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The 2008 - 2009 NBA season certainly didn't turn out the way anyone thought it would. Although, ironically, it did end the way many thought it would - with the Lakers emerging as the ultimate victors, the 2009 World Champions.

When the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals, they didn't just beat them. It was redemption in so many ways. For Paul Pierce, it was redemption for 10 years spent on horrible teams. For Kevin Garnett, it meant redemption for always failing to lead his team to the Finals. For the Boston Celtics, it meant redemption for 22 years of being a terrible team. And it was also something else. Something that was beyond exciting to both Celtics and Lakers fans. It was the rebirth of one of the most celebrated rivalries in the history of sports - the Celtics vs. the Lakers.

A Celtics vs. Lakers NBA Finals was too good to be true. It brought us back to a time when basketball was absolutely magical. Legends were born out of this rivalry. Those of us who watched Larry Bird and Magic Johnson now watched Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant with the same excitement. With both teams remaining relatively in tact, there was every reason to believe that there would be a rematch of the 2008 Finals. And the Lakers would have come into it with a huge chip on their shoulders after being absolutely humiliated in a nearly 40 point loss the previous year. When Kevin Garnett went down with a knee injury in February, the Celtics hopes for a repeat all but disappeared.

There was also another possibility. The two players since Michael Jordan retired who everyone seems to want to compare to Michael Jordan. Lebron James vs. Kobe Bryant. The media was hyping us up for it. There were Gatorade commercials, Vitamin water commercials, Nike commercials with puppets in each players likeness. With the Celtics decimated by injuries, it was all but guaranteed.

Until it wasn't. Nobody counted on the Orlando Magic beating Lebron James and the Cavaliers. The Magic presented a huge match up problem for most teams. They had an abundance of big players who could shoot from outside the 3 point line and Dwight Howard, the league's most dominant big man since Shaquille O'Neal. The Magic made short work of the Cavaliers, despite heroic performances from Lebron James.

But the Magic were ultimately no match for the Lakers. Frankly it was a pretty boring Finals for anyone outside of LA or Orlando - with the exception of the one game that will haunt Courtney Lee for a long time. The Lakers would've been the favorites regardless of who they were playing, they were a strong team and they are almost always the media favorites anyway. But it would have been much more interesting to watch Cleveland or Boston take on LA. Hopefully one of those teams will have a chance this year.

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