Somewhere in parquet heaven, the late Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach is undoubtedly reaching for a cigar today.

The man who made famous the concept of the sideline "victory cigar" is ready to unwrap and light up another Blackstone, his Boston Celtics needing only to finish off the Los Angeles Lakers tonight in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

It is altogether appropriate that it should come in Boston, where Auerbach turned his beloved Celtics into the pro game's enduring royalty, guided them to 16 NBA titles, nine as their coach and another seven as general manager and team president.

It tells you how long ago the Celtics last won an NBA Championship (1985-'86) that neither the Surgeon General or anybody else had yet to put a prohibition on the trademark stogy Auerbach would light up in the old Boston Garden.

But the long wait isn't the only reason to figure this would be among Auerbach's most fulfilling puffs. For, by winning the title, the Celtics, in a series they lead 3 games to 2, would hold off the march of Lakers' coach Phil Jackson, who would otherwise pass Auerbach for the most titles as a coach.

For two such strong-willed personalities who never coached against each other, theirs has become quite the rivalry, following Auerbach to the grave. Never mind that Auerbach last coached in 1966 and died in 2006, this game of one-upmanship and quotes designed to get under the other's skin not only survives but thrives.

It was Auerbach who looked down upon Jackson's string of titles with Chicago and the Lakers, suggesting that Jackson "shopped" for title winners. The implication being that Auerbach got his title ring collection the old-fashioned way, by building the teams that won them rather than plucking them off the shelf all but ready made with Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and, now, Kobe Bryant.

It has been Jackson who has made reference, not all of it deferential, to Auerbach's age and smoking, talking tongue-in-cheek of the man for whom the Coach of the Year award is named.

They were men — and masters — of vastly different eras in the sport, each in their own ways. In that Auerbach would be proud of the team play and defense practiced by the Celtics and intrigued by the challenge of stopping Bryant much as he did when the Lakers had Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.

Along the way, the cigar, for Auerbach, became more than just a way to power down after a big game. In an era when coaches sometimes smoked cigarettes on the sidelines, his stogy was a symbol of gamesmanship, a way of rubbing it in on an adversary, too.

Think Auerbach wouldn't take pleasure in not only another Celtics title, but denying a place of superiority in the record book to Jackson, too?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.