Super Bowl LIII: The storied history of Los Angeles vs. Boston

FOXBORO, MA - DECEMBER 04: Jared Goff #16 of the Los Angeles Rams greets Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots after the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 26-10 at Gillette Stadium on December 4, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) – Super Bowl LIII /

The 1960s

Boston 6-0

This was the first decade that a team from Los Angeles took on a team from Boston with a championship on the line and it kicked off one of the NBA’s greatest rivalries.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics faced off six times in the 1960s for the NBA Championship and in all six meetings the Celtics came out on top.

Despite the lopsided outcome the best of the NBA on both sides faced off every spring with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor on the Lakers and Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and John Havlicek on the other.

Meanwhile, the rest of the sports landscape was still not quite modern, the NFL and AFL had yet not merged. There was only six NHL teams and none in Los Angeles until 1967. Baseball playoffs only consisted of two teams meeting in the World Series. While the Los Angeles Dodgers were one of baseball’s better teams the Boston Red Sox toiled in misery most of the decade.

This all meant the Lakers and Celtics carried the Boston/LA rivalry for the decade.

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