Rich past won't be prologue for Celts vs. Lakers

Nostalgia is the advance man for the NBA Finals.

The series that gets under way Thursday is being called a dream match-up because the Celtics and Lakers evoke memories of greater times, not because both teams led their divisions in victories this season.

The last time the Celtics reached the finals, in 1987, they lost to the Lakers. Twenty-one years later, the outcome likely will be the same. In the meantime, people are encouraged to salivate over the rekindling of an old and glorious rivalry.

The Lakers represent glitz and glamour - Jack Nicholson sharing courtside access with recyclable Hollywood eye candy - while the Celtics' East Coast ethic is back in style like a pair of updated wing tips.

The story lines for this series arrive neatly packaged, ready for serving to a receptive audience.

Not that it's anything like the '80s, when Magic's Lakers and Larry Legend's Celts dominated basketball and vied for supremacy. As currently constituted, both teams are newly minted, without illustrious legacies.

The Celtics are playing into June for the first time since the Reagan administration because veterans Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were brought aboard to join Paul Pierce. The Lakers didn't evolve into world beaters until Pau Gasol came over from Memphis during the winter.

Recollections of Johnson and Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin McHale are a handy device for generating casual interest. But does the 2008 version of this rivalry offer duels of similar quality?

Not unless there's some way Kobe Bryant can go one-on-one with himself.

Bryant, more than wistful reminiscence of the '80s, will have to carry this series once it gets started. The finals may constitute a dreamy match-up, but a lot of Americans who recall Celtics-Lakers classics, some going back to the time of Bill Russell and Jerry West, are now old enough to be dreaming of Social Security benefits. This is the generation that we're told doesn't watch pro basketball anymore.

Even without homecourt advantage, the Lakers are the consensus favorites. But, while Kobe and Co. get set to claim the title for SoCal, the Celtics have already done their part to strengthen Boston's reputation as the hub of the sports universe, North American chapter.

The rebuilt Celtics are on the path to joining the Patriots and Red Sox as franchises to be envied, worshipped or hated - but never ignored.

As for the Lakers, they come into the finals having won 12 of 15 playoff games after dismissing the Spurs in five. They're simply playing better ball than the Celtics.

The Lakers are favored because Bryant gives them the league's best go-to guy. Nobody is more adept at getting free for good shots in the fourth quarter. Nobody on either team wants the ball more in tight spots.

Bryant's talents and dramatic flair make him the focal point. Now if he'd just stop blathering about the "brotherhood" between himself and his Lakers teammates. Considering Bryant's mutinous behavior only a year ago, that's laying it on a little too thick.

With the Lakers and Celtics, the NBA and its TV partners got what they wanted and avoided what they feared most: another title run by the classy but uninspiring Spurs.

The defending champs were always considered too dull for mass consumption. Broadcasters said, "Been there, done that and have the dismal TV ratings to show for it."

The Celtics and Lakers, though, should be just what Dr. Nielsen ordered, a new attraction that recalls something warm and familiar.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com