The rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics is one of the greatest in all of sports history and stretches back decades. The ill wills between the two sides continue on to this day from anyone who was involved in those battles, and that includes the man who now runs the Miami Heat in Pat Riley.
Of course Riley was the coach of the Lakers during the Showtime era in the 1980s and led the Lakers to their first Finals victory over Boston. Those wars were when the Lakers-Celtics rivalry was at its peak and even though he is long removed from that time, Riley still doesn’t care for the Celtics.
This was made clear following Riley’s Heat eliminating the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gave credit to Boston, but also revealed that he makes sure his team feels a certain way about the Celtics because Riley does.
“Let me first say this about Boston,” Spoelstra said. “I mentioned it out there to Ernie, but we tip our hat to the Celtics organization. They are first class. Pat feels a certain way about Boston, so I make sure everybody feels a certain way about Boston. That’s part of my job as the caretaker.
“With that said, there’s great respect for them as competitors. They are first class. You look across the way, just in terms of their ownership group and Brad and Joe and his coaching staff, they are good people and they are a class organization.”
It may seem like a little throwaway comment, but is just shows how deep that Lakers-Celtics rivalry ran. Riley will never like the Celtics, the city of Boston and probably the color green. In fact, some will remember just a couple of years ago Riley had a back-and-forth with then-Celtics Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge, who of course played for Boston during those heated matchups in the 80s.
Obviously if the feeling hasn’t gone away for Riley by now then it never will, but it helped spark his Heat to another NBA Finals appearance.
NBA executive believes Heat’s Gabe Vincent is a good fit for the Lakers
One of the players who has been huge for Miami in their run to the NBA Finals has been Gabe Vincent. The undrafted point guard has come up with some big performances this postseason and will be able to cash in this summer as he will be an unrestricted free agent.
One NBA executive believes he would be an ideal fit for the Lakers with his ability to defend while also being a solid shooter who has proven he can deliver on the big stage when it matters most.
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