Looking Ahead: The NBA Finals

After a rocky start, the Boston Celtics have quieted the critics, surging past the Indiana Pacers (4-0), Chicago Bulls (4-0) & Miami Heat (4-1). While most of those games went down to the wire, the Boston Celtics proved they were the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Yet, meanwhile on the west coast, the Los Angeles Lakers tore through the Golden State Warriors (4-1), the Utah Jazz (4-0) and the San Antonio Spurs (4-1), proving why they'll have home-court advantage in the upcoming all-or-nothing series against Boston as the top dog in all of the NBA standings.

How will this historic showdown end? In 2008, the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games; and in 2010, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in 7 games.

Either way, the Celtics will have to fight their hearts out to win at least one of two in the City of Angels, a place that handed them two losses in the regular season, if Boston wants to limit this historic series to a 4-game sweep of the purple and gold titans because the series will then to shift to Beantown for 3 straight crucial games.

Can--and if so--how will Boston counterbalance the size, skill and presence of Pau Gasol and new Lakers center, Dwight Howard, while also dealing with Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, and the wily passing skills of Steve Nash?