The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers are the two most storied franchises in the NBA, and the rivalry has often been called the greatest in the NBA.

Their clash in the 2008 NBA Finals was the 12^th time both teams face each other in the championship battle and the first one in 21 years.

The Celtics were finally back on the big stage after they created a super-team that season. The Celtics GM Danny Ainge traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, who joined Paul Pierce, and in their very first season playing together, they put themselves in a situation to win it all.

On the other side where the Los Angeles Lakers were led by Kobe Bryant who finally proved that he can take his team to the Finals in the post-Shaq era.

The Boston Celtics won their 17th championship with a 39-point blowout win over the Lakers in Game 6, but they really won the series by pulling off a remarkable comeback victory in Game 4.

Boston trailed by 24 points with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter, and the series seemed destined to be tied at two games apiece with the Lakers hosting Game 5 a few days later.

But Doc Rivers’ squad stormed back and won 97-91 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Their 24-point comeback win still is the largest in NBA Finals history.

No team had ever overcome more than a 15-point deficit after the first quarter, and it was the largest comeback in the finals since 1971.

When the final horn sounded, Pierce, an L.A. kid playing in front of family and friends, doubled over in exhaustion and exuberance. The Celtics, the team he stuck with through 10 years, including a 24-win season in 2006-07, had done the impossible.

“It’s definitely a great win, one that you’re going to put up there in the library and break back out one day for your kids to watch,” Pierce said after the game.

Celtics’ first lead was after 44 minutes into the game. At that moment they didn’t just take over the game, but the whole series.

Trailing by 18 points at halftime and seemingly done when they fell behind by 20 with 6:04 left in the third quarter, the Celtics outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter to pull within 73-71 going into the fourth.

Boston’s comeback included a 21-3 run over the final five minutes, fueled by two 3-pointers from Eddie House, who was getting more playing time because of Rajon Rondo’s tender left ankle. The Celtics were still down by double digits with 2 minutes left in the third but closed the quarter with a 10-1 run, capped by P.J. Brown’s dunk.

The Celtics finally caught the Lakers at 73-all on Leon Powe’s jumper in the lane with 9:05 remaining, tying the score for the first time since it was 2-2 in the first minute.

At that point, the Lakers looked lost and confused. And when House hit an 18-foot jumper with 4:07 remaining, the Celtics had their first lead, 84-83.

Ray Allen then drove to the basket and made a reverse layup as dramatic as the Celtics’ comeback.

“It was huge,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “It was really supposed to be a middle pick-and-roll with Kevin and Ray, and Ray waved Kevin off because he liked the matchup that he had already, so he didn’t want to bring another defender in to help. It was a great call by Ray. The layup was just tremendous.”

Kobe Bryant tried to rally the Lakers and got them within 89-87 with one of his patented twisting layups. But James Posey drilled a 3-pointer for Boston to make it 92-87 with 1:13 left. The Lakers didn’t give up as Derek Fisher hit a long jumper and got the Lakers within three.

But Pierce was fouled and made two free throws, forcing Jackson to call a timeout with 47 seconds to go. As the Lakers headed toward their bench, Pierce pumped his fists, flexed his muscles, and let out a yell.

The Lakers missed in the next possession letting Allen land the final punch as he drove past Sasha Vujacic and hit a layup to seal the win with 16.7 seconds left in the game. Gasol never came over as the help defender, leaving Allen with an easy two points.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 20 points, followed by Allen with 19 and Posey with 18 off the bench. Garnett finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Kobe didn’t have a great night, shooting 6-for-19, for 17 points adding 10 assists. Lamar Odom was the Lakers leading scorer with 19 points while Pau Gasol had 17, Derek Fisher 13, and Vladimir Radmanovic 10.

The Lakers won Game 5 at Staples, 103-98, but were blown away by 131-92 in the next one.

That was the first NBA championship for the Celtics after 1986.

Both teams also met in the 2010 NBA Finals. The Lakers won in six games.