It’s almost time once again for NBA basketball’s grandest and biggest stage, the NBA Finals, as NBA teams jockey for that seat atop the plateau of basketball supremacy. As of this writing, the Detroit Pistons have a quarter-mile lead over the rest of the pack but don’t count teams like Miami and San Antonio just yet.

The NBA has two conferences, each having it’s set of talented teams vying for the chance to represent their respective conference for the NBA Finals.

The Eastern Conference is probably the group with more history surrounding it. Who could ever forget the team dubbed as ‘the team of the 90s,’ the Chicago Bulls, once led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, pounded on the rest of the league not once, not twice, but an astounding six times.

Also, you have the Boston Celtics, a team to rival those storied Bulls in terms of NBA Championships. Once led by the shooting giant Larry Bird, the Celtics showed the league what champions are made of with sheer determination and their devotion to being simply the best.

Of course, there’s the ‘bad boys’ of the league in the Detroit Pistons. Led by Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman, the Pistons intimidated their opponents even before their opponents had the chance to play them on the hardwood.

The Western Conference, on the other hand, are the current kings of the NBA, especially with the successful march of the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs in the last six years.

The Los Angeles Lakers, with the arrival of the Zen Master, Phil Jackson, added his six championship rings from Chicago with three more in Los Angeles. Coaching an awesome talent at the center position, something the triangle offense needs in order to flourish, in Shaquille O’Neal, and an awesome scorer in Kobe Bryant, the Lakers were simply unstoppable.

The San Antonio Spurs, on the other hand, took advantage after two great dynasties ended in the NBA. The Spurs took over the league when Michael Jordan stepped down from the game for the second time.

They did it again in 2005 when the Lakers lost their big man, Shaquille O’Neal, to Miami, rendering the once mighty Lakers, powerless.

Today, these teams have a new set of players but they still carry in their shoulders the same tradition that propelled the name on their chests at the top. It remains to be seen whether they will step up the plate to continue their legacy in the NBA. All these questions will be answered in the NBA Finals and the basketball world will finally determine who really is at the top of the food chain.