"The teams with the best records in their respective conferences will meet tonight and, in a stunning blow to those who manufacture bright lights and hype, neither LeBron James nor Kobe Bryant will be in the building.

You'll just have to settle for good basketball. Please accept the apologies of the prime-time gods.

The Celtics still aren't near full capacity because of injury (two of their starters and a key reserve remain out), but their group approach to problem solving has landed them at 26-7. The Spurs rolled into New York last night with a best-in-league 29-4 record.

Putting aside the drama the Lakers or Heat could bring to June, Boston-San Antonio may well be the best pure Finals matchup available. The Celts would sign up for it in a heartbeat.

The only problem from a Green point of view is the economic hit to the T-shirt makers who spur their sales with venomous verbiage. It is, alas, hard to spur against the Spurs.

"You can hate a lot of teams for a lot of different reasons, but not that team," said Jermaine O'Neal. "They don't talk. They don't say much. They just go out and play and win games. You admire that as a player."

The Celtics love to work themselves into a lather, finding reasons to revile their opponents. Kevin Garnett leaves no motivational stone unturned. "Hey, that mascot looked at me funny."

But nobody doesn't like the San Antonio Spurs.

"Yeah, because they go about their business quietly and just kick everybody's (butt)," said Paul Pierce, smiling as he spoke. "They don't say anything. They just stay under the radar and win."

Tim Duncan may be the most unassuming superstar the NBA has ever seen, while Tony Parker has received more attention for his marriage and divorce, and Manu Ginobili plays with the poise of an international jewel thief. The last Spur to draw ire was Bruce Bowen, and people didn't seem to mind his dirty fouls so much when he was committing them against Kobe."