The Lakers and Celtics -- the two most storied franchises in the NBA, and all of sports for that matter. Hall of Fame players on each side, arguably the greatest player on the planet on the court, a coach with double-digit championships, another coach with a ring and a great personality, young players that you love, old players that you hate, plenty of crazy players on both teams and a top-notch announcing team that consistently entertains. This series has had it all … except for a really good game or a defining moment.

Quite frankly, the play has been sub-par and the effort on both sides has been hit-or-miss. That sentence should not be typed during a NBA Finals series. The Celtics didn’t show for Games 1 or 6, the Lakers took off Games 2 and 4, what is that about? If this were the Spurs and Magic squaring off, it would be universally panned as the most boring series ever, but since it’s the Lakers and Celts, we give them a pass?

Not me.

What’s the moment you’ll remember thus far? Exactly -- there hasn’t been one yet. Kobe’s Game 5 explosion was nice but the Celtics built on their lead while he was doing it. The "Shrek and Donkey" routine was cute, but both Robinson and Davis have been invisible since. The Garnett-to-Pierce-to-Rondo layup was a bunch of bad plays made into a good one for all the wrong reasons.

My point is we need a payoff in Game 7 -- a real honest-to-goodness moment. Tie ball game with two minutes to go, let’s see guys make shots and build legacies. Will Kobe get his fifth title? Will Gasol shed the soft label? Will Odom shed the underachiever label and will Artest shed the wildly insane label? Will the "Big 3" go down with other Celtic greats? Will Rondo take the next step to stardom or will Kendrick Perkins get T’d up and tossed even though he isn’t playing?

 

These are the questions that need to be answered Thursday night because with a memorable Game 7, the stench of the first six games gets erased, and we remember this as an unforgettable series between two great teams even though it wasn’t and they aren’t.