By Kevin Asseo BBC Sport Online's US reporter

Game one of the best-of-seven NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Jersey Nets tips off on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Lakers are one step away from the achievement that could write them into history as one of the greatest sides of the modern era.

Win the NBA Finals and they will have won three championships on the trot.

Standing in the way of the Lakers are the New Jersey Nets, a team that shocked everyone in the league with their remarkable single-season turnaround.

Kidd: The best point guard in the league

The Nets have long been one of the worst franchises in the NBA - perennial losers - but the off-season trade that brought in point guard Jason Kidd suddenly turned them into play-off contenders.

It is astounding what a difference just one player has made.

The Nets finished the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference and then, after a difficult series against the Indiana Pacers, breezed past the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics to reach the Finals.

By contrast, the Lakers path to the Finals got rockier as the post-season progressed.

The Kidd factor

Los Angeles had no problem with Portland and San Antonio in the first two rounds, but barely survived their Western Conference Finals series against the Sacramento Kings, winning the decisive seventh game in overtime.

Given the two sides' respective backgrounds - the Lakers are 13-times NBA champions while the Nets have never been to an NBA Finals - it would appear this series could be quite uneven.

But throw the reputations out the window and things may be closer than many predict.

Jackson: The mastermind behind the Lakers

The teams met twice in the regular season, with each winning the game on their home court, although the Nets' win came when Lakers' centre Shaquille O'Neal was out with a wrist injury.

As the Kings' Mike Bibby showed in the Sacramento-Los Angeles series, an outstanding point guard can give the Lakers trouble.

And the Nets happen to have Kidd, the best point guard in the NBA.

It is safe to say the Nets will employ the same up-tempo, "run-and-gun" style the Kings used so effectively against the Lakers.

Defensively, however, the Nets are faced with the same problem that has plagued all Lakers' opponents these past few years - how do you stop O'Neal and Kobe Bryant?

Lakers in six

Against O'Neal, the Nets have the luxury of having a trio of centres - Aaron Williams, Todd MacCulloch and Jason Collins.

Whether they will have any effect is another story.

The Kobe Bryant-Jason Kidd clash should be the most entertaining of these Finals.

Both can dominate from the guard position, but in different ways.

Bryant can control a game through his explosive scoring bursts, while Kidd takes over with his ability to push the ball through traffic and create easy scoring opportunities for his team-mates.

Look for the Lakers and Nets to play to a standstill in the first four games, as the Lakers recover from their gruelling series with the Kings and come to terms with how to handle the fast-break wizardry of Kidd.

But with the benefit of home court advantage, and having the two best players in the league - O'Neal and Bryant - on their side, the Lakers will send New Jersey home in six games.