The Celtics-Lakers rivalry is a real big deal. It’s not a joke. When the Celtics are on their way to sweeping the title from the Lakers in 2008 NBA finals, who does Phil Jackson vent his anger on? It’s neither the team and nor the opponents, it’s Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg. Why though?
It’s hilarious to know that from Matt Damon himself on ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast’. It was the time when the likes of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen led the Celtics to the NBA finals in 2008. Lakers received Pau Gasol in that season in a trade with the Grizzlies. They had a couple of star players to win them the title that year. It was a jaw-dropping series since the two rival teams met each other in the finals for the first time in 21 years.
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Matt Damon went on to define that moment, it was the third quarter and Celtics were down by around 21 points. “Paul Pierce just goes full ‘truth’ mode and just goes bananas. And they (Celtics) had this unbelievable comeback,” Matt narrated, “We’re cheering on the Celtics and their run was capped by, Pierce kinda sliced through the lane and like laid the ball in to complete the comeback.”
“Shut the f*** up!” – Phil Jackson vents out his defeat
Celtics were looking for a blowing comeback and Phil Jackson, Lakers coach seemed quite fumed up. He took a timeout right then. “Wahlberg and I are like ‘Oh my god!’ and he (Phil) calls the timeout, he just spins on us and goes, ‘Sit down and shut the f*** up!’. He was so mad.” Matt acted out the whole incident hilariously.
When the match resumed, Kobe was in a beast mode. “I remember him saying, ‘Get them the f*** out of my way.'” It’s funny how Kobe Bryant also didn’t back off from giving Matt and Mark some wordplay on the same day. He went past both the actors and said, “Not tonight m*****f****r*!”. Matt’s reaction to this was, “It was great. That’s what you want.” Deep down, Matt enjoyed every bit of it. He’s Kobe Bryant. Just a few words were enough.
Kobe Bryant led Lakers, eventually lost to the Celtics 4-2 in the finals. It was a humiliating defeat considering how both sides locked horns on every occasion.
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