Matchup decisions made by coaches in the NBA Finals have a long history of determining the league championship.
In 1975, Washington's K.C. Jones made the wrong move when he assigned Mike Riordan to defend Golden State's Rick Barry, who averaged 40.8 points a game and was named Finals MVP after leading the Warriors to a 4-0 sweep.
In 1991, then-Chicago coach Phil Jackson made the right choice when he had Scottie Pippen defend Lakers point guard Magic Johnson, and that helped the Bulls win the series in five games.
In 2004, Detroit's Larry Brown decided correctly to have undersized Ben Wallace defend the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal, and even though O'Neal put up big numbers the Pistons wrapped the series up in five games.
This year, the Lakers' Jackson and Boston's Doc Rivers are the coaches under the spotlight. Their decisions on matchups will go a long way in determining this year's NBA championship. Here are a couple to follow:
Kobe Bryant vs. Ray Allen
Even if Allen has a flashback to 2001, when he averaged 25 points and shot 47% in 18 playoff games for Milwaukee, it's highly doubtful that he'll be able to keep up with Bryant, who has taken his game to a higher and more consistent level this postseason.
But Allen can have a huge impact on the series if he can avoid picking up ill-advised fouls and can make Bryant work for his points. Allen, who has a long history of defending Bryant, has to be able to keep his feet moving without grabbing -- something easier said than done.
Don't be surprise to see the Celtics also throw a heavy dose of James Posey, along with Paul Pierce and even Kevin Garnett, against the league's most valuable player.
The key for the Celtics will be their defensive rotations underneath the basket against Bryant. They have to make sure that all five defenders are ready to make a play whenever Bryant has the ball in attack position.
If Boston is able to get this done and make Bryant attempt to carry the Lakers' offense as a jump shooter from outside the lane, they'll have a chance to pull off an upset in the series.
Paul Pierce vs. Vladimir Radmanovic
At first glance, this appears to be a major mismatch. But it really isn't. Radmanovic has been playing his best basketball of the season in the playoffs and has size that can give Pierce problems.
