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Even though the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers rivalry that heated up in the 1980s has fizzled out, Michael Cooper still holds a grudge. The former Lakers guard and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer won five championships in LA during the ’80s, when the Celtics dominated the East and the Lakers ruled the West.
Heading into the 2023-24 NBA season, the Celtics and Lakers were tied for the most championships in NBA history with 17. After the Celtics made quick work of the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals, the tie was broken, and Cooper said he wasn’t too pleased.
Michael Cooper Tried Everything to Make the Celtics Lose in the NBA Finals
Although there was a level of mutual respect for each other for their play, members of the Celtics and Lakers despised each other during the ’80s. Hard fouls were the norm, as were bench-clearing brawls.
The Celtics and Lakers were what other NBA teams aspired to be. Boston won three championships during the decade. LA won five. In each year of the decade, either the Celtics or Lakers reached the championship round. They squared off against each other in 1984, 1985 and 1987.
While that rivalry has significantly died down to many, Cooper still heavily roots against the Celtics.
“I do a show out here on ABC,” Cooper said during his “Showtime With Coop” podcast, “and they call me a jinx because the team I wanted to win always lost.
“I thought I’d try some reverse psychology on the show when we got to the Finals. It was the Mavericks and the Celtics playing, and I became a Celtics fan — just for 59 minutes of the show, that’s it. Now, it wasn’t with my heart. It was more with my mouth and my presence.
“I wore a leprechaun suit. I wore a green hat, and I was rooting for the Celtics so hard. Come to find out, I’m not a jinx. The Celtics won their championship, and I’m not happy for them.”
Cooper Spent Much of His Playing Days Against the Celtics Guarding Larry Bird
Cooper was part of a star-studded Lakers team that included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy. With that much talent, he needed to find a way to get on the court. He did so by focusing on the defensive part of the game.
Cooper made his presence felt as a defensive standout and was always responsible for taking on the other team’s top player. When he faced the Celtics, that meant guarding Larry Bird.
“When I first got to the Lakers, they told me, ‘We got Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Norm Nixon, Jamaal Wilkes,” Cooper once told former Lakers teammate Byron Scott on Scott’s “Off the Dribble” podcast. “‘I don’t need nobody else shooting the ball.’ That’s kind of how I got into the forte of being a good defensive player.”
Although Cooper hated the Celtics, he respected Bird’s game.
“Larry knew the game from the ground up,” Cooper said. “A lot of us knew it from the top because we were so athletic, you’re flying through the sky. Larry wasn’t a high-flyer. He did things like reverse pivot, forward pivot. Larry had very good footwork.
“He was really, really patient as far as scoring. He could score from underneath, mid-range and 3-point. What I’d try to do is take two of those away from him, but I could never take those away.”
Bird had just as much respect for Cooper. During the 1986 NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Houston Rockets, the Celtics legend brought up Cooper, whose team was shockingly eliminated by the Rockets in the postseason.
“Michael Cooper’s not in this series, and he’s the only one who can really shut me down,” Bird said, according to Sports Illustrated.
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