They're hot and they're loud and they're personal, filled with all due respect and the familiarity that breeds contempt.

Nothing in the NBA pantheon can touch Celtics-Lakers. One side has 17 championships, the other 16. They have met a dozen times in The Finals.

Russell in his last season with Boston beating Wilt in his first season in L.A. Bird vs. Magic all through the 1980s.

Other rivalries have flared up over the years -- Bulls-Pistons, Knicks-Heat, Warriors-Clippers.

But for the better part of the past two decades, the best rivalry in the game has been Lakers-Spurs. Kobe Bryant vs. Tim Duncan.

It is the quintessential rivalry, made of both form and function.

The Lakers have always been the NBA's glamor team with their Hollywood trappings and flamboyant solo artists. The Spurs are the small-market band that has always had trouble attracting a TV audience outside the city limits.

Bryant arrived as precocious teenager to L.A. in 1996, grabbing the league by its lapels and forcing everyone to sit up and take notice, all singular talent and sharp edges. Duncan was drafted and arrived in San Antonio a year later, a taciturn 22 year old with four years of collegiate experience and a mature, polished game.

They have won 10 championships between them, a fitting five apiece. They have met seven times in playoffs (Lakers 4-3), with the winner going to The Finals each time. Four times the winner of their series went on to claim the championship.

There has been a running debate about which of them has led the true dynasty of their generation. Kobe's Lakers with their "three-peat" from 2000 to 2002, then back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010? Or Tim's Spurs with their five championships stretched out over an astounding 15 years from 1999 to 2014?