2008 Celtics-Lakers Finals have big shoes to fill

By: Byron Parker

The Boston Celtics vs. the Los Angeles Lakers...this is the way that it was supposed to be for the '08 NBA Finals. Conspiracy or not, that is the way that it has turned out and now we have a highly anticipated match up for the NBA Title.

This is a rivalry that was built in the early 60's and kept on until it died around the early 90's. Since then, every match up between these two teams haven't been as intruiging as the years of Bird, West, Johnson, Russell and all of the other stars who made this match up one to always watch. The years have gone by and now we find ourselves anticipating a series that hasn't been more hyped than the last time these two teams met in the NBA Finals--21 years ago. Yes it has been a long time since we've seen the Lakers and Celtics in action for something that is more important than just a regular season win--these are two of the most successful franchises in sport's history going against each other once again, for an NBA Title. It's way better than another Cavaliers-Spurs series, or a Pistons-Spurs series only because of the business aspect. With NBA ratings going down in the past couple of years, the NBA needs something like this to bring it back to where it's supposed to be. The interest level has plunged and now the chances of it skyrocketing are very high with this particular Finals match up.

Let's not get carried away with this though. With all the hype surrounding this series, it all comes down to the players.

Will they be able to make this an intruiging series?

Will the outcome of this series bring back the old days when the tension between the two teams was high?

This years Lakers and Celtics teams have HUGE shoes to fill. There is a lot of pressure on these two teams--not because they are playing for an NBA Title, but they are being relied on to bring back a rivalry that was once the face of the NBA. It seems like a lot of people, including David Stern, are depending on them for a boost in the interest level of the league. We've seen the commercials with highlights from the old games be compared with Kobe and Garnett to build up the anticipation of the series. But at what point does it get too "over-hyped"?

The pressure for this series to be similar to the ones in the 60's-80's is high and we don't know what to expect. As of now, there is no beef between the two teams that could make it more interesting. That is what was great about the former match ups between these two. We saw a lot of physical play on the court and it was fun to watch. But with a league that seems to be full of "softer" players these days doesn't make me look forward to a typical basketball game. The players on both teams don't seem to be the kind of players who would trash talk, in order to make the series more interesting to watch.

It is no secret that Boston is a much more physical team than the Lakers are and they've shown that all season (and a few times during the playoffs). What can we say about the Lakers being physical?

They tend to be more focused on winning the game rather than trying to make it more appeasing to others, which is a good mentality to have going into a highly anticipated series such as this. There is no need to make bad decisions because of what people want to see. That will just furthermore prove how much the NBA is staged. But with the Lakers being the way they are and the Celtics being the way that they are, how will this fair out with the rivalries from years ago when both teams had just about the same mentality?

It won't. These two teams can't allow the pressure of trying to be like the old guys get to their heads, because there is no need to fake it in order to make this an interesting series. They have to renew the rivalry rather than continue it. The days of Bird vs. Johnson, West vs. Russell is now over. This is a new era in the NBA where it is only right to play like you need to instead of play like you want to.

We definitely want to see the best possible series, but without the comparisons. With all of the comparisons being made between the two TOTALLY different era's, how dissapointed would everybody be if one of the team's were to be swept?

All of the unnecessary hype goes right out of the window and now we're looking forward for it to happen again. There is a pretty good chance that these two teams could meet in the NBA Finals again for the next several years, but let's not get too carried away in the hype. Not saying that this will be a great series because everybody on Earth should be tuning into every game of this series. It's just that we have to let the series play out to become its own rivalry, instead of trying to turn it into one that hasn't been around for over 20 years.