This weekend, former Los Angeles Lakers reserve Michael Cooper was officially inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was an integral member of the Showtime era because of his lockdown defense, hot 3-point shooting and ability to play backup point guard behind Magic Johnson.
Cooper's defense truly came in handy during the Lakers' three matchups against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. He guarded superstar Larry Bird, and he guarded Bird as well as anyone else, by Bird's own admission.
Since the Lakers-Celtics rivalry is one of the most historic in sports and spans over half a century and three different eras, there is a lot of bad blood between the two franchises. Cooper and teammate Byron Scott, however, said during a recent episode of the "Byron Scott's Fast Break" podcast that there was one player on those Celtics teams of the mid-1980s they didn't hate -- Dennis Johnson.
Both Cooper and Scott were also originally from the Southland. Cooper grew up in Pasadena, which is located roughly about half an hour northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Scott attended Morningside High School in Inglewood and grew up just blocks away from The Forum, which was the Lakers' home arena from 1967 to 1999.
Dennis Johnson spent his childhood in Compton, a low-income suburb of L.A., and after three years at Los Angeles Harbor College, he made his way to Pepperdine University in Malibu. Before coming to Boston, he was an NBA Finals MVP with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979, and he gained his reputation as a defensive pest and a big-game player.
Like Cooper, he had a second career as a coach and was elected into the Hall of Fame long after his playing days ended. Unfortunately, he died from a heart attack three years before his induction in 2010.