The Celtics do have more overall NBA championships, but that is trivial when you compare the respective relevancy of each franchise through the decades.
The majority of Boston's titles were won before most people reading this article were born, and the Celtics' NBA championship pedigree can not excuse all the seasons in which they served as the Eastern Conference doormats.
Not to spread salt in the wound, but after Larry Bird retired from Boston, the Celtics have not really had much to discuss until GM Danny Ainge managed to acquire Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the following the 2006-07 season.
Before 2008 the Celtics were forced to endure numerous forgettable seasons; during one stretch from 1995 through 2001, the storied Celtics franchise missed the postseason six years straight.
Those six seasons of consecutive postseason frustration for Boston is magnified when you consider the Lakers have only missed the playoffs five times since 1949.
But the numbers don't stop there, because when you compare the two franchises in a historical context, it's really no contest at all.
The Lakers have won more regular season games, postseason contests and appeared in more NBA Finals than the Celtics, and they arguably have three of the top 10 players in NBA history in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.
All of those numbers form a pretty good case for the Lakers as the NBA's greatest franchise, but it doesn't take a statistical breakdown to prove who rules the NBA.
Just measure the hate.
The Lakers currently reside in a space that is reserved for the most despicable of all sports teams, which means they usually set the stand...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
