"This is rivalry weekend for me" - Magic Johnson makes feelings known on Lakers vs Celtics high-stakes showdown

The LA Lakers and Boston Celtics will face off on Saturday. Magic Johnson felt nostalgic about it and expressed his thoughts on social media. The Lakers and Celtics are the biggest rivals in basketball history. Johnson was a part of that history as his Purple and Gold consistently went up against Larry Bird and his Celtics in the 80s.

Johnson went on X (formerly Twitter) to point out how his teams of the current era are taking on their storied rivals this weekend. In addition to the LA vs. Boston matchup on Saturday, Magic's alma mater — Michigan State — will face the Michigan Wolverines on Sunday.

With that in mind, the NBA legend called it a "rivalry weekend."

"This is rivalry weekend for me, starting tonight with the Lakers vs the most hated Celtics and continuing tomorrow with my Spartans vs the Wolverines," Johnson wrote on X.

---

Can the Lakers survive against the Celtics without their defensive big man?

Saturday night is significant for the Purple and Gold as they reignite their rivalry against the defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics. This matchup is intriguing because the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown duo will face the LeBron James-Luka Doncic pairing for the first time.

While both duos won't disappoint and will give their all to put on a good show, LA has some concerns. They are heading into the game without Jaxson Hayes, their best defender since Doncic got traded to the City of Angels.

Hayes has been dealing with a bruised left knee for several days. Unfortunately for LA, his knee problem worsened after their matchup against the New York Knicks on Thursday. It got terrible that he needed to be sidelined for the colossal matchup.

Trey Jemison, Alex Len and Dorian Finney-Smith will replace Jax in his absence. They have pretty huge shoes to fill in, as the three bigs need to do their best and stop Kristaps Porzingis. Allowing Porzingis to catch fire might be detrimental to why LA could lose against Boston. Hopefully, James and Doncic will be enough to stop the Celtics from winning.