Few rivalries in professional sports have been able to stand the test of time like the one between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Although the rivalry hasn't been incredibly intense in recent years with the Lakers struggling and Boston remaining among the league's best teams in the Eastern Conference, the bitter rivalry saw a massive resurgence a decade ago when these two teams met in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.

In 2008, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers fell short to the Celtics in six games, resulting in Boston coming away with a league-best 17th NBA title. The loss to Boston in the Finals in '08 motivated this Lakers squad tremendously and took the rivalry to another level. Derek Fisher spoke to ClutchPoints about how the Celtics impacted the team's run to back-to-back titles and how intense the rivalry between the two historic franchises was at the time.

“We had pretty high standards for ourselves, but because of how difficult of a team they were to play against, we always loved using them as our barometer for where we were,” Fisher said of monitoring the Celtics from 2008 to 2010. “We knew that if we couldn't beat them, we weren't where we needed to be.

“It was like Magic [Johnson] and Larry Bird how they talked about how they used to watch each other's performances. Larry would turn on the news or pick up a paper and see what Magic and the Lakers did last night. He felt like he had to top that or beat that. That was how driven we were to outdo them and outlast them.”

The way the Lakers kept track of what the Celtics were doing during this three-year run of NBA Finals appearances was reminiscent of when this rivalry was at its peak during the Showtime era. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird led these teams at the time and never wanted to give an inch to the other team while hoping to face them in the Finals.

“It was literally that deeply rooted,” Fisher told ClutchPoints, as highlighted in Episode 3 of The Final Ring. “We weren't carrying the entire Lakers-Celtics legacy on our back, but in that three-year period, it kind of became our own '80s-style matchup. Everything we did was about making sure we were the last team standing and not them.”

Unfortunately for the Lakers, Boston couldn't get by Dwight Howard's Orlando Magic during the NBA playoffs in 2009. The Celtics were without Garnett for this playoff run, which turned out to be costly as they simply were outmatched in the East without him, especially with Howard playing the best basketball of his career.

Fisher believes the 2009 team was virtually unbeatable that season, and it's hard to argue with that fact considering they wiped the floor with the Magic in five games in the NBA Finals that year.

Honestly, that team, we could've played against anybody, and you were not going to beat us that year,” Fisher said of the 2009 Lakers. “I don't think we were disappointed that we didn't get another crack at them because that year was more about us.

“I think the 2010 year became more about them again because we played them, but the 2009 team, I thought we were more efficient. There was an ease to our game because of the personnel and the style of play like Lamar coming back from the '08 Olympic team and just like where he was physically and mentally. Kobe evolving as a leader and understanding more about himself after losing to the Celtics in '08 in the Finals, having more time with Pau, and a full training camp with Pau.

“So I feel like we weren't really disappointed to not play the Celtics because it didn't matter to us. The next year, though. I fell like it mattered because we were destined to match up against them. There was just no way around it.”

Ironically enough, the Lakers-Celtics rivalry could start to heat up again, with both teams currently being legitimate title contenders during the 2019-20 season.

Arguably one of the most entertaining games of the year happened at Staples Center just before the season was suspended with these two heavyweights going head-to-head. Jayson Tatum and LeBron James battled it out, with Los Angeles ultimately coming out on top and fans of both franchises hoping that game was an NBA Finals preview.

Although the Celtics still lead in the championship banners category, 17-16, the Lakers' last title still looms large, especially with Los Angeles potentially on the verge of winning another title to tie Boston. Only time will tell how this rivalry continues and whether another epic Finals showdown is on the horizon.