Celtics and Lakers Meet in Deja Vu NBA Finals
Kobe Bryant by Kirby Lee/WireImage.com, Kevin Garnett by Adam Hunger/REUTERS
After a
nail-biter of a Super Bowl, an
overtime NCAA men's hoops final and a
resurgence of ratings in the NHL Stanley Cup, the
NBA Finals are poised to continue a fantastic 2008 sports year.
This
is your father's NBA Finals. And get your grandfather in the room, too. The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics - two of the league's most storied franchises (and one of the most heated rivalries in all of sports) - are set to battle for league supremacy.
Before Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls took over the world in the 1990s, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird owned the '80s, with the Lakers and/or the Celtics appearing in the NBA Finals
every year, save one.
Gone are the short shorts and the knee-high socks. This year, the Lakers'
Kobe Bryant and the Celtics'
Kevin Garnett lead a new generation of roundball phenoms battling for the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
ABC analyst and former New York Knicks coach
Jeff Van Gundy sees the series going the distance. "Whoever wins is going to have to win it in Boston. Either in six or seven games," he predicts. "But this series will wind up in Boston." And he expects it to be a classic: "The Lakers are the best offensive team in the NBA and the Celtics are the best defensive team. This will be basketball at its finest."
ABC/ESPN executive v.p. of production Norby Williamson points to the uniqueness of the matchup. "Among the fiercest rivalries in sports - Cowboys-Redskins [NFL], Red Sox-Yankees and Dodgers-Giants [MLB] - this is the rivalry where the teams can meet with a title on the line."
- J.R. Whalen
Game 1 airs tonight (Thursday, June 5, 9 pm/ET on ABC). For the complete NBA Finals' TV schedule, click
here.
