LOS ANGELES — When Kobe Bryant officially retires in two weeks, he will take a piece of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry with him. But Lakers coach Byron Scott hopes the intensity of these clashes will endure, even if the next iteration figures to be different from those that preceded it.
Scott, who played for the Lakers from 1983-93 before finishing his career with Los Angeles in the 1996-97 season, said that when he was introduced to Celtics-Lakers rivalry during the era of Magic and Bird, it was filled with mutual dislike, if not hatred. It was only after his retirement that he realized some of the Celtics he held such disdain for were actually not such bad guys after all.
He said he developed friendships with former Celtics like Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, and Cedric Maxwell, although he acknowledged that it took some time for him to warm to the idea.
“Cedric, he asked me to do an interview and I told him no,’’ Scott said before the Celtics’ 107-100 win on Sunday night. “I was coaching New Jersey and I said, ‘No, I’m not talking to him.’ Really, it was just like that. And then the next year I said all right, and after I finished the interview I said, ‘You know, this guy’s pretty cool.’ And we sat down a little bit more and talked after the interview was over, and I found out exactly why I hated him, because they wanted everything we wanted; they just did it a different way. So we had a lot of things in common, and they were all about winning.’’
The Lakers on Sunday recognized trainer Gary Vitti, who is retiring at the end of this season, his 32d with the team. At the old Boston Garden in the 1980s, there were numerous tales of inconveniences that visiting teams dealt with that were not believed to be coincidences.
Scott said he and his Lakers teammates always wanted to find a way to retaliate, but he said Vitti and coach Pat Riley would not oblige.
“You know, shutting the windows in the Boston Garden when it’s 108 degrees outside, making sure you’ve got face towels only to dry off with,’’ Scott said of the alleged Garden shenanigans. “The water is ice cold, you’ve got a couple of showers that don’t work. The 4 in the morning alarms in the hotel room that kept going on and on and on. It was a bunch of craziness that when you look back at it, you kind of smile, because it was something that you didn’t think about doing.’’
Bradley misses game
Celtics guard Avery Bradley missed Sunday’s game for what coach Brad Stevens described as “good personal reasons.’’ Bradley’s wife has been expecting a child. With Bradley out, guard Evan Turner started in his place. Turner has been a boon to Boston’s second string, but he also started seven of the last eight games while forward Jae Crowder sat out with a high ankle sprain.
“I think that keeps [Turner] in that role, in that rhythm,’’ Stevens said, “and then we’ll figure it out from there.’’
Crowder, who missed the Celtics’ win over the Warriors on Friday because of lingering soreness from his ankle sprain, returned to the starting lineup against the Lakers. He scored 22 points.
Playoffs a done deal
The Celtics entered Sunday needing just one win to qualify for the postseason. Stevens has consistently been reluctant to discuss the playoffs, particularly because his team had yet to punch its ticket. His stance before the Celtics went out and clinched a spot was no different.
“I think that we’re fortunate enough to be in the position we’re in,’’ he said. “And that’s where you want to be from the standpoint of having a chance to control your own destiny. At the same time, there’s work to do, and so we just focus on the work.’’
When Stevens was asked to assess his team’s play as it wrapped up this five-game road trip, he smiled.
“Weather has a lot to do with it. It’s been great,’’ Stevens joked. “No, I’m going game to game. I don’t do it in chunks of five.’’
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.
