In the first 20 games of the season, the Lakers had eclipsed 130 points four times, but the defense had yet to catch up with the offense. Indeed, the road back to redemption would start with back-to-back losses to open up the season and a 13-7 record. With the championship lost, the purple and gold would spend an entire summer hearing about how James Worthy was a choker - with the Lakers leading by two points in Game 2 and the game essentially won, the Lakers inbounded the ball with the shot clock turned off and Worthy lofted a pass that was intercepted by Gerald Henderson that led to a score that sent the game to overtime where the Lakers lost - while Magic Johnson would be named Tragic due to his inability to deliver late in ball games and the Lakers would be seen as a team lacking mental toughness.Ĭonsequently, when training camp opened the following season, the Lakers knew they needed to play better and get tougher but they also needed for their big guns to rise to the occasion and lead the way.Īnd yet, the start of the season wasn’t necessarily impressive by any stretch of the imagination. Larry Bird would lead the Celtics to a victory over the Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals after a tough seven-game series. Whether it was a missed shot at the end of regulation, a critical injury, a bad pass that led to a game going into overtime or an inability to execute in crunch time, Boston would always get the breaks at the expense of the Lakers…Īt some point, the curse would eventually come to an end.Ĭlocking in at the fourth spot in the Los Angeles Lakers title teams countdown… It didn’t matter which year, which decade or which millennium it was, the Celtics had the ghosts on their side that always tipped the scales in their favor. At times it’s because the label itself has some minor truth to it even though previous events have proven to the contrary, and at times it’s just easier to roll with them.Īs the story went, the Boston Celtics owned the Los Angeles Lakers and they always would. Sometimes unfair labels get cast on athletes or teams and for whatever reason they just tend to stick.
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