“Get it back,’’ Jackson said. “We want to meet you in the Finals.’’
“I just said, ‘Congratulations. See you in the Finals next year,’ ’’ Pierce said.
Next year is now, and as they prepare to meet in the Finals for the 12th time in NBA history, the Celtics and Lakers have a chance to fill each others’ voids. The Lakers would have loved another clash with the Celtics a year ago. Some believe the Celtics would have made it happen had it not been for Kevin Garnett’s season-ending knee injury.
“It’s driven all of us,’’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “We didn’t have that opportunity last year. The Lakers won, but we didn’t have that opportunity. Honestly, we weren’t playing that great anyway when we were not injured. But now we’re a little different than that team. The starting five is the same, but we have a different bench, we have different guys and so do they.’’
For Pierce, who grew up watching the Lakers, the matchup is only right.
“I want to go there and try to win a championship in my hometown again,’’ Pierce said. “Just the rivalry period. Just the motivation of being in the championship. So many things motivate you for being in the Finals. I can just pretty much put all the things in a hat and pick one.’’
Although the Lakers are the defending champions, the Celtics feel as if they were champions who had their title vacated.
“I jokingly told someone the champ’s going to win,’’ Rivers said.
It was hard to fight the urge not to look ahead during the conference finals, when the Lakers jumped to a two-games-to-none lead on the Suns in the West and the Celtics put Orlando in a three-game hole in the East.
“We didn’t know [it would be Los Angeles] at that time with Phoenix still in the series, but we assumed that like everyone else did,’’ Rivers said.
