NEW YORK — Last season the NBA and its fans got what they sold their souls for, a showdown between the Celtics and Lakers . . . the league's two most venerated and decorated franchises.

Too bad their Game 6 inequality wasn't worth the 19-year wait.

This season, outside of leprechauns hemorrhaging green, we're all drooling for a June monsoon of LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant.