In the quest for a championship, NBA teams encounter countless obstacles. From opening night to Game 7 of the Finals, winning in the NBA requires a lot of things to go right… and it also requires resolve from everyone on the team so they can overcome whatever steps in the way.
For Doc Rivers and the 2008 Celtics, it was the Lakers who stood in their way and they wouldn’t go down without a fight. Speaking in a recent Showtime documentary, Doc Rivers (who coached the 2008 Celtics) revealed the moment when his team was tested the most: trying to catch a ride back home to Boston after Game 5.
“We get up in the morning to fly… then the pilot comes on and says, ‘We have something wrong with the plane and we can’t take off.’ The Lakers’ two planes took off great. We’re in L.A. and now our two planes aren’t working and I was going at it. I had to go on the family plane and kick off the wives and all the other owners, and we were gonna commandeer that plane and they were gonna find another plane.”
"The Lakers' two planes took off great. We're in LA and now our 2 planes aren't working and I was going at it."
Doc Rivers on the Celtics' plane conspiracy following Game 5 of the 2008 NBA Finals where they led the series 3-2 👀
(via @shobasketball)pic.twitter.com/crpkMzrA4C
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 15, 2023
It wasn’t until very late in the night when the Celtics finally landed back home, but it didn’t seem to affect them too much for Game 6. That night, the Celtics put on a show for their home crowd and absolutely obliterated the Lakers to win the championship.
Neither Doc Rivers nor the Celtics have won a championship since that run, but that might have been different had the Cs kept their team together.
Celtics Fans Shook Lakers Team Bus After Game 6
As long-time rivals, it’s no surprise that the 2008 series was an intense one. That year, it wasn’t just the Lakers who were playing dirty. As Lamar Odom revealed looking back, Celtics fans were also going wild as the series progressed.
“We not only lost, they beat our a**. In that sixth game, they beat us so bad, they wouldn’t even let our bus leave,” said Odom. “They were shaking up our bus when we were leaving. So God knows what would’ve happened had we won that game.”
We will never know all the details about what went down back in 2008, but it’s clear that the moment is still fresh in the mind of the Celtics, and probably some Lakers players as well.
Sadly, we haven’t seen another Lakers vs. Celtics Finals rematch since 2010, but we’re bound to see another one soon with the way they are projected to go moving forward…
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