God Squad wrote: I'm not disagreeing with you. I didn't know or consider it a rivalry also. But it's "How" you say it. You also tried to discredit what the Spurs did for a decade and that's not cool either. But I agree for the most part.
All good. I mean, you gotta remember the first post I posted was that the Lakers and Spurs are not a rival. Then the guy accused me of being a bandwagon fan with a crappy take (I forget his exact words...not important), so of course I decided to troll. As a Laker fan, its really easy to troll by taking the 'arrogant' route. It's doubly so for Spurs fans. Spurs fans have this 'lack of credit' complex. Start talking to them about the past 20 years, and they ALL throw out the same stats about #of playoff appearances, and this/that and the other thing. It's like there is a website on how to argue with Laker fans somewhere. I don't know where this need comes from, but they go nuts when they feel slighted by Laker fans....which is incredibly easy to do.They put alot of words in your mouth...like the dope who trying to argue with me about "all I care about is beating Celtics" ...blah blah blah. Never said that.
I said (and I'm gonna say it for like the 10th time now) ....there is no rivalry (especially not heated rivalry) with the Spurs. There is really no team in the West that is the Lakers rival. You can take that as arrogant, or not. I don't care. What I'm saying is that when the Lakers play the Celtics in the finals...it's extra special. We're catching up, and catching up with # of titles. Been playing catch up for a long time. The loss in 08 was doubly-hard, as it was a loss....AND a win for them. Having them tromp the everloving snot out of us by 39 points didn't help. But it did rekindle that hate quite nicely.
Put it another way: Have 100 Laker fans describe their ultimate playoff run to the 18th title. You will prob get alot people say that they want to beat the Clippers. Even though we've never played the Clippers in the playoffs (and therefore certainly not a rival) there is alot of cross-town smack talk these last 10 years....even though the clips continue to do nothing. It would be nice to finally play them / shut them up....and then move on. But then after that, your gonna get a variety of who Laker fans want to beat. Some folks hate Utah. Portland is one. Some fans would pick the Spurs. Some would like to stick it to Cuban and Dallas (That would be a pick for me....even though I actually LIKE Cuban. It would be fun to sweep them, and watch him fume). Point is, your not gonna see a unifying "rival". But then you get to the finals.....and what better way to top off a title than to beat the Celtics??? It would be almost universal. Spurs fans can't seem to grasp this. As a Laker fan, I am acutely aware that most west teams would certainly have ripping the Lakers as part of their 'perfect run'. I know you'd have 90+% Spurs fans taking the Lakers. But your just not gonna see that the other way. Sorry. Laker fans don't see the Spurs as a rival that they get some sort of extra pleasure out of playing/beating. It just isn't there. At least not in huge numbers.
Spurs fans can scream and cry and throw stats at me, and tell me I'm arrogant, and the Spurs aren't a fly on the wall, and all sorts of other things that I never said. Still doesn't change the fact that the Spurs and Lakers are not a rivaly even slightly...and if Pop took a worse deal just to spite the Lakers, then he is a fool. <------- my original point all along.
Ok so the only team you enjoy beating is the Celtics. Yeah I consider the Lakers a heated rival just like you consider the Celtics a heated rival. In your lifetime going by what you said the Lakers have only played the Celtics 5 times The Spurs have played the Lakers in my lifetime 8 times so yes I consider them a heated rival.
