One of the biggest games of the year will be taking place later this evening. The Los Angeles Lakers travel to Boston to battle the Celtics, two historic franchises with a history as long and rich as the league itself. Both teams hold the #2 spot in their respective conferences. The Celtics are riding a three-game winning streak. The Lakers? An eight-game win streak thanks to their newest acquisition, Luka Doncic. To call this the showdown of the weekend would be an understatement.
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One person who is over the moon to watch tonight’s matchup between the NBA’s greatest rivalry is Kevin Garnett. “I think the league needs this,” said the 15-time All-Star on a recent edition of his KG Certified podcast. He explained that both squads are “valid GOAT teams with great players,” and that he cannot wait to see them “get it on.”
KG called this a necessary “statement game” for the Celtics since the Lakers “embarrassed” them the last time they played this past January. On that night, the gold and purple triumphed 117-96 behind great play by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. AD might not be there anymore, but who the Lakers got in return isn’t doing half-bad.
But Garnett doesn’t just think that the Saturday night headliner will be a great game. He predicted that it will be a preview of the NBA Finals, which would mark the 13th time the C’s and the Lakers faced off in the championship series. “This could be a preview of the finals man. We need those pillars to be pillar teams. This is going to be a must watch,” he stated.
No one would love for this to be true more than Adam Silver and the league offices. With smaller market teams making the NBA Finals more often in the 2020s, having a reignition of the fated Lakers-Celtics rivalry with LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Jayson Tatum at the helm is a prospect worth salivating over.
KG isn’t the only person who made this prediction.
Stephen A. Smith also believes that the Lakers and Celtics are returning to the Finals
Famed analyst Stephen A. Smith previewed the Lakers and Celtics Saturday night matchup and referred to it as a “Game of the Year” contender. Like Garnett, he suggested that this could be a preview of the NBA Finals.
“Both of them have a crew enough to knock off the #1 seed and get to the NBA Finals,” stated a confident SAS. “And it’s the greatest rivalry in the history of the sport.”
Another big point that Smith made was about the legacy between the two franchises. He added that the Celtics don’t want the Lakers “matching them up” for the most NBA Championships of all-time. The C’s currently sit at the top of the mountain with 18 total titles. But the Lakers are only one behind with a total of 17.
The addition of Luka doesn’t just make this game highly-anticipated. Derrick White and Payton Prichard have stepped it up big over the last few games. If everyone is firing on ally cylinders, this could be a shootout of massive proportions.
