Pray for a Celtics-Lakers final while you can still get it

Paul Pierce didn’t plan to Tebow on Tuesday night. He just followed his instincts.

If you want the best NBA Finals, your instincts should mimic Pierce’s. Drop to one knee and pray for Boston-LA.

—Paul Pierce says half-court Tebow was ‘just came to me’

It had almost no prayer of happening when the playoffs began. After Tuesday night, we can at least Tebow without being called idiots.

Romantic fools, maybe. You can even call us old farts for wanting to see Lakers-Celtics instead of Miami-Oklahoma City.

The Heat-Thunder is the trendy Finals pick, and it certainly has appeal. It just doesn’t have as much appeal as Boston and Los Angeles.

For one thing, if LeBron James wins a title, we’d have nothing left to make fun of him with. But the main reason we can wait for a Heat-Thunder Finals is we’re likely to get five of them in the next six years.

After this year, we’re not likely to see Boston-LA in Jack Nicholson’s lifetime. It’s an upset we’re even seeing them now considering the past few months.

The only thing more fragile than Kobe Bryant’s body was Pau Gasol’s head. Andrew Bynum was great when he wasn’t getting benched for jacking up 3-pointers. Metta World Peace needs no further comment.

Boston’s Big Three were declared a national historic landmark years ago. Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett somehow are still standing, though Allen has trouble doing that.

He’s been out with a bad ankle. Rajon Rondo was suspended for bumping a ref in Game 1 against Atlanta. All that meant the Hawks should have had a 2-0 lead after Tuesday night’s game.

Along came Pierce, who had 36 points and 14 rebounds in 44 trying minutes. Late in the fourth quarter of the 87-80 win, he went Tebow at midcourt.

“I wasn’t thinking about it,” Pierce said. “It was instinctive. Just like when I’m going to shoot a three or a jumper. It was instincts.”

A couple of hours later at the Staples Center, Bryant’s scoring instincts produced 38 points and a 104-100 win over Denver. Since Kobe arrived in 1997, the Lakers have never lost a series they led 2-0.

Bynum and Gasol are playing great, and World Peace will return in the next round. The Thunder and Spurs still lurk in the West, while the East has been decimated down to Miami.

So when it comes to an LA-Boston Finals, your head still asks why? Your heart says why not?

It would be like the Grateful Dead getting back together for a final concert. If you didn’t like the Grateful Dead, substitute Beatles or Led Zeppelin or Elvis and TCB Band.

Oklahoma City vs. Miami would be Taylor Swift vs. Lady Gaga. Kevin Durant wasn’t even alive when the first “Beat LA!” cheer rose in Boston Garden.

The NBA Finals came of age when Magic threw down his baby sky hook and Kevin McHale threw down Kurt Rambis. To players like Durant, Russell and Chamberlain might as well be Lewis and Clark.

I realize none of the aforementioned gentlemen would be playing in this year’s Finals. But it’d be nice to see the two greatest franchises in NBA history clash one more time.

Boston and LA have won 33 titles. The current tally:

Celtics 17, Lakers 16.

A Heat-Thunder series would have great players. A Lakers-Celtics series would have great history and great players we may not see again.

“Too old for this,” Pierce tweeted after Tuesday’s game. “I need a bed right now!!”

Suck it up, Paul. After this season, the Celtics and Lakers will go into hibernation. So follow your instincts, NBA fans.

Just one more time, wouldn’t you like to see Nicholson’s sideline smirk and hear “Beat LA!”

“Beat Oklahoma City!” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.