Will there ever be a rivary as good or like the larry bird, magic johnson Celtics vs Lakers?

No.

As pointed out earlier, their rivalry began in college. We're never going to see two players of that caliber meeting in an NCAA final again, because anyone who's that good today would only play a year in college. Bird was a senior and Magic a sophomore when they met in the '79 NCAA finals.

Bird was drafted as a junior-eligible by Red Auerbach in 1978. He was the 6th overall pick, but everyone knew he was staying in school, and the Celtics were the earliest team drafting that realized that a year goes by very quickly and that Bird was well worth the wait (of the players drafted ahead of him, only Mychal Thompson, drafted #1, amounted to anything...Michael Ray Richardson, drafted at #4, could have been an all time great, but he messed up his career with drugs...even with that, Richardson was a 4 time all star).

Magic, of course, was the #1 pick in the draft in 1979...the Lakers had acquired a draft pick from the Jazz a few years earlier because the Jazz signed Gail Goodrich as a free agent.

Once they arrived in the NBA, here's what Magic and Larry did:

1980: Bird: Rookie of the year, lost east finals

Magic: NBA Title, Playoff MVP

1981: Bird: NBA Title (Magic injured, lost first round)

1982: Magic, NBA Title, Playoff MVP: Bird: Lost east Final

1983: Magic: Lost NBA final...Bird, 2nd round loss

1984: Bird, MVP, Wins NBA Title / Playoff MVP: Magic, lost NBA Finals

1985: Magic, wins NBA Title: Bird, regular season MVP Loses NBA Finals

1986: Bird: MVP, Wins Title Magic: Lost West Finals

1987: Magic, MVP, Wins Title, Playoff MVP: Bird Loses NBA Finals

1988: BIrd, Loses East Finals: Magic Wins Title

1989: Bird injured: Magic, Regular season MVP, loses NBA Final

First off, we had a five year build up to Magic and Bird's first meeting in the NBA finals. They kept trading titles (with Philly sneaking one in in 1983) and the whole country was anticipating a Lakers/Celtics final every year.

There's been no build up to this year's final, Yeah, the league office is happy about the matchup, but no one's been clamoring for a Laker / Celtic final for the last 5 years...

Secondly, it wasn't just Bird vs. Magic in those finals...both teams featured numerous hall of famers, so there were Hall of Fame matchups at several positions. That's not the case today.

Among today's Lakers and Celtics, only Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant have locked up spots in the HOF as of now. Pierce will probably get in as long as he remains at or near his level for another 3-4 years. Ray Allen is marginal at this point, but if he continues to be this productive for another 2-3 years, he should get there as well. It's more than likely at this point that Garnett, Pierce and Allen will eventually make the HOF, but only Garnett would be a first ballot HOFer at this ponit.

The NBA is desperate for another Bird/Magic rivalry.... you can see it in the fact that they literally manufactured a "rivalry" between Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony. And that's been from day one of their careers.

Those guys have no history against each other. Carmelo won an NCAA title in college, but Lebron didn't even GO to college. To this day, five years into their careers, they've never played a meaningful game against each other. And the games they have played against each other have been total crap, at least the half dozen or so I've seen on TV...

More recently, of course, is the manufactured "rivalry" between Greg Oden and Kevin Durrant. But again, same thing...the NBA is trying to manufacture a rivalry between guys with no history against each other..

Plus, the country loved the fact that Bird is white and Magic is black.

If fate had placed either Bird or Magic on ANY other teams, their rivalry would never have become what it was. I don't even think it would have been the same had Bird played for L.A. and Magic for Boston, because of the racial component.

So, as I said, many factors went into creating and maintaining the Bird/Magic rivalry:

1) They were the two best players incollegebasketball

2) They met in the NCAA title game

3) Thanks to divine intervention, Bird went to the Celtics, Magic to the Lakers

4) Bird is white, and went to Boston... Magic is black and went to Hollywood

5) Each team then had basically 4 HOF or HOF quality players at the same time.

6) Even though most of their finals games were not that close, several of their regular season nationally televised games went down to the wire.

7) Boston and L.A., like the Celtics and Lakers of today, had totally contrasting styles of play. And it was the same contrast as we see now...Boston, stronger and more physical... Lakers, quicker and more athletic

8. Both Bird and Magic constantly worked on their games in the off season... it was amazing seeing them start each season doing things that they hadn't done before, because they'd worked on certain things to improve themselves every year.

It's always dangerous to say that we'll "never" see this again, or that again... but a whole lot of things have to come together at the right time to create a Bird/Magic-like rivalry.

Let's just say that the odds are against it.

Will there ever be a rivary as good or like the larry bird, magic johnson Celtics vs Lakers?nba players

Probably not.. The Larry Bird vs Magic Johhson started when these two met for the first time in NCAA final.. and they entered NBA at the same years even though Larry Bird was draft first..but he decided to stay incollegefor one more years.. Anyway, Larry Bird won Rookie of the year, but Magic Johnson ended up winning Final MVP.. So Magic Johnson did had greater rookie season than Larry Bird did.. cause winning NBA Championship meant everything.. Anyway, the grudge match between Lakers and Celtics started in 84 finals....Larry Bird and Celtics took that one home.. But Lakers got their revenged by beating Celtics in 85 Finals..

Will there ever be a rivary as good or like the larry bird, magic johnson Celtics vs Lakers?nba draft prospects ,nba teams

no rivalry is ever the same. most rivalries are born of legend of things we see, not things we hear of from the past. i predict that twenty years from now they will be talking about shaq, kobe, lebron, and kg like they talk about mike and magic and larry. . before mike magic and larry, where was dr. j, david thompson, and gerving. its the same for every generation. i see the change all the time.
What up trustluv,

It would be really hard to match that- because the rivalry dated back to college- you had the players going 1and 2 in the draft- and the level of play with those two teams were insane.

The Classic games they show were the buzzer-beaters- but most of the games were decided by double figures- and you saw each of them lead their team in imposing their will on the other team (but you would see the other team respond the next game)... they pushed one another and their respective team- really amazing if you ask me... i just know that was the best era of basketball and it's hard to imagine a rivarly as good as that one...

Nickster
NO

at least not in basketball there wouldn't be.

other sports have their rivalries (EXAMPLE: yankees / red sox)

and those,like the example i gave, are also pretty huge.
not in nba basketball no...but ill take yankees and red sox, duke and NC basketball, fl st. and miami ftball, army and navy,
In terms of basketball skill yes we have matched and surpassed that rivalry.