Legacies on the line when Celtics meet Lakers

They have combined to win 33 of the 72 NBA championships and are the only franchises with more than six titles.

The Celtics lead the way with 17 of them, starting in 1957, and the Los Angeles Lakers are right behind them with 16, beginning with a championship that was won while they were based in Minnesota in 1949.

The two teams have been stuck on those numbers, however, with the Celtics last winning in 2008 and the Lakers in 2010 when they defeated Boston in seven games. [...]

They have combined to win 33 of the 72 NBA championships and are the only franchises with more than six titles.

The Celtics lead the way with 17 of them, starting in 1957, and the Los Angeles Lakers are right behind them with 16, beginning with a championship that was won while they were based in Minnesota in 1949.

The two teams have been stuck on those numbers, however, with the Celtics last winning in 2008 and the Lakers in 2010 when they defeated Boston in seven games.

The Celtics and Lakers get together Saturday night at the Staples Center and it is up in the air as to which team will be back in the winner’s circle first.

Will it be the Celtics, who seemed poised to at least reach the NBA Finals when this season began with a deep and talented roster?

Or will it be the Lakers, who signed LeBron James to a four-year, $153 million last summer to speed things up in their quest to be champions again?

While the Celtics have showed signs of life during the first two stops of their four-game California trip this week, the Lakers look like they are going to miss the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season.

Prior to this stretch, the Lakers had failed to qualify for the postseason just five times between 1949-2013 during an incredible run.

The Celtics have been a disappointment after going into this season with so much hype, but a blowout win over the Golden State Warriors and a last-second victory over the Sacramento Kings have made things interesting.

In the win over the Warriors, who were without three rotation players and just returned from a four-game East Coast trip, the Celtics looked like the team they were expected to be last October.

The ball was moving, tough defense was being played and Gordon Hayward was his old pre-injury self and it all added up to perhaps the best performance of the season for the Celtics. Then, one night later, they survived the young legs of the Kings to get a win on Hayward’s basket with time running out.

If they can carry that over and get wins over the Lakers, then the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, the Celtics will be coming home Tuesday with a lot of momentum heading into the final 14 games of the season.

At 40-26, the Celtics are within two games of the third-place Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference and were a game and a half behind the Philadelphia 76ers, who played in Houston Friday night.

The Celtics’ team that breezed past the Warriors looked like a team that could be dangerous in the Eastern Conference playoffs in April and May. Whether or not the Warriors are ready to loosen their grip on the NBA title remains to be seen, no matter who emerges from the East.

With youngsters like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown plus established veterans in Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Hayward, the Celtics seemed ready to contend for a few years.

But the commitment to re-sign with the Celtics by Irving that was made in October was retracted in February, so all future plans are up in the air. If he stays, and if the Celtics could somehow land Anthony Davis in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans this summer, the team with just one championship in the past 31 seasons would move even closer to the top.

As for the Lakers, James went west with the hopes of lifting the Lakers out of their doldrums. They have not won a playoff series since 2012 and have averaged around 25 wins over the past five seasons.

At 30-35, the Lakers entered Friday night tied for 10th place in the West, 6 1-2 games out of the final playoff spot.

The 34-year-old James missed 17 games from Dec. 27-Jan. 29 when the Lakers went 6-11, so that didn’t help matters, but they are just 4-10 since he returned and are on a four-game losing streak heading into the game with the Celtics.

The Lakers, too, are in pursuit of Davis, and pairing him with James for the final years of his career would make Los Angeles instant contenders.

With veterans Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGree on one-year contracts, the Lakers are going to be active shoppers this offseason trying to bolster the roster with big-name players to help James.

If they strike it rich in the free-agent and/or trade markets, then the Lakers will be back in the picture. If not, James may be playing out his career in a warm climate but on a mediocre team.