Bird and Magic happened in the 1980s and last time I checked this is 2008. There would be no Kevin McHale clothesline on Kurt Rambis or a baby hook game winner by Johnson in the old Garden.
This series shifted from the new Garden to the celebrity-filled Staples Center. The history of that great former rivalry can live on through memory, NBA TV and ESPN Classic.
That rivalry will not see a rebirth in this decade. Those who guarantee the Lakers will win the next four or five titles cannot take themselves seriously. They will be great, among the best in the rugged West, and certainly contending, but are hardly locks to hoist a trophy.
A blueprint realized: the same will win in 2009
The Celtics winning the 2008 championship means that Tim Duncan will hoist at least a fifth trophy. The Spurs will contend next year and the Western Conference's rising young teams—the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors—will fall in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
Maybe the Lakers will get here again, the NBA's pinnacle stage, but Andrew Bynum's return guarantees nothing. The New Orleans Hornets are hot on the Spurs trail and may overtake them if they assemble a better bench and continue a defense-first philosophy.
So, the Celtics are the best team in the league and the Spurs are the third. The Lakers finished second but how close were they? Not very, if the series was more lopsided than a six game finish suggests.
Hopefully, the remaining dissenters know now that change is a fallacy. Changed teams can win a championship, as three stars without a ring proved Tuesday night, only if they continue what has won for the last two decades.
No team will win a championship in this NBA by outscoring opponents or with a cadre of 23 year olds. They may come close, but close wins nothing in the record books.
The Celtics won the championship and a South Texas team smiled. That's how to win it. A silver and black squad served as a fine blueprint indeed.
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