I celebrated, two weeks ago, while traveling in Italy, the fact that I would not be able to see the Lakers and Celtics on live television in the NBA Finals. Because 1) it would agitate me and 2) these things usually end so badly for the Lakers.

That does not mean I haven’t kept close track of the proceedings. I can’t help it. Not after nearly five decades of following the Lakers. I have “watched” this odd series progress through video highlights on espn.com and nba.com and by reading reams of online reports/commentary/analysis.

And now we are up to a Game 7 between the two great rivals, an event I know full well has consumed Los Angeles … and I not only concede I have been closely following this Finals, I wrote about it for The National’s sports section … on my third day in the department.

In this commentary piece I attempted to put Game 7 in perspective for people here who don’t follow American sports … or the NBA … or basketball at all. And more than a few of the locals in the UAE fall into one or all of those categories.

So, lots of context, background that I would never consider writing if I were based in SoCal. Making a case for “why this matters.”

If we think about it, we realize that inside a community — even one as big and sprawling as Los Angeles — large tracts of information do not need explanation or even repeating. For example: “Lakers good, Celtics bad.” …”Lakers and Celtics, big, big deal.” … “NBA Finals, something we watch closely” … and even “we know and remember the basics of basketball.”

None of that applies here on the northeast tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The population here is made up mostly of Indian and Pakistani expatriates, people from perhaps the two most populous nations in the world with little or no familiarity with basketball. They may well be avid sports fans (of cricket, in particular), but basketball? No.

Filipinos represent the third-biggest national group in the UAE (about 450,000 of them), and they like basketball quite a bit; it probably is the No. 1 sports in the Philippines. But do the Lakers and Celtics mean anything to them?  Can’t assume that.

And of the Western expats, we have to assume that Britons are the largest fraction, and they aren’t generally NBA-aware. (A co-worker in the newsroom asked, a few weeks ago, “What is the first name of this James person?” Uh, that would be “LeBron.”)

So, my goal in the commentary was to take a stab at making Game 7 accessible and perhaps worthy of some slight inspection — for these millions of people with whom I now share this hot and humid corner of the world.

“Lakers, Celtics. Big, big deal to a lot of people. And here’s why.”