This basketball was issued for the 2010 NBA Finals, when the Los Angeles Lakers played 💎the Boston Celtics. The 2010 Finals would be the last such trip for a group of five current Hall of Famers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett, and close a decade in which the Lakers and Celtics combined for six titles and nine Finals appearances.

The Lakers beat the Celtics 102-89 to take the first game in the series which they wouldꦫ win in seven games to secure their sixteenth championship and Kobe Bryant’s fifth and final title.

The 2010 Finals was, without exaggeration, likely the mo🀅st anticipated championship matchup basketball has seen and represented the closing of a truly memorable chapter in💝 NBA history. 

After the “Big Three” Celtics took home the Larry O’Brien in their first year together in 2008 by defeating the Lakers in six games, it was Kobe who came back to claim his first title without Shaquille O’Neal thꦺe next season when he toppled the upstart Orlando Magic. This set up the ultimate “run-it-back” ser🐻ies between long-time rivals to settle the debate of who was the decade’s greatest team.

In Game 1, things went completely to script for Los Angeles. Kobe led the way as always with a game-high 30 points to go with 7 rebounds and 6 assists while his star teammate Pau Gasol finished with a double-double scoring 23 and pulling in 14 rebounds. Though Boston’s stars including the “Big Three” core of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen as well as first-time All-Star Rajon Rondo were moderately efficient thro♍ughout the contest, the Lakers' strong defensive effort and rebounding advantage opened up a 20-point edge entering the fourth quarter that they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Lakers would go on to win the series after seven pulse-pounding games including surviving two elimination games. Unsurprisingly, ๊Kobe was dominant through the series averaging 28.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 steals en route to his second Finals MVP award. 

While the series was captivating at the time, its importance has only grown since. In the wake of the “Big♉ Three” would come a pair of dynastic groups in Miami and Golden State that largely replicated the model popularized by the Celtics while LeBro✅n James would shortly take the torch from Kobe and stand atop the NBA world.