Sport and Cinema.com

In a renewal of one of sports history’s greatest rivalries, Boston and Los Angeles meet yet again for the NBA crown. Beginning this week at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a new chapter begins as the Lakers and Celtics meet for the second time in three years, and the 12th time overall.

In clinching their first round playoff series against Chicago Tuesday night, the Cavaliers did not look like the runaway freight train that carried them through the regular season.

The strain on Kobe to carry a team that was supposed to lean more on Ron Artest and Lamar Odom has been evident down the stretch. The health concerns of Andrew Bynum will likely increase the burden on Bryant. For the Thunder to have a shot, they will need to have Russell Westbrook step up as it is likely that Kevin Durant will be slowed from the attention showered on him by the Lakers D.

This is the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Orlando Magic, two worthy groups of talented players to determine the best TEAM in professional basketball. The hype of “Kobe vs. LeBron” doesn’t work just like “Kobe vs Dwight” doesn’t work. While they are their team’s respective leaders, Bryant and Howard don’t face each other in direct mano-a-mano competition for 48 minutes like a hardwood version of Ali vs. Frazier. They play different positions in a team game. Having said that it may still come down to how the respective opposing defenses handle these two stars. But there are a lot more contributing factors involved.

With back-to-back playoff sweeps, the Cavs have cruised to this point. The holiday shouldn’t make them too rusty, however Orlando’s confidence has to be sky high coming off a grand performance knocking off the defending champions IN Boston in game 7 of their series on Sunday.

With only Chicago through to the next round after their exciting six game series against Vancouver, all three remaining matchups come down to a seventh game.

Anaheim vs. Detroit

The Red Wings had clinched their last eight playoff series wins with victories on the road and looked to do the dame here, but Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist and Jonas Hiller made 38 saves as the Ducks beat the Red Wings 2-1 last night to force a decisive Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan added assists for the Ducks, who built a two-goal lead in the second period and managed to shut down the Red Wings until Johan Franzen brought Detroit within a goal with 2:25 to play.

Facing elimination, the Ducks returned to the form that carried the team to a league-best 10-2-1 mark in the final weeks of the season, then through a first-round upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks.

The incomparable stadium with an unmatched history is the site for these pitching gems as Major League Baseball Productions presents six historic New York Yankee games on six DVDs. Part of this compelling package includes the telecast of Don Larsen’s Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series which has never been available on DVD.

A powerful heart of the order Carlos Quentin, Jermain Dye Paul Konerko and Jim Thome should keep them in games, but there has been a lot of personnel changes.

The youth movement includes rookie sensation Alexei Ramirez who will play shortstop with Orlando Cabrera going to Oakland. There will be competition between two youngsters at the hot corner- John Fields and Cuban import Dayan Viciedo.