The NBA has been blessed with a number of intriguing championship finals through the years.
Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers featured the likes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls in their first final took on Magic and the Lakers back in 1991. Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks in 1994 and a return trip for Olajuwon and company against Shaq and the Magic the following year show there are no shortages of marquee player matchups in finals.
The NBA’s prayers were answered last year as another incarnation of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers rivalry played out in the finals, with the contemporary edition seeing Bird and Magic replaced by Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant.
That final series drew great ratings, and in fact, according to numbers from yourentertainmentnow.com, the sixth and deciding game of last year’s NBA final drew 16.88 million viewers as opposed to 15.71 million who tuned in the last time there was a Game 6 (in 2006 between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks).
Fast forwarding to the present, the 2009 playoffs are about a week old and while the combatants for this year’s final won’t be known until June, and the NBA’s brass would never admin it, you can be sure they’re is hoping for a final featuring the teams with the two best regular season records—the Cleveland Cavaliers (66–16) and the L.A. Lakers (65–17).
“Kobe vs. LeBron. LeBron vs. Kobe. It’s a dream NBA Finals matchup that could eclipse the nostalgic Lakers–Celtics series of a year ago,” says CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger wishfully.
And Berger is right—a Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers final would be a final that would certainly keep sportswriters busy.
As accomplished as both are, a championship would cement either player’s status as one of the era’s best.
Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers featured the likes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls in their first final took on Magic and the Lakers back in 1991. Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks in 1994 and a return trip for Olajuwon and company against Shaq and the Magic the following year show there are no shortages of marquee player matchups in finals.
The NBA’s prayers were answered last year as another incarnation of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers rivalry played out in the finals, with the contemporary edition seeing Bird and Magic replaced by Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant.
That final series drew great ratings, and in fact, according to numbers from yourentertainmentnow.com, the sixth and deciding game of last year’s NBA final drew 16.88 million viewers as opposed to 15.71 million who tuned in the last time there was a Game 6 (in 2006 between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks).
Fast forwarding to the present, the 2009 playoffs are about a week old and while the combatants for this year’s final won’t be known until June, and the NBA’s brass would never admin it, you can be sure they’re is hoping for a final featuring the teams with the two best regular season records—the Cleveland Cavaliers (66–16) and the L.A. Lakers (65–17).
“Kobe vs. LeBron. LeBron vs. Kobe. It’s a dream NBA Finals matchup that could eclipse the nostalgic Lakers–Celtics series of a year ago,” says CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger wishfully.
And Berger is right—a Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers final would be a final that would certainly keep sportswriters busy.
As accomplished as both are, a championship would cement either player’s status as one of the era’s best.
