NBA Playoffs | Believe it: Kareem once was Celtics fan

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rooted for the Celtics during his high-school days in New York.

Honest.

He would later be involved in one of the most intense rivalries in sports, going against Boston three times in the NBA Finals as a Lakers star in the 1980s.

Now, that's simply a part of his past.

"I saw my first Celtics-Lakers rivalry game in 1969," Abdul-Jabbar recalled Sunday. "I never had a hatred for them. When I was in high school, I was a Celtics fan. I got to meet [then-Boston stars] Bill Russell, [John] Havlicek, [Bob] Cousy, those guys, when I was in ninth grade."

The teams are about to meet in the finals for the 11th time overall and the first since 1987, when the Lakers beat the Celtics in the third matchup between the teams in a span of four years. The best-of-seven series begins Thursday night in Boston. The Celtics won in 1984 for their eighth straight victory over Los Angeles in the finals dating back to 1959, but the Lakers broke through in 1985, when Abdul-Jabbar became at age 38 the oldest player ever to win the Finals MVP award.

Then came the Lakers' triumph two years later, and the Celtics haven't been back to the finals since that time. Until now.

"For me, it was real intense," Abdul-Jabbar said of the rivalry. "[It was] long ago and far away. I don't hold any animosity."

That hasn't always been the case.

"After he retired [in 1987], Bill Walton and I didn't speak for a couple years," Abdul-Jabbar said. "We laugh about that now."

Walton's son Luke is a backup forward with the Lakers, likely making it difficult for the elder Walton to be pulling for his former team. That won't be a problem for Abdul-Jabbar, an assistant coach on Phil Jackson's staff the past three years.

"I'm rooting for the Lakers," the NBA's all-time leading scorer said. "It's not hatred or anything like that. I'd just like to see our guys prevail."

Note

• Joe Axelson, a former executive and general manager for the Cincinnati Royals who remained with the NBA team when the franchise moved first to Kansas City-Omaha and became the Kings, then later shifted to Sacramento, has died. He was 80.

Over his career with the Royals-Kings franchise, he was responsible for some controversial trades, including swapping Oscar Robertson to Milwaukee in 1970 after Robertson squabbled with coach Bob Cousy and asked to leave Cincinnati. The Royals had to settle for Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson in the trade.