Tony Becca

The NBA finals begin Thursday night and for those who do not know, this is no ordinary match-up. This is Los Angeles versus Boston, it is the Lakers versus the Celtics and it is a showdown between the two big guns of basketball, the two teams which are to basketball what the Dallas Cowboys are to American football, what teams such as the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers are to baseball.

With the Celtics boasting 16 victories and the Lakers 14, the two teams have a combined record of 30 victories out of a possible 61 and in any language, that is awesome. In fact, it is almost unbelievable, as unbelievable as the statistics, which show that in the 10 previous face-to-face shootouts, the Lakers have won only twice to the Celtics' eight.

Enjoying the last laugh

For the Lakers, however, the good thing about those statistics is that although the Celtics were so brilliant in the early stages, particularly so between 1959 and 1966 when they defeated the Lakers four times while winning the title in eight successive years, they, the Lakers, by defeating the Celtics in 1985 and in 1987, have enjoyed the last laugh.

While the Celtics have been suffering in the shadows, the Lakers, the brilliant, dazzling Lakers, have been ticking off victory after victory, to the point where after finishing off the 1980s with five victories to the Celtics' three, they won three in a row at the start of this century - one in 2000, one in 2001 and one in 2002.

Memories flooding back

As we ponder who will win this seven-match shootout, the memories of the great players, from either side down the years, come flooding back. So too do the memories of the action.

From the Celtics, for example, there was Bill Russell and then there were Larry Bird, one of the greatest of all time, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Denis Johnson and Danny Ainge of the 1980s. For the Lakers, for my beloved Lakers, there was Wilt Chamberlain and then there were, in the golden age of the 1980s, players such as Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, my all-time favourite Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Byron Scott.

As far as the action is concerned, the 1984 showdown, featuring Bird on one side and Johnson on the other for the first time in the finals, the one which Celtics won 4-3 after and the one rated by many as the greatest series ever - must be numbered among the best.

For me, however, the best, the greatest and the most exciting contest between the two teams was the 1987 series which the Lakers won 4-2.

'Thing of beauty'

Before the contest got under way, Dick Versace, the assistant coach form Detroit, said of the Lakers: "They're cosmic, they're playing better than any team I've ever seen". After game one, won by the Lakers, Boston's K.C. Jones described the Lakers' play as "a thing of beauty".

Who will be the winners when the dust is settled? I do not know.

The Celtics, with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen leading them, are good and they are dangerous. So too, however, are the Lakers with Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher.

The Lakers are also good with the magical Kobe Bryant and it is because he, the master, is in the Lakers line-up why I pick the Lakers, the brilliant, entertaining, showtime Lakers, to win what should be an exciting series.