Sports Redux: We Love L.A!

Hey, wasn't this West Coast trip supposed to demonstrate that the Celtics weren't quite as good as everybody thought?

The last hope for the rest of the NBA to stop the Celtics in 2007, the Lakers dug into the history books, coming out in '80s-style short shorts (they ditched them at halftime) to shake things up. They also came out swinging, opening a nasty bloody cut on Kevin Garnett's forehead (KG got called for the foul, another throwback to Celtic history). But what they couldn't do it what nobody out West could do, and that's stop the Celtics.

The credit for that goes largely to Paul Pierce. In years past, he'd struggle in LA, maybe trying too hard to dazzle the hometown friends and family that showed up. But not this time. Pierce had 33 points, 10 of which came in a frenzied couple of minutes to close the third quarter and send the LA diehards fleeing to the parking lot. Tony Allen, filling in at starting PG for a banged-up Rondo, contributed 16 points.

Emotions were a little high for this one from the beginning. Phil Jackson had the chance to "coach" his way to more regular-season wins than Red Auerbach. Doc Rivers was emotional about a 4-0 West Coast trip; "We rarely look more than one game ahead, but [4-0] is something we really wanted to do," said Doc. Kobe Bryant was emotional about the short shorts: "I felt violated. I felt naked." We're not going there. But you can.

All the blemished NFL teams finished their regular seasons yesterday; all that really matters from a local standpoint is that if Tennessee wins, we're playing them in two weeks. If Tennessee loses, we get the winner of Pittsburgh/Jacksonville.