Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients

1. Coaching:
Phil Jackson, Greg Pop, Larry Brown and Doc Rivers are the only active coaches that have coached NBA champions over the course of the last 15 years. The only other coach to win a title in that span is Miami Heat President and GM Pat Riley, who is certainly no stranger to championship parades.

Each coach has their own unique style and coaching philosophy but each have the ability to coach to their teams’ strength and with the exception of Brown, a 1st ballot Hall of Famer as their teams best player.

Helper:
Doc Rivers was able to mesh egos and got 3 franchise players to buy into playing as 1. His coaching job was critically vital to his teams’ success. He also was able to bring along and instill confidence in his two younger starters to provide meaningful contributions on the road to Title # 17 in the franchises long and storied history.

2. An MVP Caliber Player.
Tim Duncan, Shaq and Kevin Garnett are the only active players to win an NBA Championship having previously won an NBA MVP. These players also represent 9 of the past 10 NBA Champions. An MVP caliber player is a key ingredient to an NBA champion.

Helper:
Kevin Garnett is without question the best player on the Celtics and the reason Paul Pierce was able to play up to his potential not having to do everything like K.G. still had to do. For the 2007 playoffs the Big Ticket led the Celtics in scoring, rebounding and blocks. Without that effort, the Celtics do not win an NBA Title. That's what MVP's do and Garnett "does" that. K.G. was the NBA MVP in 2004.

3. Chemistry.
Good teams can be great if their chemistry is on point. Take a look at the 2004 Detroit Pistons for the perfect example of this. They are the ONLY team to win an NBA title in the last 20 years to not have a former MVP or clear cut 1st ballot Hall of Famer in their main rotation. Larry Brown did a fantastic job meshing the dynamic personality of a Rasheed Wallace wit "squares" like Prince and Rip. Sheed, Big Ben Wallace or Chauncey Billups could be argued as the teams’ best player and none of them at that time could be considered "franchise" players. That team appeared to actually like playing with each other and it showed. That great chemistry beat a Laker team that started 4 absolute lock 1st ballot Hall of Famers (Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Shaq and Kobe).

Helper:
The 2007-08 Boston Celtics had a total of 5 players (Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Leon Powe, Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrini) that played on the 24 win team from the previous season. With the additions of fiery players like Garnett and sharp shooter Eddie House to go along with the mid season addition of perennial hot head Sam Cassell, chemistry sure could have been a problem. Since one of our key ingredients (coaching) was so much of a catalyst, chemistry never became an issue. The maturity of Garnett and Allen also played a key factor in the teams’ excellent chemistry. They were both used to carrying their previous franchises but deferred a leadership role to incumbent star Pierce.

4. Bench Impact.
Championships can be won with superior bench performances (see Robert "Big Shot Bob" Horry in this generation or go back and look up Vinny "Microwave" Johnson) and lost with a lack of one (see 2007 Cleveland Cavs). This ingredient is underrated but essential. If you have the best player in the series chances are you will still win. But remember Shaq has lost in the Finals and so has Kobe. Twice. That means you need every edge possible and a great bench performer is the best way to go. San Antonio won the NBA title in 2005 against the defending champion Detroit Pistons not because they had the better team but because they had the best player in the series (Tim Duncan) and arguably the second best player in that series came off the bench (Manu Ginobili). Detroit could not match the instant offense Manu provided and he was as dominant as Duncan in stretches during that series. "Big Shot Bob" Horry also came off the Spurs bench to provide his annual championship heroics.

Helper:
James Posey
It could be argued that C's super sub James Posey who harassed and haggled Kobe Bryant into around 40% fg shooting throughout the 2008 NBA Finals was the real Finals MVP. Posey was also the teams’ leader in 3pt fg % in the Finals and made several big time shots in the clutch.

Leon Powe
Powe came off the C's bench in game 2 and scored 22 points in one of the most surprising performances of the Finals.

With dominant bench performances on the biggest stage the entire outcome would seem to be inevitable.

5. Luck.
Injuries are a part of the game and that is a fact. But MVP's are MVP's because when it is crunch time they are not in with the trainer but on the court waiting to taste champagne. Mike Jordan, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan and Shaq all won Finals MVP's and regular season MVP's because when they were at their best they were better than anyone else. And in order to be THAT good they had to be there. And they were.

Luck also can be a ping pong ball (San Antonio getting Tim Duncan when they already had D. Robinson) or a draft day surprise (Kevin McHale or Scottie Pippen).

Helper:
When you combine 3 prime time players all over the age of 30 there is always a high probability of injury. None of the 2007-08 BIG 3 missed a playoff game which was absolutely critical to their title run. K.G. who originally refused to play for the C's prior to them obtaining Ray Allen sang another tune once the C's made the draft night trade with the then Sonics. That bit of "luck" is what enabled the re-birth of the Big 3 in Boston and the eventual championship result.

Additive:
Hunger (who wants it most).
Kevin Garnett plays with such heart, desire and fury it is evident night in and night out that he "wants" it more than anyone else. None of the Big 3 had ever made it to the NBA Finals so the hunger that K.G. played with on a nightly basis certainly resonated in the minds and hearts of Pierce and Allen. Each player had achieved enough individual recognition to justify a good/great career. In K.G.'s case it was whispers of not being able to win the big one as his teams’ best player that fueled the fire even more. Well in June of 2008 that hunger was finally fed.

Directions:

Simply take all 5 ingredients add a little hunger and some home cooking and voila ... a WINNER.

Teams currently in the kitchen ... making STEW.

Boston Celtics - They lost 1 key ingredient in James Posey but for the most part everything remains in tact and they should be considered the favorites.

Los Angelas Lakers - The Lakers moved Lamar Odom back to his starting role and seem to have all of the items needed for a championship recipe.

Cleveland Cavs - The coach is a little underrated but then again he has Lebron James the games most dynamic all around superstar so his job is that much easier. The bench is solid with Varejo, Wally, Pavlovic and Boobie. And the second fiddle Moe Williams is clutch. All they need now is a little luck.

San Antonio Spurs - If the Spurs can remain healthy they have as good a chance as anyone. They have every ingredient needed and they have done it before. 3 times actually.