61.   Top-seeded Oklahoma, the conference champion, will face fourth-seeded Texas Tech, in the second game in Boise on Saturday night.

62.   To advance to their first National Basketball Association finals in eight seasons, the Lakers must beat the defending conference champions in four of the next five games.

63.   Try conference champions.

64.   Twenty-six years ago, the national tournament was open only to conference champions, plus select independents.

65.   With conferences too large for teams to play everyone in the league, something had to be done to determine a conference champion.

66.   As fans created a deafening ovation at McNichols Arena, Avalanche players hoisted the Clarence Campbell Bowl as conference champions.

67.   But the Celtics exceeded expectations by making it to the Eastern Conference finals, beating defending conference champion Philadelphia and Central Division winner Detroit.

68.   That could be significant since fifth place means a first-round series against Cleveland, while the seventh-place team gets defending conference champion Orlando.

69.   The five-game home streak is well short of the franchise record of nine, but comes at an opportune time for the defending conference champions.

70.   The Sixers, who won the Eastern Conference last year, were the first conference champions to lose their first five games the following season.