Pivot Points: Lakers-Cavaliers, a Rivalry Created By Nike and the NBA?

When Kobe Bryant was asked if he bought into the expanding notion of a rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers, he rightfully responded by saying no, which may hopefully put to rest the absurd assumption.

There are many different ingredients in the recipe for a rivalry and the Lakers and Cavaliers are lacking in most of the pertinent categories.

Some rivalries are born out of geography as the proximity of franchises, schools, or cities make this a natural progression. If there is another team with similar interests, within a reasonable distance, then a rivalry is made.

North Carolina University and Duke University are a perfect example of this as their rivalry is as much due to the eight miles that separate them as it is to their continued excellence.

Other rivalries come from division or conference battles where teams become familiar with each other and find themselves struggling for playoff positioning and conference supremacy.

The clashes between the San Antonio Spurs and the Lakers early in the decade are representative of this because the teams were the best in the Western Conference and were usually the last teams fighting for a spot in the Finals.

Sustained excellence between two teams is a perfect environment for a rivalry to prosper, but both teams must be successful in terms of winning titles, because it's hard to consider a team a rival if you can never beat them.

This dynamic is illustrated by the Boston Celtics and Laker teams of the '80s who constantly battled each other twice in the regular season, and often in the playoffs for the NBA championship.

The fact they both won titles is what made the rivalry real and throughout the history of the NBA they have been each other's primary nemesis in a mutual struggle that has accounted for 32 cumulative league titles.

Those Celtic and Laker teams of the '80s also had the two best players in the game in Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, and when your position as the top tier players in the league is unquestioned intense competition ensues.

None of these instances exist between the Lakers and Cavaliers and the only one that could be argued would be Kobe Bryant and LeBron James as the best players in the NBA.

But that thinking has a fallacy because there is a large contingent of people who would insert Dwyane Wade into the conversation as the league's best player leaving no general consensus.

Contrary to Nike and David Stern the only way a real rivalry will exist between the Cavaliers and Lakers is if the two teams can make a habit of getting together in the NBA finals.

No matter how many puppets Nike shoves at us, no matter how many Christmas day games the NBA schedules, the whole idea of a rivalry is manufactured until Cleveland makes it to the Finals and wins at the expense of the Lakers.

I don't speak for all people who have interest in the Lakers, but I would prefer to meet Boston in the Finals due to the Lakers' collapse of 2008, which still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

I understand the implications of LeBron and Kobe and their respective teams meeting in the Finals as it would be a financial wind-fall for all concerned parties and would be a delight for Cleveland fans.

The only thing is the 2008 Finals series was one of the most viewed in television history, and had the same type of impact and none of that was manufactured by Nike or the NBA.