Does the NBA Absolutely Need a Kobe-LeBron Finals?

With the much-beloved Celtics booted from the playoffs and officially unable to create a potential showdown between Boston and L.A., the NBA is faced with the possibility of an incredibly lame finals. The amount of indifference many casual basketball fans would feel for a Cleveland-Denver or, God forbid, an Orlando-Denver championship series is hard to fathom. The only scenario more boring might be allowing the Spurs to play a few games.

From our standpoint, there is only one way the NBA finals can be of any interest: Cavs-Lakers, a matchup pitting the game's two best players, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, against each other. In other words, commissioner David Stern needs to place a few calls to the conference final referees to make sure Cavaliers-Lakers happens or face the possibility of TV ratings similar to whatever the networks have on opposite of "American Idol."

What do you think? Let us know in our poll, and check out some other sports-related stories on our radar below:
Bills' fullback arrested for publicly stroking it. (Kissing Suzy Kolber)
Jon Gruden added to the "Monday Night Football" huddle. (Fanhouse)
Silvas to clash in UFC 99? (Cage Potato)