Lakers – Spurs: Highlight of the NBA Season

 Except for the fans in New England and Detroit, every other basketball fan will be focused on Los Angeles and San Antonio. The two teams haven’t met in a playoff since 2004, only because the Lakers haven’t had a lineup capable of getting past the first round.

But this year, they do, with NBA’s Most Valuable Player to top it.

No matter which team you are for, it has to be a match-up that you wouldn’t miss for anything. This year’s MVP versus last year’s MVP in the Playoffs. The resurgent Lakers versus the defending champion Spurs.

Bryant versus Ginobli, Parker versus Fisher, Gasol versus Duncan. Then add Odom and Bowen, Vujacic and Udeke, Ariza and Horry to the mix, and you have contest that is meant to go seven games.

What more could any basketball fan ask for? It's a series which comes around once in a decade—too close to call, and too exciting to miss.

And speaking of decades, the Lakers have won three championships in this one, all three back-to-back, while the Spurs have won four spread out over nine years.

But will this be the Spurs’ year? Or, will the Lakers stop them again like they did in the 2004 playoffs?

This could be this Spurs team’s last shot at two consecutive NBA crowns. But, a victory for the Lakers could put the purple and gold on the road to another string of championships.

Two things are certain—the two best teams in the NBA are dueling head-to-head in this series, and the two best coaches are facing off against each other.

I’m sure the Celtics-Pistons series will have its share of excitement and drama, but it won’t be the Best of the Best. The Lakers and Spurs hold claim to that honor, and it all begins Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

And if you’re anything like me, you can’t wait.