For you young ones

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

Check out ESPN Classic tomorrow, they are running some of the best games you will ever see between the Lakers and Celtics of the 80s.

Regardless of how much more "athletic" the players are today, either one of those teams from the 80s would sweep any team of today.

[Eddie Piggard]

those were definitely some of the greatest rivalries ever on tv.  MJ? nope!  Shaq/Kobe? nope!  Bird and Johnson with each of their supporting casts were the real deal!!

[BrooklynRoss]

Man, it's weird to look back and remember how big the NBA was back then. I'm pretty sure every Celts/Lakers game was nationally televised for something like 5 years. That was one of the top-five rivalries in all of US professional sports, along with Cowboys/Steelers, Sox/Yankees, etc. Anyone want to take a stab at naming some others I missed?

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

i hate the lakers and am a fan of the pistons but im kinda glad we have Celtics-Lakers....I mean the NBA wouldnt have it any other way anyway...lol

Never seen a Boston-LA champinship series....was only 4 years old last time Boston and LA fought for the title.

[Boarcephus]

those were definitely some of the greatest rivalries ever on tv.  MJ? nope!  Shaq/Kobe? nope!  Bird and Johnson with each of their supporting casts were the real deal!!

Or go back one more generation with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt vs Jo Jo White, Hondo, and Russell.  I quit watching the NBA when Bird and Magic left.  Went from being a team game to a me game and hasn't been the same since.

[Bigfoot]

I was a huge fan of Magic, A.C. Green, Michael Cooper, Kareem, James Worthy and the Lakers!                                                                                                                                               

I don't even watch the NBA anymore. When Jordan left that was it for me.

But yeah, those were some classic, epic battles between the Lakers and the Celtics, back in the day.

[Bigfoot]

                                                                                                                                                        

[cobra kai]

I never get tired of watching McHale take down Rambis...

[HogSophist]

Pat riley calling the repeat at the post-game. Magics baby hook, bird being bird. Mj maturing while getting the crap beat out of him by the pistons...the 80's were a phenominal decade for the nba.

[BrooklynRoss]

Hell yeah they were, not to mention some prime years from Dr. J (on a spectacular early-80s 76ers team that included Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, perennial defensive superstar and 1983 Sixth-Man-of-the-Year Bobby Jones, and, eventually a young up-and-comer out of Auburn by the name of Sir Charles.

Outside of that, you also had the Human Highlight Film down in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkens did some things I don't think we'll ever see happen again in a game, and that crazy gunslinging match he had in the Eastern Conference Semi's with Bird enjoys a Law-and-Order-type rotation of airings on ESPN Classics.

We saw great twilight years from the likes of Bernard King, Bill Walton, and George Gervin, while young guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and this tough shooting guard with a decent jumper and great hops named Michael Jordan caught the end of the decade and settled in.

As far as the Lakers/Celtics rivalry, there were so many big plays and dramatic moments from both teams packed into the '80's, the wiki page reads like Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Ah, the '80's. None of us deserved an NBA that good but man do we miss it.

[HogSophist]

Hell yeah they were, not to mention some prime years from Dr. J (on a spectacular early-80s 76ers team that included Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, perennial defensive superstar and 1983 Sixth Man of the Year winner Bobby Jones, and, eventually a young up-and-comer out of Auburn by the name of Sir Charles.

Outside of that, you also had the Human Highlight Film down in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkens did some things I don't think we'll ever see happen again in a game, and that crazy gunslinging match he had in the Eastern Conference Semi's with Bird enjoys a Law and Order-type rotation of airings on ESPN Classics.

We saw great twilight years from the likes of Bernard King, Bill Walton, and George Gervin, while young guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and this tough shooting guard with a decent jumper and great hops named Michael Jordan.

As far as the Lakers/Celtics rivalry, there were so many big plays and dramatic moments from both teams packed into the '80's, the wiki page reads like Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Ah, the '80's. None of us deserved an NBA that good but man do we miss it.

that eastern conf. matchup between nique and bird (87 i think) was unbelievable.

[BrooklynRoss]

Just because you dont like now doesnt mean it isnt fun to watch. Plus you dont get too many teams thats loaded with all stars. Also the Bulls team that won 72 would not get swept and the Laker 3peat squad was salty

Yeah, I actually like what I'm seeing lately. There are legit superstars (Kobe, King James, Garnette, et al.) and the new crop of young point guards, headlined by CP4, Deron Williams, and that crazy Spanish guy on Toronto. Not to mention older 1's that still have it like Nash, Eva Longoria's husband and Billups. Josh Howard's tough, Nellie's still running in Golden State, and Byron Scott looks like he has all kinds of potential down in The Big Easy. There's a few young guys like Durant, Beasley, and Rose who also could make a splash. When you throw in the resurgence of character squads like Portland, Boston, the new Lakers, etc., I think the league's looking better than it has in a long time.