NBA Notebook | Rivalry back in Garden
The Associated Press
BOSTON - All the indications of the 1980s were there: the Celtics and Lakers on the parquet, a full house chanting “Beat L.A.!” and even a clip of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie on the scoreboard.
Schwarzenegger was sitting courtside Friday night watching Boston and Los Angeles renew their rivalry - one of the perks of being governor of California. And the NBA’s fiercest foes from the ’80s showed that they have a chance for a pretty good second act, too.
“I could see it on the people’s faces in the building,” Ray Allen said after Boston won 107-94. “They were very rabid about this game and the history that follows these two franchises.
“It was great for me to be a part of it.”
Kevin Garnett scored 21 points with 11 rebounds, and Kendrick Perkins had 21 and nine for Boston, which improved to 10-1 overall and 7-0 at home. Paul Pierce had 20 points and nine assists, Allen scored 18 points and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists for the Celtics.
Kobe Bryant scored 28 points for Los Angeles, which got no help from having Schwarzenegger in the crowd with his wife, Maria Shriver. Instead, the Celtics fired up the crowd for the renewal of the rivalry by putting a muscle-bound clip of Schwarzenegger’s movie “Predator” on the scoreboard.
“Starting to bring celebrities out,” said Pierce. “That’s what I like.”
Bryant was booed often by the crowd, which even mustered a “Beat L.A.!” chant reminiscent of the days when the old Boston Garden and the old Big Three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish seemed to host the Lakers in the NBA Finals every summer.
Those Celtics and the Lakers of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA: From 1980-88, the two rivals won all but one of the nine NBA championships - three for Boston, five for Los Angeles (one for the Philadelphia 76ers) - and met for the title three times in four years.
“Rivalries are made in the playoffs and in Finals,” Pierce said. “Lakers and Celtics is always going to be talked about throughout the history of the game because of the great rivalry we had in the ’80s.”
NOTES
• No matter how bad things get for the Knicks, Isiah Thomas plans to stick it out. “There have been a lot of people that have failed here, and I don’t want to be on that list,” the coach said Friday. “I just don’t think that this is the time to panic.”
• Detroit forward Rasheed Wallace missed the Pistons’ game Friday with a sore left knee. He underwent X-rays Friday, and coach Flip Saunders said the tests showed “everything was structurally fine.”
• Indiana forward Jermaine O’Neal sat out the game Friday with swelling in his left knee and lower leg. The timetable for his return is uncertain. “If it takes shutting him down a couple days to get him right, we’ll do that,” coach Jim O’Brien said.