The Lakers and Celtics will face off again in this year's Christmas game, the first meeting between the two teams this season. The rivalry between the giants will also continue to write a new chapter.
As the two all-time giants with the most championships in the league (both 17 titles), the matchup between the Lakers and the Celtics is always full of topics. Whether it's in the "ancient times" or the modern era of basketball, you can always find those "feud" stories that belong to these two teams.
Next, I will take stock of those "famous scenes" moments in the history of the Hukai War.
[Celtic 8-00s championship dynasty]
The Lakers first met the Celtics in the Finals in 1959, when the Lakers' home court was still in Minneapolis (moved to Los Angeles two years later). The Lakers, led by George Mack, the league's first dominant center, achieved dynastic greatness in the '50s. But with the giant's retirement at the end of the 1955-56 season, the Lakers instantly lost the ability to compete for a championship until the arrival of Elgin Baylor in 1958-59.
In his rookie season, Baylor brought the Lakers, who were at the bottom of the league the year before, to the Finals stage and launched his legendary career. It's fair to say that Baylor's style of play set the course for modern basketball, combining spectacle and court dominance with athleticism and a groundbreaking style of play.
The Lakers were swept 4-0 by the Celtics after returning to the Finals in 1959 when their core leader was young Baylor. It could have been a "the future is yours"-style plot development, but Bill Russell, the Lord of the Rings, who is the same age as Baylor, says that neither the present nor the future is yours.
Baylor has reached the Finals eight times in his career without a win, and seven of those losses have come to the Celtics.
The Green Army swept the Lakers 4-0 under Russell's leadership in 1959, which also started their eight-game winning streak and the first sweep in the history of the league Finals.
The rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics also laid a solid foundation in the 60s.
[The only loser in history FMVP - Jerry West]
The MVP of the Finals has always been awarded to the player who played best on the winning team, and it has basically become a common practice. But in the long history of the Union, there have been exceptions.
In the 1969 Finals, the Lakers started the series 2-0 against the Celtics with West, Baylor and Chamberlain on the roster. Although the Green Army then tied the score at 2-2, the Lakers won the battle of Tianwang Mountain by double digits thanks to West's strong play.
It looks like the championship scales are starting to tip in favor of the Lakers. But Russell relied on his dominance on the defensive end to drag the Finals into a tie-break. In the end, the Celtics defeated the Lakers 108-106 and won the tiebreaker. The aging Celtics reached the Finals for the 11th time in 13 seasons under player-coach Bill Russell, and also lifted their 11th championship.
In 1969, the league first established the FMVP award, and the honor was eventually awarded to Lakers star Jerry West, who finished runner-up. He averaged 37.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, and almost dominated the offensive end.
There's also a little story about this game, when Lakers owner Jack Kent Cook was convinced that the Lakers would win the tiebreaker at home. So he arranged for thousands of colorful balloons to be hung above the arena to be released after the championship. He even handed out flyers at every seat in the arena, and in the end, the balloons became an awkward backdrop.
[2018-19 season Rondo beats Celtic]
As a decorated defender for the Celtics, Rondo also suffered a period of ranger years in the second half of his career. After moving around a number of teams, he finally chose to join his old club's arch-rival Lakers.
On February 8, 2019, the Green Army faced the Lakers at the TD North Shore Garden Arena in Boston. With 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Lakers trailed the Celtics by two points at 124-126. After a timeout, Ingram assisted Kuzma for a three-pointer to give the Lakers an uptake, and Irving relied on a layup to put the score back up with 18.5 seconds left on the game time.
The Lakers' last attack, Ingram's layup was blocked by Horford, Rondo grabbed the offensive rebound in the chaos, and in the face of the two-man situation, Rondo calmly shot from the middle distance and killed his old club.
[2008 Christmas War, Lakers end the Green Army's 19-game winning streak]
Bryant's dialogue with the Big Three of the Green Army is an eternal classic of the Lake-Kai battle. In the 2007-08 season, the Celtics assembled a triumvirate that included Ray Allen, Garnett and Pierce, and they defeated the Kobe-led Lakers 4-2 in the Finals.
In the 2008 Christmas game, the Green Army had a staggering 27-2 record and were on a 19-game winning streak.
Bryant scored a game-high 27 points in the game to end the Celtics, the opponent he wanted to beat the most, and ended their 19-game winning streak. Kobe Bryant also started the Lakers' second consecutive championship this season, and defeated the Green Army BIG3 when he won his second championship.
[Leaked James layup was beaten, Lakers regretted losing to Celtics in overtime]
This is the most recent Lake-Kai battle so far, and in the 2022-23 regular season, the Lakers will take on the Green Army on the road. In the end, after a fierce overtime battle, the Lakers lost to the Celtics 121-125.
Before the end of regulation time, James' inevitable layup was not whistled by the referee but caused a lot of controversy.
Judging by the slow motion of the video, this is a very obvious foul by the beater. In the referee's report after the match, it was also stated that this was a missed round.
[Magic Bird Wars Official Showdown 1984 Finals G2 Celtics Narrowly Won in Overtime]
The Battle of Hukai fell silent in the 70s, but with the rise of Bird and the Magician. The "Demon Bird Wars", symbolizing the yellow-green war, dominated the alliance in the eighties.
Bird was originally a rookie in 1978, but he only officially entered his rookie season in 1979, so he entered the league in the same year as Magic. Although Magic Johnson was the No. 1 pick in 1979, the trophy of the best rookie that year was taken away by Bird, who entered the league a year later, and the matchup between the two seemed to be foreshadowed from the beginning.
The 1983-84 season was the fifth season in which Magic and Bird entered the league, and for the four years prior to that, Magic or Bird had appeared in the Finals every year, and this year was their first meeting in the Finals.
The Lakers were in full swing in Finals G1, and their frantic offense allowed them to take the lead on the road. In order to avoid a 2-0 deficit on the road, the Green Army are determined to defend their second home stadium. In the end, they managed to drag the game into extra time and had the last laugh to level the score.
The Celtics defeated the Lakers 4-3 in the 1984 Finals, and the overtime victory in G2 of the series was crucial. It also extended their record against the Lakers in the Finals to 8-0.
In this game, Magic Johnson scored 27 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, and Bird also contributed 27 points and 13 rebounds.
[1987 Finals G2 Magician Hook Hands to Defeat the Green Army]
Magic Johnson has become the absolute core of the Lakers, and his matchup with Bird has reached a fever pitch this year. In the 1987 Finals, the Lakers led 2-1 in the first three games, and G4 became a very crucial battle. After all, at that time, no team could stage in the finals, and it was a good show to turn the tables 1-3.
In the final moments of the game, the Magic used a famous hook to beat the Green Army, helping the Lakers narrowly defeat the Celtics 107-106 and rewrite the score of the finals to 3-1. In the end, the Lakers also won the championship with a 4-2 victory over the Green Army that year. The series also marked the end of an era for the Celtics, who did not reach the Grand Final again until 2008.
【2010 Finals G7 Fight to the Extreme Defense】
The 2010 Finals, even though it was more than a decade ago, was the closest the Lakers met the Celtics in the Finals.
The series has produced countless classics: Ray Allen broke the Finals record by hitting eight three-pointers in G2, Big Baby Davis was drooling after winning G4 while Nate Robinson rode on his back, and G7 became the most-watched NBA game since Jordan's second retirement.
Bryant faced an opponent who had defeated him two years ago with a vengeful rage in his eyes. The tie-break eventually turned into a hand-to-hand fight, with both sides pushing their defence to the extreme.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Green Army 83-79 to win the championship and also won the 16th championship trophy in team history.