As Kobe Bryant hits Cleveland for another stop on his "farewell tour," you can't help but rack your brain for memorable moments involving the Lakers star and LeBron James.
After all, both are pre-eminent names that have helped define a generation of basketball.
Try and try as you might to come up with some classic lasting image between the two, there isn't one. What sticks out is a void -- a "what if" to which we'll never get an answer.
In their primes, an NBA Finals duel between the sharp-shooting Bryant and the multi-dimensional James would have offered mouth-watering possibilities.
The 2008-09 season seemed like the one in which this fantasy was meant to reach fruition. Both the Lakers and Cavaliers were the leaders of their respective conferences, each with 65 or more wins and on a collision course to meet for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and the Orlando Magic had other ideas.
Stan Van Gundy's crew upset the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals despite James' best efforts, which were monumental. James was historic in that series -- he averaged 38 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game - but unlike in '07 when he carried Cleveland over Detroit (literally single-handedly in the unforgettable Game 5), he couldn't set up the Finals mega-matchup.
Instead, the Magic represented the Eastern Conference -- and were put aside by the Lakers in five games. Bryant went on to win another title the next season, James' last in his first stint in Cleveland.
Get this: Since 2007, every NBA Finals has included either James or Bryant. That's nearly a decade of dominance. Yet somehow, improbably, their paths never crossed on that stage.
Kobe's Lakers went to three straight Finals, beginning the year after the Spurs swept LeBron's Cavs.
LeBron's "Big Three" in Miami went to four straight Finals, starting the year after Kobe won his fifth title.
Plenty is different now as the two prepare for a penultimate meeting Wednesday (the final one comes a month from now out west). James at 31 is very much the same versatile player -- he notched his 40th career triple-double Monday night -- but has embraced further the role of a leader in mentoring the younger group of Cavs.
Bryant's game has greatly diminished, the glimpses of his past glory brief at best these days.
When they take the court at Quicken Loans Arena, it'll be hard not to imagine what could've been years ago -- basketball's marquee players meeting under the sport's brightest lights.
Those fickle basketball gods giveth and taketh. On this one, they flat out robbed us.
