The NBA has had some top-tier rivalries in its storied history, but one of them stands out above the rest, at least according to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.
Smith found himself in a little bit of a controversy to begin the month of March. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New York Knicks 113-109. The biggest storyline to come from this game was LeBron James confronting Smith about his son, Bronny James, and some of the things Smith had said about him.
As Smith tries to put the controversy behind him, he joined "NBA Countdown" on Friday to discuss the Lakers' game against Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics on Saturday evening. As Smith hinted that these two teams could meet in the NBA Finals, he also declared Lakers vs. Celtics as the best rivalry in NBA history.
"[The Lakers and Celtics] have a crew enough to knock off the No. 1 seed and get to the NBA Finals, and it's the greatest rivalry in the history of the sport," Smith said. "In the last game that the Los Angeles Lakers played against Boston, they beat them... I think Boston is going to look to send a message this weekend."
The Lakers and Celtics rivalry is widely considered the top rivalry in the NBA and one of the better ones in all of sports. The two teams have met in the NBA Finals 12 times in their storied histories, with the first coming back in 1959. Bill Russell helped the Celtics dominate the rivalry in the 1960s, beating Jerry West and the Lakers in the finals six times.
The rivalry started to heat up again in the 1980s after the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson and the Celtics got Larry Bird. In three finals meetings, Los Angeles won two, and the Celtics got one. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, the Celtics and Lakers met twice in the finals, when Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol's Lakers won in 2010, while Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen led the Celtics to a 2008 win.
The Celtics and Lakers rivalry continues pic.twitter.com/A4KvEnWfqO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 9, 2019
Now, with the Lakers acquiring Luka Doncic and the Celtics having their own star duo of Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the historic rivalry could continue to be one of the best for the foreseeable future.
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This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 2:37 PM.