Last Wednesday night, after most East Coast fans had gone to bed, a dream died.

The 2025 NBA Finals will not be Celtics vs. Lakers. That means this championship-caliber era of the Celtics won’t clash with the LeBron & Luka Lakers in the Finals.

As matchups to hope for in the finals go, nothing else was even close to a potential showdown between the NBA’s two signature franchises.

Even Celtics fans should be a little disappointed to see the Timberwolves beat L.A. Boston obviously has two tough hurdles to clear to even reach the finals, but the Lakers definitely won’t be there now.

The possibility of another epic matchup with their cross-continental archrivals was always something fun to look forward to, but that dream didn’t get out of the first round.

All championships are great. And if the Celtics hadn’t won last year, it wouldn’t have mattered who they faced in any round this year. And if they win again this year, it would still be special. Repeating is rare and hard to do.

This chapter in the history of both franchises is missing a resumption of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry with a banner on the line. This one would have been especially fun — the Celtics’ Laker rivalry and their LeBron rivalry shoe-horned into the same series.

James has had epic playoff series against Boston with the Heat and the Cavaliers, but never as a Laker.

“Those moments that you get to play against him, you should cherish and you should go out there and compete,” Jayson Tatum said. “He’s somebody I got a lot of respect for. You earn respect by going at those guys.”

Tatum said that back in March, after a regular-season game. The magnitude of those moments would have increased drastically in the NBA Finals.

But Tatum and Jaylen Brown might never get their chance to go at those guys on an NBA Finals stage. Unlike so many of their Celtics ancestors, they might not get their moment vs. the Lakers.

LeBron James is 40. Consistent health is becoming more elusive for him. If his window didn’t shut Wednesday night, it’s only open a crack.

Unless there are more teams ready to offer the Lakers’ generational talents at discounted prices, maneuvering through the salary cap to rebuild around Luka Doncic won’t be easy for the Lakers.

And the Celtics have their own issues. They are going to have to make some difficult roster moves because of the luxury tax after the season.

The Thunder are the best team in the West and maybe the best in the entire NBA. They should be either the favorite to win the title or the co-favorite with Boston and could beat the Celtics if they meet in the Finals.

But they don’t bring nearly the same juice to a series as the Lakers would have. Neither does Denver, Minnesota, Houston or even the Clippers.

A rematch with the Warriors would be fun. Boston’s history with Jimmy Butler would add a nice wrinkle, but Golden State is a long shot as the No. 7 seed. And it would still be a consolation prize compared to the 13th NBA Finals with the Lakers.

New Boston uniforms are coming

The rest of 2025 figures to be the Year of the New Uniform in Boston.

Being in the AFC East, the Patriots will be among the first teams to debut their new rivalry series gear.

The Red Sox still haven’t revealed their new City Connect uniforms that reportedly have a Green Monster theme.

The Bruins will have a couple of new uniforms now that all their Centennial Season celebration is over. They’ll have a special jersey for their Stadium Series game at Tampa and likely a new third jersey that may have already been leaked.

A CBC story on the impact of tariffs showed a Canadian factory making a Bruins jersey that looked like their Ray Bourque-Rick Middleton Era black jerseys from the 1980s.

The company only makes authentic jerseys, so it wasn’t throwback merchandise.

Imagine if Belichick was still here

It’s fascinating to think what might have happened if Bill Belichick was still coaching New England when he fell in love most famous alum of Bridgewater State’s philosophy program.

Carolina is still hoping none of this matters. Having their coach involved in a weird relationship scandal just makes Tar Heels fans feel like they are in the SEC, where coach love life shenanigans are just part of the experience.

But if all of this was still happening in Foxborough, there would be even more rings to this circus.

Would his relationship with Jordon Hudson have still reached a place where she was inserting her influence into everything and disrupting the day-to-day inner workings of the Patriots?

Would Robert Kraft have let that happen? Would the presence of Berj Najarian and other people Belichick already trusted have kept her on the metaphorical sideline and off of the actual one?

Too little and too much

As it turns out, getting a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick for Trent Frederic looks like a terrific deal for the Bruins. Seeing how healthy he is and how well he’s playing now, getting just a conditional pick for Brad Marchand wasn’t nearly enough.

Real Jeopardy! Clue

Sports clues from actual editions of America’s favorite quiz show. As always, mind the date:

CATEGORY: FICTIONAL MOVIE SPORTS TEAMS $800: May 22, 2024

A lead character in “Whip It” is Babe Ruthless, a jammer on the Hurl Scouts team in this sport

— Answer below

The Top 5

Top 5 ESPN Employees Who’d Make a Better President Than Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith said lots of people have told him he should run for president. I don’t share that opinion. He wouldn’t even be in my top 5 ESPN-employed presidential candidates. Or my top 50, but since this is a top 5…

I have no idea where any of these people fall politically. This is simply whether their on-air personas make them look presidential or not.

5 – Tim Kurkjian –Can a truly good man be elected president? That’s always the question. This is the test.

4 – Jay Bilas – Has a law degree. Quick on his feet. Understands complex things.

3 – Chiney Ogwumike – Smart. Charismatic and knowledgeable about a lot of things. Is already doing things to make the world better.

2 – Mina Kimes – She’s smarter than like 98 percent of the population.

1 – Scott van Pelt – Thoughtful, intelligent, adapts to a situation, I might actually vote for him.

Honorable mention: Pretty much everyone else

Today in Boston Sports History

May 2

In 2017, Isaiah Thomas hit the high-water mark of his NBA career with a Celtics-playoff-record 53 points in second-round series win over Washington.

Real Jeopardy! Question:

What is Roller Derby

Headline Crystal Ball:

Sunday:

I’ll take Publisher and American Promise to place and show to complete my trifecta of horses with names of things I believe in.

Last week: Celtics make Magic disappear. I saw it would be after Game 4, but I was still on the right path.

Finally…

If you need me, I’ll be watching the Kentucky Derby.