Los Angeles Lakers

Celtics honor Kobe with piece of legendary parquet floor

Published Dec. 30, 2015 6:37 p.m. ET

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The Boston Celtics honored longtime Los Angeles Lakers nemesis Kobe Bryant with a framed piece of the franchise's legendary parquet floor prior to the two teams facing off Wednesday night at the TD Garden:

The piece of parquet floor is from the 2010 NBA Finals, in which the Lakers avenged their 2008 Finals loss and defeated the Celtics in seven games:

Here's a closer look at the plaque, which reads, "In recognition of your many legendary performances on the Parquet floor. From your friends and rivals, The Boston Celtics":

As an NBA history buff and true student of the game -- as well as someone who nearly ended up on the Celtics as the heir to Larry Bird's green-and-white throne -- Bryant will certainly appreciate the historical gift, as some of the greatest games in NBA history have taken place in Beantown on that very floor.

In fact, as pointed out by ESPN's Arash Markazi, both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dr. J received the same gift during their farewell tours.

Though Bryant hasn't always enjoyed his visits to Boston -- especially after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals by 39 points -- this trip is special. 

Tuesday, Bryant admitted his favorite color is green -- not Celtics green, though, which he claims is different -- and said he'd be bringing his wife, Vanessa, and two daughters, Natalia and Gianna, to the game to show them around the city.

One of the weirder aspects of Wednesday's matchup is that neither the Lakers nor the Celtics is contending for this year's championship, which has traditionally been an anomaly throughout NBA history -- at least one of the league's two most successful franchises is generally contending at any given time. 

But not anymore. The power of the league has shifted, and the bigger markets aren't guaranteed to nab top-level free agents or field the most expensive rosters. 

With that said, Bryant doesn't think it'll be long until the two franchises are meeting in the Finals again:

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