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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Inside The Play: Lakers VS Celtics

Today is the first anniversary of NBA Inside The Play Nation, and today, we will make our case for some of the most controversial topics in NBA. For this post, we will discuss who which organization is the better one throughout their history.
Magic Bird Lipofsky.jpg
By Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com - http://www.basketballphoto.com/NBA_Basketball_Photographs.htm, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24758103
Aaron Jaros:
I have to go with the Celtics. Now, I'm not a Celtics fan or anything, but my Grandma liked the Celtics. What I heard was coming from a person that wasn't a really big Celtics fan that didn't attend games regularly. She tells me how amazing Larry Bird was, how great of a shot-blocker Bill Russell was, and how she was at the game where John Havlicek had his last game in Boston. And let me tell you, I can't even imagine what the atmosphere was like at that game! You can watch the video footage of it on Youtube, but if you weren't at the game, you really don't know what it was like to be there. And my grandma had a chance to be at that game, she knew what it was like at that game. She knew what it was like to watch these great players in John Havlicek, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and Kevin McHale. These guys were great! And from what I've watched and heard from my Grandma, the Celtics were the team to watch.
The Lakers are a great organization, don't get me wrong. They have had Kobe, Magic, Shaq, Kareem, Jerry West, and more. That is tough to beat. Now the way I see it is that if you were going to have a game, the team will need great players. The Celtics have a variety of different players. Bob Cousy, probably one of the most underrated players in NBA history, he was able to finish at the rim and pass like Pistol Pete, except, he wasn't the ball-hog the Pete was. He lead the league in assists, 8 years in a row. That is what you really want from your point guard. John Havlicek and Larry Bird were also really great passers. To me, I think you are better off having Cousy at point guard than Magic. 

Then you look at the defensive side, you have KG, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bill Russell. Bill Russell and Kevin Garnett were in both one of our picks for the all-time defensive teams. With these guys, nothing will get in the paint and I have a hard time believing Shaq and Kareem would have a lot of success in the paint. 

What else does this Celtics team have? Something that the Lakers team really doesn't have; 3-point shooting. Imagine the shooting of Larry Bird combined with Paul Pierce, John Havlicek, and Ray Allen, who is considered to be the best shooter ever by some people. 

Rebounding; Dave Cowens, Kevin Garnett, Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale got it. They are some of the best rebounders ever. Bill Russell was amazing on the boards, he could grab anything. Dave Cowens averaged 14 RPG over his career! Kevin Garnett is the all-time leader in defensive rebounds! Robert Parish is second in Celtics all-time rebounds and Kevin McHale was an underrated rebounder. 

And in the 4th quarter when the game is on the line, how do you stop this team. Larry Bird is the most clutch person ever to play besides Reggie Miller and Paul Pierce is just as clutch. When the game is on the line, you can't count on those two.

So as you can see, the Celtics got a lot going for them in pretty much every category. While the Lakers have tons of offensive players, all of the other categories are lacking for them since pretty much all of their players are scorers. While they have Kobe on defense, Shaq on the boards, and Magic with his passing, it's nothing compared to what the Celtics have. Not to mention that the Lakers really don't have any 3-point shooters. My Grandma tells me stories about the Celtics, and even though they were really great back then, they have consistently had more and more great players such as KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce throughout their history. And one more thing, this isn't even counting what Len Bias could've been...

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