While the Golden State Warriors celebrated their 4th championship in the last 8 seasons, another fanbase joined them in on the fun. That fanbase, of course, would be the Lakers. There haven’t been a whole lot of celebrations happening in Los Angeles over the last year or so but seeing the Celtics fall short of winning another title would have surely brought some smiles to their faces.
The Lakers-Celtics rivalry is easily the most iconic one in the history of the NBA, with the teams having faced off a record 12 times in the Finals. While the Celtics dominated the early part of this rivalry and won 8 Finals in a row, the Lakers have rebounded to win 3 of the last 4. Them winning the title in 2020 also meant that the teams were tied at 17 titles apiece and Bleacher Report created a hilarious video of Laker nation celebrating the fact that they remain tied here after the Warriors defeated the Celtics in 6 games.
With their team being a mess on the court in the 2021-22 campaign which saw them miss the playoffs, Laker nation was staring down their worst-case scenario for a single season with the Celtics also winning the title, but the Warriors saved them on this occasion. They can’t keep relying on others to get the job done, however, and a bounce-back campaign is very much needed in 2022-23.
Whether this squad is good enough to contend for a title even if they improve next season is a different question. The only way to go is up after a season in which you won just 33 games but this might be the first time in a long time that a LeBron James team doesn’t seem to have much of a shot at a title leading into a season. If there is anything this season has shown us, however, it is that you shouldn’t doubt all-time great players and LeBron might well shock us all next season, as Steph Curry just did.
