West looking forward to experiencing rivalry as a fan
by Greg Boeck, Special to FOXSports.com
"It's almost like the end of my days here as my former association with the Lakers," West said of his feelings that night. "Now I'll try to watch as a fan."
In his remarkable 47-year journey, West has experienced the ultimate front row seat in the Lakers-Celtics hostilities — from Danny Thomas to Jack Nicholson courtside, from Elgin Baylor to Kobe Bryant in Lakers gold, from Bill Russell to Kevin Garnett in Celtics green, from the old Sports Arena to the new TD Banknorth Garden.
The rivalry is reprised for the 11th time in the NBA Finals, which open Thursday in Boston.
West played in and lost six painful title bouts with the Celtics, which nearly ended his career prematurely in 1969 and still affects him today.
He was at the helm as general manager for three memorable rematches that slam-dunked the NBA into prime time, including that 1985 exorcising victory on the Celtics' famed parquet. Ironically, West watched the clincher on TV at home celebrating his son's birthday.
And now, the man who hired Red Auerbach-stalking Phil Jackson and traded for MVP Kobe Bryant in his last years with the Lakers before moving to Memphis in 2002 is a 70-year-old retiree watching the reincarnation of the Celtics' quest for their 17th title and the Lakers for their 15th.
No franchises have left a more indelible mark on the NBA than these two. This is the league's 62nd championship series; the Lakers are appearing in their 29th, the Celtics in their 20th.
So much has changed since they first met in 1961. Auerbach is smoking cigars in the afterlife. Magic and Bird are wearing business suits, not short shorts.
West is reluctant to compare eras, but even he is captivated by another Lakers-Celtics showdown.
"Different eras, different players," he said. "But really there is that same interest for a lot of people. Obviously, Boston hasn't been as successful as the Lakers for a number of years but their success in one particular era was unprecedented.
"That's what makes it real interesting to me. Boston has turned to get back to their history where the Lakers are continuing their recent history."
This is the Celtics' first Finals appearance since 1987. The Lakers have won four rings and played in seven Finals during Boston's 21-year drought.
In a 90-minute interview with FOXSports.com, West bridged the five decades since the first Lakers-Celtics Finals, reliving those haunting '60s, re-celebrating those joyous '80s — and firing the first volley in the latest installment.
"Everyone talks about Boston's incredible run," he said. "Hell, the Lakers are going to their 29th world championships. Boston has been there 20 times. You can arguably say the Lakers have had better success than the Celtics."
0-for-the-leprechauns in the '60s
The Lakers-Celtics battle began in 1959. But not the rivalry.
"I'm not so sure it was a rivalry," said West, "because somewhere along the way you expect one team to be able to beat the other. That didn't happen in my time."
West joined the Lakers as the No. 2 pick in the 1960 draft, but after six excruciating Finals losses to the dynastic Celtics of Russell and Red, the last a soul-searching Game 7 loss at home in 1969, West was ready to call it quits in the prime of his career.
"That was the time of my life I truly wanted to say, 'I don't want to play anymore. This hurts too much. The hell with it. I'm going back to West Virginia.' It was so frustrating."
He piled up 43 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in the 108-106 clincher, the only series in which the Lakers had home-court advantage. He also won MVP honors, the only player in Finals history to win the award from the losing team.
But, said West, it was "unbelievably hollow, not fun. We should have won. I felt definitely we were better."
Before the game, owner Jack Kent Cooke infuriated his star guard when he suspended thousands of balloons in the Forum rafters anticipating a celebration. "I was furious," said West. "If there was some way I could have gotten up there, I would have gone up and taken them down myself. I was so embarrassed. It's something that doesn't belong in a building. It's deprecating to another franchise. I've read that was an important part of Boston's psychological play. That's a bunch of BS. That doesn't motivate you."
That was Russell's swan song, the Celtics' 11th title in 13 years and the third seven-game series of the decade between the two teams.
The first came in 1962, the only other time West feels the Lakers should have won — and possibly changed the course of history. Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Dinah Shore and Pat Boone were courtside at the Sports Arena in those days. They watched West steal the ball with three seconds left and dribble 30 feet for the winning basket and 2-1 series lead.
Game 7 was in Boston Garden, where Frank Selvy missed a short jumper at the buzzer that would have given the Lakers the title. They lost in overtime.
"I've often wondered if that first time we played them, if Frank Selvy had made that shot would that have changed the course of history?" said West. "He missed one in overtime, too. But he had made a couple crucial shots. They would gang up on Elgin and me."
The Lakers lost in six games in 1963, five in 1965, seven in 1966 and six in 1968. Then came the heartbreak of '69. "It has left a mark on me," said West. "It was so painful to lose so many times. It was one of the most frustrating things I've ever dealt with. It was very difficult, as an athlete, to sit there with an unbelievably empty feeling. You feel like you let your team down, your city down, the fans down. It has affected me probably to this day.
"But I have the ultimate respect for that franchise (Boston) and particularly those players in my era. Bill Russsell ... there wasn't a player I had more respect for."
Over the green hump in the '80s
West finally got a ring on his eighth trip to the Finals, but it came at the expense of the New York Knicks in 1972, not the Celtics. West never got another Finals shot at the Celtics as a player (he retired in 1974). As an executive, however, he got three more cracks at his old nemesis.
The 1984, 1985 and 1987 duels not only saw the end of the Celtics' hold over the Lakers, but jump-started the NBA into major-league status on Madison Avenue and must-see TV featuring Magic Johnson's contagious smile and Larry Bird's clutch baskets.
"For those two guys to come together and go to these distinctively different teams with the history in the past, that even heightened it," said West. "They were really great teams. They brought the league into the forefront. It's easy to market teams with two attractive players and two franchises that are historic."
For the Lakers, however, the first meeting, in 1984, was déjà vu-disaster all over again. Leading the series 2-1, the Lakers held a five-point lead at home with less than a minute to play. Magic had the ball. "For whatever reason, somebody called time out," West said. "They had to foul and we had the ball in the hands of our best free-throw shooter and ball handler, and I'll be damned if we don't call timeout. Frankly, that cost us the game."
Maybe the series. Out of the timeout, Robert Parish stole a pass from Magic. The Celtics sent the game into OT and won 129-125.
They went on to win another seven-game series, after which "Tragic Magic" headlines appeared in the Boston papers. West "cringed" when he saw the headlines.
"Magic was the ultimate competitor," said West. "That probably was the turning point for Magic. Instead of being this really great player, he turned into this superman player. I think he looked back and said, 'I know I didn't play as well as I know I can' and probably felt he hurt his team."
Johnson — and the Showtime Lakers — returned to the Finals, once again against Boston, with a vengeance the next year. After losing Game 1, 148-114 — the Memorial Day Massacre — L.A. won four of the next five games and finally celebrated on the deathly quiet Garden floor, no less. The Wicked Witch, at last, was dead.
"Obviously, you feel like you got the monkey off your back, to be part of it," said West. "But there's nothing like competing as a player. I just think for everyone in Los Angeles, it was a relief to finally get through this obstacle course."
And how did West celebrate? With a piece of cake at his son's birthday party at home. He chose to skip the trip to Boston, and alternately watched the game on TV and went outside for his son's party. "What a perfect birthday present for him," said West.
Two years later, the Lakers beat the Celtics again on their way to the first repeat titles since the Celtics won back-to-back championship in 1968 and 1969 — against the Lakers.
21st century reprise
So here they go again — 21 calendars and a new century later.
So much has changed in both towns. The Celtics went into a funk after their '87 loss, missing the playoffs in nine of the next 20 seasons. The Lakers, under West, returned to the Finals in '88, '89 and '91 and then ran off three championships from 2000 to 2002, West's final year as general manager.
Those title teams featured Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant on the court, both acquired by West in 1996, and Jackson on the bench, lured out of retirement by West in 1999.
West left for Memphis in 2002, but this Lakers team still has his fingerprints all over them. Bryant has matured from a 17-year-old who fought sharing the limelight with O'Neal into the NBA's best player. West saw his potential when drafting teens was a roll of the dice 12 years ago.
"This is a really special player," he said..
So, he said, is Jackson as a coach. That hire drips with irony now: A Finals victory, over the Celtics, would give Jackson 10 titles — one more than Auerbach.
"There's no question this would be one of the most meaningful things of all," said West. "He's done it with not one franchise, but another. It would put him in the stratosphere."
West, of course, is rooting for the Lakers, but said the series is up for grabs.
"It's going to be a completely different challenge for the Lakers," said West. "I don't think these games are going to be high-scoring. Boston just does not allow you to do that. They will be the best defensive team the Lakers have faced. And the Celtics have three players who will challenge them. The Lakers can't double those players in the low post as they did Tim Duncan and place emphasis on other people.
"Boston is really good. But because of Kobe's incredible ability, people will probably say the Lakers are going to win. But that may not be the case. This should be a heckuva series. It's a case of young, athletic versus older, more experience. I think you definitely have to give the Lakers bench a big edge, but Boston is so committed defensively they'll make the Lakers play differently."
West said there have been more compelling and intriguing matchups between the two franchises in past Finals. But he'll be like everybody else in the basketball world come Thursday — a fan watching on the edge of his seat.
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