The first thing you have to understand: I am of Irish heritage. We hold grudges for a good, long while.
In fact, someone – and I believe it might have been Esquire political columnist Charles P. Pierce – noted that a particularly unique reflection of our heritage is that not only do we hold grudges, but we expect our children and our children’s children to maintain that same animus. That is serious grudge-holding.
So when I wrote last week that I expected Laker fans to root against the Boston Celtics should they make it to the NBA Finals, part of me assumed the “children’s children” part. Maybe people don’t remember Bill Russell’s hegemony (11 titles in 13 seasons, six of them against the Lakers in the 1960s), or Red Auerbach’s shameless trolling of all opponents and particularly the Lakers. Maybe they don’t even remember those rivalry Finals matchups between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the ’80s. But I figured the difference between 17 and 18 would certainly have an impact.
Or maybe not.
Some commenters on Twitter, which we all know is that bastion of learned discourse, suggested that the Golden State Warriors winning a fourth title in eight seasons would be harder to stomach than the Celtics winning their 18th all-time, breaking their tie with the Lakers, and unleashing the one-upmanship and arrogance from everyone with a New England accent. (Clearly, these fans’ social circles must not include transplants from Boston.)
This Lakers fan would rather see the Heat win or even the Celtics win ring #18 than to see that Warriors bandwagon again. https://t.co/DZDL94bcJU
— David Delgado (@DavidDelgado_OC) May 28, 2022
I speak for EVERYONE when I saw we (LeBron, Laker, and NBA fans alike) are supporting Boston in their efforts to dismantle the Golden regime.
— Dom2K (@Dom_2k) June 1, 2022
There are those who seem more concerned about Steph Curry matching LeBron James in championships won, and never mind that Bron has only won one of his four in Los Angeles.
As a LeBron fan rooting for the celtics i just wanna see Tatum and Brown battle against then reborn splash bros and may the best team win pic.twitter.com/jAI9V1NBB0
— Tae (@BNYTae) May 29, 2022
I just follow the lakers because my favorite player plays for them so yeah im not.
— Tae (@BNYTae) May 29, 2022
This the point you start seeing a clear division between Lakers fans and Bron fans. The toxicity between real Lakers fans rooting against the Celtics and Bron fans rooting against Curry makes this Finals matchup worth it alone
— Stephen A. Smith Burner’s Burner (@TheSASBurner) May 30, 2022
There were even those who decided that since Jayson Tatum wore a Kobe Bryant wristband during Game 7 against Miami, No. 24 in purple and gold, maybe bygones should be bygones.
Tatum got the kb arm band.. chill
— EJ (@ej_dfw) May 30, 2022
Please, stop. Besides the fashion faux pas (purple/gold and green/white just do not mix, and never will), what on earth do you think Kobe would be saying if he were still among us? He wouldn’t be pulling for Boston, I can assure you.
I think it’s safe to assume that the overriding motivation, throughout the Celtics organization as well as its fan base, is to get that 18th banner and resume their primacy over professional basketball. Better still if they can do so while the Lakers are sitting idly by, perhaps so wracked by angst that they can’t even bring themselves to introduce the guy they just hired as head coach.
(Seriously. The world found out about Darvin Ham’s hiring last Friday, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski – of course – leading the charge. But the Lakers still haven’t made an official announcement, much less scheduled a news conference, and the word now is that none will be scheduled before at least Monday. Even by the standards of the current Lakers organization, a mom-and-pop bazaar in a league of aggressively marketed superstores, this is beyond weird.)
Celtics alumni are prepared to celebrate, for sure. Satch Sanders is 83 years old and ended his career in 1973, and as he told the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, “There is no question about the connection we feel. Particularly when they have some success. Then you feel connected and you want to be connected. … I think we should win this series. We’ve got a better-balanced team.”
Consider: The day after Kobe’s Lakers won Game 7 in 2010, the Celtics’ last Finals appearance before now, I happened to arrive in Boston on a Dodgers road trip. The mood in town seemed solemn, and the reporters and columnists in the Globe and Herald made sure to note that No. 18 had gotten away and suggested that an era had ended.
Now, after 11 seasons away from the Finals, Celtic fans seem to understand the moment and its meaning in the sport’s history as well as that of their team.
Since that night, when Kobe stood on the scorer’s table at what was then known as Staples Center as purple and gold confetti floated around him, New England professional teams have lifted six trophies and rode in six duck boat parades in the ensuing years. (And could someone please explain what on earth is a duck boat?)
But those teams haven’t won anything since the Patriots beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII, way back in February of 2019 in Atlanta. In the meantime, they’ve written Tom Brady and Mookie Betts out of the will (for which Tampa Bay and L.A. express their gratitude, by the way).
Shaughnessy, the keeper of the Boston sports flame, noted a few weeks ago that the region is “officially in a championship drought” and hasn’t “seen confetti in three long years.”
With an attitude like that, do you really want to end their misery? I think not.
Idk who told these Lakers fans it’s ok to root for the Celtics. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves
— Cherokee Bill (@supremebwash) June 1, 2022