There was no jinixing it
When Sports Illustrated put a shot of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett on their April 21 cover, it was a precursor to what eventually happened a month later: The Lakers and Celtics made it to the NBA Finals.
Again.
A search through the SI vault reveals at least five other times when the Lakers and Celtics made the cover during the NBA Finals. There was also one after a regular-season match in Feb., '87, right after the Lakers picked up Mychal Thompson to bolster their roster before a game at the Forum against Boston on Feb. 15.
And then one in '92 to commemorate the rivalry upon Magic Johnson's first retirement.
Here's a gallery of Lakers-Celtics SI covers from the past:
From Dec. 14, 1992, a month after Magic announced he had the HIV virus:
From June 15, 1987:
From Feb. 23, '87:
From June 17, 1985:
And a week earlier, June 10, 1985:
From June 4, 1984:
And from April 29, 1968 (note how early the Finals started then):
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