Driven by a deep disdain, Darrian Woods – the self-proclaimed meanest Lakers fan, as its X.com handle suggests – I can’t bear the thought of another Boston championship flag flying at TD Garden.
“Winning the most championships is the only thing they’ve ever had, because otherwise there’s no debate about the greatest franchise in the history of basketball,” Woods, 33, said.
The Celtics are threatening to advance in the all-time NBA championship count.
The Lakers were behind the Celtics in titles since the Kennedy administration. It took 47 years to to reach to their hated rivals with 17 championships each.
For the second year in a row, the Boston Celts entered the season as the favorite to win an NBA title. Now they face the Dallas Mavericks in their second appearance in the finals in as many years.
Lakers fans are rooting for the underdog Mavs, while Celtics fans in the Los Angeles area eagerly await their chance to celebrate.
Woods said he detests the “arrogance and delusion” of Celtics fans, admonishing them for believing Boston is the greatest franchise in NBA history. He despises Boston for its past treatment of black athletes and for “being on the wrong side of the Civil Rights Movement.” And while he respects the players, he really can’t stand Paul Pierce.
“I’m their biggest enemy because I feel like they have everything wrong with basketball,” Woods said. “I will always root for his death and failure.”
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Fans arrived at Sonny McLean’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica before the Celtics’ Game 1 victory on Thursday, gathering in a paradise for Boston transplants in a purple and gold city where Kristaps Porziņģis is a god and chants of “Kyrie sucks” fill the air.
“We always beat them in the playoffs,” said Celtics fan Luis Rivera, 44. “It’s definitely big brother, little brother.”
Boston leads the all-time playoff series between the two teams 43-31. Many fans in the pub believed the 2020 championship won in a bubble during a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic was invalid. Rivera calls it “half a championship.”
Rivera’s family moved from Puerto Rico to Boston when he was 6 years old, and he became a Celtics fan during the 1986 championship season.
Rivera, who has had cerebral palsy since birth, watched the pregame show on his phone at the pub while sitting in his wheelchair covered in Celtics gear.
He found the last month invigorating, revealing the Lakers’ early postseason exit and the Celtics’ success.
“I love it. I love it. I loved it,” Rivera said.
Sam Hendricks, wearing his green Bill Russell jersey, recalls the pivotal moment in his Celtics fandom. “May 1985, when the Celtics beat the Lakers,” said Hendricks, 48, a native of Westborough, Massachusetts.
Hendricks said he roots for the Lakers to reach the NBA Finals every year, hoping to see the Celtics beat them.
“I’ve never hated them, it’s a phenomenal rivalry,” Hendricks said. “When I watched Magic and Larry as a kid, that was the best basketball you ever saw.”
He doesn’t care about Lakers fans, calling them fair weather fans.
Hendricks, a bubble championship denier who also believes the five championships the Lakers won in Minneapolis are “fake,” is still adamant the Celtics win this series to settle all arguments about the best franchise.
Woods, still haunted by Boston’s Big 3 – Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Pierce – defeating the Lakers in the Ends of 2008, feels like another Celtics win would be an unspeakable punishment from the basketball gods. The forecast doesn’t look good, with the Celtics leading 2-0 in the NBA Finals on Sunday.
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“Let’s not talk about the horrors of having an 18th Celtics championship,” Woods said. “It will be a sad day in the United States of America if they win.”
With pride on the line, the question arises: What would Lakers and Celtics fans trade to see their team succeed?
Woods, who has amassed more than 38,000 followers on the social media platform X, would give up his followers, the podcast and the chance to join in the NBA banter on Boston to overtake the Lakers in the championships.
Hendricks would win the Celtics the championship in 2024, even if it meant the Lakers would win the next three championships.
Rivera, who was in attendance at Game 5 of the 2008 Finals, said if the Celtics hoisted this year’s Larry O’Brien Trophy, he would never attend another Celtics game again.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
