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Of the millions of words that will be typed, printed, blogged, texted, e-mailed and IMed about The 2008 Finals featuring the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers one word should stand out above all others to describe this matchup between these ancient foes: tradition.
All sports have their rivalries: Red Sox-Yankees in baseball, Bears-Packers in the NFL, Michigan-Ohio State in college football and Duke-UNC in college hoops. But those rivalries have matured over the decades because of frequent meetings and proximity. They began as regional tussles and thanks to TV, they grew into national spectacles.
Yet, what do those games decide? A conference title, a division championship, maybe a trip to the World Series?
While wild wins and memorable moments in those rivalries may be bragged about at the next kegger, tailgate or cocktail party, the NBA's greatest rivalry, the two teams with the most tradition -- the Lakers and the Celtics -- always has much more at stake. This one decides which team is the world's best.
It makes the others seem quaint, doesn't it? Few, if any, sports can say that a bulk of their league's tradition has been built on its greatest stage. We can. These teams on opposite coasts are more than 2,600 miles apart but no two NBA franchises are more closely tied together than the Celtics and the Lakers.
--Rob Peterson, NBA.com Blog Squad
