Celtics and Lakers

It's great to see these teams matching up in the finals yet again. The first seven meetings took place during the Russell era, when the Celtics won them all. When the scene shifted to the 1980s, Magic outpaced Bird 2-1 (1985, 1987 vs. 1984) before Garnett, Pierce and Allen captured the 2008 crown.

With the exception of the 1959 sweep that inaugurated the series, and a five-game Celtics win in 1965, all nine other series have gone six or seven games. For Celtics fans looking for inspiration after the loss in Game 1, both the 1966 and 1984 Celtics dropped game one in Boston and went on to win in seven games. In 1969, the team drawing the greatest parallels to the 2010 club, the Celtics dropped the first two games in Los Angeles, held serve at home (in the old 2-2-1-1-1 format) then won the famous Game 7 to spoil Jack Kent Cooke's victory party.

Another bit of trivia to keep in mind: since the 2-3-2 format has been adopted, the Celtics and Lakers have played three series - 1985, 1987, and 2008. In each series, the middle three games have been split 2-1, with the road team winning all three game fours.