These Finals stuffed with juicy storylines and subplots

Whether it's Elgin Baylor's 61 points, Frank Selvy's miss, the Memorial Day Massacre, Kevin McHale's clothesline on Kurt Rambis, Magic Johnson's junior, junior skyhook in the lane, the heat game, "Henderson steals the ball" or the balloons in the rafters, there are always plenty of stories to come out of any NBA Finals clash between the Celtics and Lakers.

Here are 10 storylines for the 2010 edition:

1. The Dish Served Cold: Kobe Bryant will look you right in the eye and say it's not about revenge. And if you believe that anywhere around Boston, then there's probably somebody who will sell you Faneuil Hall for a pocketful of baked beans, too. In marking off the checklist toward his legacy, beating the Celtics probably ranks right behind winning a championship without Shaquille O'Neal. This is the guy who said he wanted to return the favor to Phoenix for knocking the Lakers out in the first round of 2006 and 2007. No lingering ill will? No memories of 2008 stuck in his craw? Puh-leeze.

2. Pau or Pow?: The last time Boston and L.A. met in the Finals, Pau Gasol had been wearing the purple and gold for only a matter of months, was still finding his way in the triangle offense and often played tentatively. The Celtics came at him with their horde of big bodies and pounded Gasol from start to finish. Two years later, Gasol hasn't beefed up with ripped muscles, but has added an air of confidence and isn't as easily thrown off or taken completely out of his game. The Lakers will have to get the ball in the low post and let him use his assortment of nifty moves around the hoop if they're going to change the outcome.

3. Help me, Rondo: Back in 2008, when the playoffs began, Rajon Rondo was considered the weak link in the Celtics' plans to go all the way to the title. He stood up to the heat all through this postseason and is clearly Boston's best individual player. If the Lakers can't find a way to keep him from wreaking havoc in the open floor or getting into the middle of their defense, the outcome will be the same as the last time.

4. Drain-O: The Lakers have been prevailing consistently in the playoffs by taking advantage of the tremendous size they can put across the front line. But to have that wall of 7-footers be productive, they'll need center Andrew Bynum to shake off any effects from having fluid drained from his right knee and bounce back from the uneven and sometimes downright ineffective showing he had against Phoenix. A Bynum who can move and finish around the hoop gets the attention of the Boston defense and makes Kobe more lethal.

5. The Godfather of Soul: Let's face it, only the late James Brown milked the same act of picking himself up off the floor more than the Celtics' Paul Pierce. Anytime Pierce hits the floor, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has another nominee for best actor. Who can forget the image of Pierce leaving the court in a wheelchair due to a knee injury in Game 1 back in 2008? Then five minutes later he's back on the floor to the strain of the Rocky theme, burying jumpers and burying the Lakers. Everybody knows that Pierce will go down at least once in the series. It's what the Lakers can do when he finally gets back up that will make a difference.

6. The Bee's Knees: Can Kevin Garnett and his balky knees stay healthy and active over the course of a long series? Especially after what has been a long playoff season already? It was Garnett's ability to be all over the floor, double-teaming and covering up for teammates on defense, that gave Boston its edge in 2008. It was the absence of a healthy and totally sharp Garnett that made the Celtics just a so-so club for much of the regular season. If Garnett shows any sign of losing his edge, the Lakers will have the opening they need.

7. Ron Like the Wind: There are Pacific Ocean breezes that are more predictable than Ron Artest. The longer he talks in any given conversation, the less sense he seems to make. But he does always play hard and he can play very, very rough. He can be the difference in how the Lakers stand up to the physical style of the Celtics and he'll get plenty of opportunity to make them pay with his offense because Boston will be focused on keeping Bryant in a bottle. When they signed him last summer, the Lakers had visions of walking back into The Finals with a new weapon -- "Say hello to my little friend."

8. Lamar's wakeup call: It seems to be part of the normal routine with Lamar Odom. He starts out playing passively. He has his intensity and his desire questioned by everyone. Then he comes out and is nothing short of a wonder, crashing the boards, dropping in put-back hoops and dishing off to Bryant and Gasol to hang up a stat line that is close to a triple-double. Since his new wife Khloe Kardashian is now expecting the couple's first child, maybe Odom is already waking up early without the alarm clock and will be primed to hit the Celtics with all of his varied skills from the tipoff.

9. Temper, temper: The good news for the Celtics was that the NBA office rescinded that second technical foul against Kendrick Perkins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. That made him eligible to play in the Game 6 clincher over Orlando. The bad news is that Perkins comes into the Finals just one scowl or epithet or elbow away from having to serve a one-game suspension, which would make life easier for Gasol and open up all kinds of space in the middle.

10. Fun with Phil: No playoffs series ever really begin until Lakers coach Phil Jackson tosses out his first barb. "We don't have a smackdown mentality," he said of the Lakers. "You might have seen that with Garnett on [Orlando's Dwight] Howard in Game 6 in Boston, where he was smacking Howard's arm and was finally called for an offensive foul. That's not our kind of team. We don't go out there to smack people around." In 2008, it was Jackson who mocked Pierce's dramatic return from the wheelchair in Game 1. "I don't know if the angels visited him at halftime or in that timeout period that he had or not, but he didn't even limp when he came back out on the floor. I don't know what was going on there. Was Oral Roberts back there in their locker room?" He won't score a bucket, but Jackson is always fun to listen to and watch.

Fran Blinebury has covered the NBA since 1977. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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