The rivalry and history between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics stretches back for decades and nearly every era of both franchises has their stories. The two remain tied for the most NBA Championships with 17 each, but the last time they met in the Finals was in 2010 when Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom led the Lakers to an intense seven-game series victory.
The win was one of the most satisfying victories in Lakers’ franchise history and especially to those who faced defeat two years earlier. In the 2008 NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Lakers in six games with the final contest being an absolutely embarrassing loss by nearly 40 points. That experience, and what happened afterward, still sticks with Odom to this day.
The former Lakers forward recently appeared on the Knuckleheads Podcast and spoke about that loss in 2008. Odom says the Celtics fans surrounded the Lakers team bus following the loss and began shaking it, with that experience being the reason he still hates the Celtics now:
“The first series is why I hate the Celtics. Because they beat us by like 35 in Game 6. When you go to the Finals, you got your family on the bus – everybody on the bus and all that. They beat us by 35, these fans surrounded our bus and started shaking it.”
That Game 6 loss was one of the worst in the history of the Lakers franchise and likely the worst of almost every player on that team. To lose to Boston is bad enough, but to have it go down in that fashion, and then to not be able to leave because fans are surrounding the bus and shaking it, just adds to what is already an awful experience.
Something like that will definitely not be forgotten by Odom or anyone else on that squad, but the beautiful thing is that it didn’t crush the Lakers, but rather motivated them. The team turned around and won the championship the following season, and then were finally able to get their revenge on the Celtics in 2010 in what was the ultimate joy after experiencing an ultimate failure.
Lamar Odom says Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was ‘easy’ to learn from
Kobe Bryant had a bit of a reputation as being difficult for his teammates to deal with, but in the case of Odom, that simply wasn’t the case.
Odom said Kobe was easy to learn from as a teammate and those who failed to do so had their own issues. While everyone’s experience is different and Kobe was undoubtedly demanding of his teammates, he simply wanted players he knew would give their all for the ultimate goal of the Lakers winning.
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