The Celtics haven't won a title since Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish led them past Houston in 1986. Boston and the Lakers of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA in the 1980s: From 1980-88, the two rivals won all but one of the nine NBA championships -- three for Boston, five for Los Angeles (and one for the Philadelphia 76ers) -- and met for the title three times in four years.

It will be the 11th championship meeting between the franchises, with Boston winning eight of its NBA-best 16 titles against the Lakers. But Los Angeles won the last two, in 1985 and '87.

Here's some more numbers for you to chew on: 

0 - Number of titles Kobe Bryant, in the Finals after his first regular season NBA MVP year, has won without Shaquile O'Neal

0 - World title series that Boston's Big 3 - Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen - have played in

2 - Games the Celtics and Lakers played against each this season, Boston won both

3 - Titles won by Lakers with Kobe and Shaq from 2000 thru 2002 

11 - Lakers vs. Celtics in the Finals together for the 11th time

14 - Lakers have won 14 championships -- nine in Los Angeles and five in Minneapolis

20 - Celtics showing up for their team's 20th Finals appearance.

24 - The number of wins that Boston mustered in 2006-07 compared to their 66 this year

31 - After this series, the Lakers and Celtics combined will own 31 of the 62 NBA titles

32- Kobe Bryant is averaging 31.9 ppg during the playoff this season