EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Boston Celtics took a dramatic lead over every other NBA team by winning 11 championships in 13 years, starting way back in 1957.
It looks like they’re about to get caught.
The Lakers are on the doorstep of their long-hated rivals — finally, mercifully and indeed, impressively.
Former Lakers from Elgin Baylor to Magic Johnson to Shaquille O’Neal can light a cigar and pop open the Veuve if the Lakers beat the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
It would end the most unusual NBA season ever and give the Lakers a 17th championship. That would be the same as Boston.
The Lakers have been stuck on 16 since winning a title in 2010 with help from Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and some important free throws from Sasha Vujacic.
Bryant was never happier as a player than after that game, leaping on the scorer’s table with the basketball in his left arm, soaking in the confetti and adulation of the Staples Center crowd after the Lakers outlasted Boston in seven games.
The celebration will be more muted if the Lakers win Friday in Orlando. They’ve been in the non-permeable Bubble for three months, building momentum towards their possible championship memories as a pandemic rattles the rest of the world around them.
LeBron James has been the Lakers’ unquestioned leader, averaging 26.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 8.8 assists while closing in on the fourth championship of his own. His turnovers have been a little high the last two games (14), but his drive is undeniable and ability unparalleled for a soon-to-be 36-year-old.
Anthony Davis has clearly been worth the three first-round draft picks and three players the Lakers gave away last year to pry him from New Orleans. Only 27, he could be a fixture with the franchise for years to come.
There have also been unlikely heroes along the way, including Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in Game 4 of the Finals. He’s been on a slow, steady climb since missing all nine of his shots in the Lakers’ playoff opener an eternity ago against Portland. On Tuesday, all he did was drill a three-pointer from the right corner with 2:58 left and follow it up with a driving layup a minute later to give the Lakers the cushion they needed against a Miami team that doesn’t understand it’s undermanned.
Heat guard Goran Dragic is listed as doubtful for Game 5 because of a torn plantar fascia that’s kept him out since Game 1. It’s one of many reasons the Lakers are favored by seven points Friday.
If all goes well for them, No. 17 will become a reality, 51 years after Boston took such a large, seemingly insurmountable lead over everyone else.
Mike Bresnahan is the Lakers analyst for Spectrum SportsNet.