June 2: When the 2007 NBA Playoffs crowned the Spurs as the Champions, nobody could have even dreamed about a Lakers-Celtics Finals in 2008.

But the planets started to align when the Celtics got a ridiculous trade for Kevin Garnett and added Ray Allen. Kobe Bryant asked to be traded was he request was not conceded. Andrew Bynum started to shine, bringing championship hopes to L.A. but he went down with an injury and Pau Gasol appeared from nowhere to turn the franchise upside down. The Lakers ended with the best record in the incredible strong Western Conference and the Celtics had the best record in the league.

The 2008 Finals will feature the NBA's greatest rivalry, Lakers and Celtics have met each other 10 times in a final instance. The Celtics who won 11 titles in 13 season starting in 1956-57, defeated the Lakers 7 times and were the nightmare of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Then in the 80's the rivalry relived when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird arrived to the NBA to become part of two of the best teams the world have ever seen. When they met in the 1984 Finals, the Showtime Lakers had already won two Championships and the Celtics one, but Boston defeated them once again, for the 8th time. L.A. would finally have its revenge by winning the final two meetings against each other in 1985 and 1987. Those 3 epic battles took place in the middle of a 9-year span where the two franchises totaled 8 championships.

They will their faces in the playoffs for the first time in 21 years, and although the mutual hard feelings are not what they used to be, it promises to be a great basketball show and, maybe the beginning of a new era. These are the NBA teams with more titles won, 16 the Celtics, 14 the Lakers, no other team is even close: the Bulls are in the third place with 6 championships.

	Guards		Forwards		Center	Key reserves
Los Angeles Lakers	Derek Fisher	Kobe Bryant	Vladimir Radmanovic	Lamar Odom	Pau Gasol	Sasha Vujacic Jordan Farmar Ronnie Turiaf Luke Walton
Boston Celtics	Rajon Rondo	Ray Allen	Paul Pierce	Kevin Garnett	Kendrick Perkins	James Posey Sam Cassell Leon Powe P.J. Brown

In the Regular Season, the Lakers lost twice against the Celtics (107-94 and 110-91) but the games were early in the season and L.A. was a pretty different team still without Gasol.

To arrive to the Finals the Lakers have played 15 games easily eliminating teams that looked strong beforehand: 4-0 vs. Nuggets, 4-2 vs. Jazz and 4-1 vs. Spurs; while the Celtics have played 20 and had real trouble with the 8th seeded Atlanta and went twice to a 7th game: 4-3 vs. Hawks, 4-3 vs. Cavaliers and 4-2 vs. Pistons.

The Celtics have found the way make their superstar trio happy, but Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have 32, 31 and 30 and age could be a factor like it was with San Antonio, considering that Boston's bench contribution is pretty poor. On the other hand they also have had improved efforts from second-year point guard Rajon Rondo and physical 23-year-old center Kendrick Perkins.

The Lakers have the lead of Kobe Bryant, who is playing better than ever (he's averaging 31.9 points and 5.8 assists in the playoffs) but also have found an excellent ball movement, centered in Pau Gasol in the paint and in Lamar Odom's mentality which is staying strong even when things don't go right for him. Derek Fisher is playing great defense on the opponent's point guard, Radmanovic spreads the rival's defense with his 3-point threat and Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and Ronnie Turiaf have had their moments coming from the bench.