Stephen A. Smith believes the Lakers are the best franchise in the NBA 👀 | First Take

Stephen A. Smith believes the Lakers are the best franchise in the NBA 👀 | First Take

16 years to the date from winning their 17th NBA championship the Boston Celtics won number 18 the se’s defeated Dallas 10688 game five last night Boston had the best regular season record sailed through the playoffs with a 16 and3 record never needing more than five games to win a series Boston now stands the top the NBA in alltime titles breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for Championship not every everybody’s happy about it though folks uh Magic Johnson took to X last night saying I hate that the Celtics officially have more championships than us now all right I got my championship roster here with me Monica mcnut joining the party lady in red uh good to see you and of course Wendy morning and ESS still here morning morning morning all right guys let’s dive into it magic salty I get it we know what it is the great rivalry essay is Boston now the best NBA franchise uh not so fast Magic Johnson never fear your boy Stephen A is here uh I understand that they have 18 championships to the Lakers 17 championships I get that um but I also know that this is feeding off a 16-year drought yeah okay and I would remind everybody out there that the Boston Celtics even with the great Bill Russell with the great which doggy was here the great Bob Koozie John hav and all of these guys Sam Jones and list goes on and on I will remind you Eminem Wendy that the Boston Celtics have 23 NBA Finals appearances the Los Angeles Lakers have 32 so yes you do have one more ring that is fair but the Los Angeles Lakers have nine more finals appearances which means that although they have one less title their time spent in relevancy is significantly more than yours that would make you the better overall franchise yeah you could have like for example Michael obviously this is not a comparison but third on the list would be the Michael Jordan Bulls they’ve got six NBA titles all six when he was there damn it they ain’t been back since he been gone okay and we were we paid we paid no attention to them before he arrived okay so you so you got that going on Golden State Warriors I’m sorry San Antonio Spurs five championships actually the Warriors are third on the list they’ve got seven titles 12 trips then the Bulls at number four six appearances six championships Spurs have five championships and six appearances we get that I’m just simply saying guys 32 appearances in the NBA Finals to 23 matters now if you had five or six more championships in the Lakers that would be different different but you only got one more Championship than them but they got nine more appearances than you I would say that the Los Angeles Lakers is still the best franchise in NBA annals Monica I hate these big historic questions because I wasn’t there I don’t know um I will say this though everything comes down to Hardware ultimately and I think as we look ahead the position that Boston is in and I know that’s not the question but you look at it right now there’s Runway there we’ve all been discussing it since last night there’s Runway there to me if we’re just gonna go off titles which I’m okay with I hear you on percentage and all that good stuff but we’re not playing horseshoes if we’re gonna go with just titles it would seem that Boston is sitting at the top of the hill right now I didn’t say percentages though nobody brought up percentages right well listen if we get into percent numbers and stuff all that I get you in terms of appearances but it’s they didn’t win so so I think you’re right Stephen A and the the different teams the different iterations the different teams that the that the Lakers have built is a strong because you know when you look at the Celtics you’re like 11 of them came 11 of those Rings came in the 13-year career of Bill Russell correct um and you look at what the Lakers built in the the 70s the 80s the N even the back into of the 90s 2000s 2010s 2020s I think a Boston fan would say to you though that nine times so they played in the they played in the finals 12 times right last time was in 2010 which the Lakers won but nine of those times if you look at it historical you’re saying well yeah they’ve been there 32 times but the reason they’ve only only got 17 is because nine of those times Boston’s beat them and repeatedly in the’ 60s and70s repeatedly repeatedly I’m think I’m just thinking 60s and 70s I know they’ve split since then but but but you know what you make a profound argument and and I’m not dismissing it Wendy I understand you have a right if you’re Boston to say that I’m just simply saying you’re talking about what they did in the Russell era I’m talking about what they did in that era then the 80s then the 90s then the 2000s and 2010 then 2021 all right let’s kick this up and Notch let’s make this conversation a little sexier I’m feeling like I need mad dog right now would we say Boston is the greatest sports city when you’re looking at the Patriots the Red Sox the Celtics the Bruins and in terms of championships that that’s where I’d like to go I couldn’t I couldn’t argue with I mean the Patriots claim with all those trophies with the Celtics I mean the Red Sox had a nice run the last 20 years yep the Patriots and Celtics Duo yeah that’s hard to over can anyone else even hang like do we even have a close I can’t think of anybody man I mean you know I just think that that that that airplane the Celtics have got the the Patriots have that big giant airplane the biggest plane in all sports and they’ve got those all those trophies on that tail it’s an impressive looking it’s an impressive thing yeah absolutely look at Wendy all right Beantown it is maybe that’s why those fans are so live right because they’re used to winning they’re used to parades it’s nothing new out there what a privilege pull up [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst and Monica McNutt join Molly Qerim to debate if the Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA.

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