The two most successful franchises in the NBA will meet, starting on Thursday, in a Finals series that should be a classic. The teams are meeting for the title for the 12th time, and history says that the Celtics should win, holding a 9-2 edge in championship series victories over the Lakers. That domination dates back as far as 1959, when the Lakers were still located in Minneapolis, and the Celts swept them. Boston, behind legends Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, dominated the Lakers again in the 1960s, winning all six meetings between the clubs. The Lakers had their only success against the Celts in the 1980s, when the Magic Johnson-led “Showtime” Lakers won 2 of 3 Finals meetings against Larry Bird’s Celtics. The Celtics won again in 2008, and with Kevin Garnett now back from injury should be the favorite to win this year also. Boston has shut down (or at least contained) their opponents’ star player in the last 2 series prior to the Finals, frustrating two of the game’s best players, LeBron James of Cleveland and Orlando’s Dwight Howard. Can they do the same to the game’s most dominant player, Kobe Bryant? For the Lakers, the key is whether they have the size up front to counter Boston’s physical front court. Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were handled pretty easily by the Celtics in 2008, but the Lakers are hoping that the combination of those players maturing and the addition of physical “small” forward Ron Artest will help them when the games get physical, as they surely will.
NBA Finals – Classic Matchup
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