had a small half-time show. Playing this game so much made me want to watch basketball more, and I now knew who a lot of the players were because I had become familiar with them through video games, which is alright for a 7-year old. It was with the help of this video game, as well as NBA Classics, that my knowledge and affinity for the game of basketball grew when I was so young. In 2008 it's all coming back to me, I'm giddy about basketball like I was as a child, and it has everything to do with these two teams, Lakers versus Celtics.
In the 60's it was all Celtics, and in the 80's the Lakers took the upper-hand. It's 2008, round three, instead of Bird, McHale and Parrish you got Pierce, Allen, and KG, and instead of Magic, Worthy and Cap, you got Kobe, Odom, and Pau. The names may not be as big this time around, but if you don't think you're in for a great series, game 1 happily proved you wrong. Stay tuned.
Coming Soon:
Why I hate Kobe
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