Professional basketball’s most glamorous rivalry and stock...

Professional basketball’s most glamorous rivalry and stock car racing’s premier event highlight the weekend’s sports television viewing choices.

Although they are no longer the National Basketball Assn.’s two best teams, there is still a certain mystique and dare we say magic when the Lakers face the Celtics. The storied adversaries meet in what figures to be their last match-up before December at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on Channels 2 and 8.

Unlike every other sport whose stellar attraction comes at the middle or conclusion of the season, stock car racing’s NASCAR circuit begins its campaign with its top event, the Daytona 500. The race will be carried by Channels 2 and 8 begining at 9 a.m. Sunday

After last weekend’s lackluster schedule, there are several attractive college basketball match-ups this weekend. No. 19 Loyola visits rival Pepperdine for a 7:30 p.m. SportsChannel telecast tonight. Sunday, No. 2 Missouri faces No. 11 Oklahoma at 10 a.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39; No. 5 Michigan faces football rival Ohio State at 11 a.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, while No. 20 Arizona and No. 7 Nevada-Las Vegas meet at 1 p.m. on the same stations. Slumping UCLA seeks to avenge an earlier loss to Stanford at 3 p.m. on Channel 2.