On how Red Auerbach would feel about all this:

Bird: "There's no question that Red would be proud of what's transpired there in a short period of time. He was all about winning, all about championships. He built the Celtics. That was his body of work, you know. Red Auerbach is a Celtic. He'd be thrilled to death right now, probably wouldn't be able to sleep, be as nervous as the players. It would be great for him. I just wish he was around to see it."

On what Kobe Bryant has gone through over the past year:

Johnson: "I think from Kobe's side, I know that last summer was just a tough summer for not only Kobe but I think the organization. But I think that he's probably happy, just like the Laker organization, that nobody got traded, that we held strong. Mitch (Kupchak) did a wonderful job of staying the course. Kobe was right in airing that he was disappointed that we wasn't headed in a championship direction. He had to be patient. You saw what happened with (Andrew) Bynum and (Jordan) Farmar, Sasha (Vujacic), all those guys got better over the summer to, I think, Kobe's surprise. Then Mitch pulls off I thought ... you know, signing (Derek) Fisher was probably the biggest thing we did. Still, I think Trevor (Ariza), you might be seeing him in this series.

"Then Kobe got that feeling that once (Pau) Gasol got here, he could win a championship. He'll be playing for it starting on Thursday. I think, also, Kobe has had an unbelievable MVP-type season, and that's why he won it. Then right now he's having an MVP-type playoffs up and to this point. He's been on fire. He's been playing. He's focused. He's determined. All Laker fans and basketball fans are happy we stayed with the Lakers. What a show it's going to be with all these superstars that we have, stars that we have on both the Celtics and the Lakers side. I think the fans are going to be in for a treat.

"Last point I want to make is that a lot of fans that watched Larry and I, that probably were not watching the NBA quite as much, are going to come back and watch this Finals because they want to see what the Celtics and the Lakers are going to do. Then, Larry, also, too, what I like, the league is back to selling franchises, not individuals. So it's great that we're talking about the Celtics and the Lakers again, not individuals. We had got away from doing that. The NBA is only going to grow through also celebrating the franchises, not just the individuals."

On what to look for in this year's Finals:

Bird: "It's gonna be decided by who plays the best, who can handle the pressures of being in the championship series. There's so much that goes on that the outside world don't see. It's all the little things that you have to be on top of. It's key free throws that are missed. I think it's just gonna go down to who plays the best.

"One thing I see in this series that could hurt the Celtics is Kobe Bryant has been there before, he's won three championships. He'll be a steadying force for the rest of the players. They look up to him so much. When things get tough, he might be the one that can pull them through."

Magic: "Yeah, I think when you look at it, it's going to come down to -- you know Kobe is going to play well and you know Paul is going to play well. It's going to come down to Garnett and Allen and Gasol and Odom. Those four guys, whoever wins the battle on their side; the bench. You got two different scenarios: those two guys and the benches.

"So whoever wins those battles, I think, is gonna end up winning because it's always the other guys. It's just like with Larry and I, it was always the other guys. You knew Larry was going to do his thing, I was going to be able to do my thing. I think this series is going to be the same."

On the Converse commercial they shot together, which turned what had been a frosty relationship into a friendship that endures to this day:

Magic: "The great thing is his mother could cook very well (laughter). We were standing there. We went up to Larry's house. His mother cooked lunch. We had a great time. We had never really talked for any length of time. When we went up to his house, also we were standing in between takes, we were able to start talking, and lunchtime, we were able to talk, get to know each other. We were both from the Midwest. Both from families that are close. I really got to know him as a man, not just the great, great basketball player.

"I think it changed my view as far as Larry is concerned. I've always had the highest respect even back when we played in the World (University) Games when (Joe B.) Hall didn't start either one of us. Remember, Larry? We killed the starters. We were on the second team and we always beat the starters in scrimmages.

"I'm glad I finally got a chance to know him, him and his wife, his family. He got to know me. Now we're getting ready to come out with a book together next year. So we've been doing things and keeping in contact with each other. Larry is a good friend. I have nothing but the highest respect and love for him."

Bird: "You know, back in '84 when we shot that commercial, we really didn't know each other. We played in one All-Star Game together. When the ball went up, when we played against each other, everything was off. I mean, we were competitive. We wanted to win. We did whatever we had to do to get ourselves prepared. I know in the summertime, no matter how we finished up, I geared everything to playing The Finals against the Lakers. That's how I spent my summers.

"You hear guys going out and having dinner together before the games. That was never gonna happen, believe me, because we were too competitive. Leave all that stuff for the summertime.

"We did get to know one another. I had a lot of friends of mine who were big Magic fans, thought he was the type of player you'd never be able to see again. I had so much respect for him, how he handled himself, how his teams played. He was the man with the ball. He was making the decisions. It all started in '84 and it's carried on now to 24 years later."

Magic: "Exactly."