By MIKE SHALIN
BOSTON -- Mike Brown knows what it's like to be part of a rivalry with the Celtics. But until Thursday night, the former Cavaliers coach didn't know what it was like to be part of the rivalry — Lakers-Celtics!
"I know it's a rivalry, obviously, because of the history of the two organizations — not only the individual history, but the history that they had playing each other, and you hear about it," Brown said before the game. "People don't want me wearing green to practice and all that.
"But I'm pretty good at trying to tune other stuff out and focus at the task at hand, so you appreciate the history of the two organizations and the history that they've had together, but I look at this as starting anew, at least for me."
It's always special when the Lakers come to Boston, even if it is different this season because most people don't see the two old pals meeting down the road in the NBA Finals for a 13th time. Both teams are aging, both have had their stumbles this year and both have been involved in trades and trade rumors.
They put on a good show Thursday night, though, with the Lakers winning 88-87 in overtime. But the limitations of both were evident. Both have needs.
The most recent of the rumors had the Lakers — who had their deal for Chris Paul called off by the league and have yet to swing a trade for Dwight Howard — sending Pau Gasol to Boston for Rajon Rondo. The deal didn't make a lot of sense on many levels, but it had everyone, including Gasol, addressing it Thursday.
Gasol is used to it by now. First, he was supposed to go to Orlando with Lamar Odom for Howard. Then he was part of the three-team trade that would have landed him in Houston. So why not Boston?
The talk started with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak saying, "If there were a way for us to get a 25-year-old All-Star ball-handling guard, we'd love to do it." Rondo is the only player who fits that description.
But as of Thursday night — and probably into at least the immediate future — the teams were the same as when they started; with the exception of Odom having been shipped to Dallas for a first-round draft pick. And even that was seen as a potential piece to the Howard puzzle.
But Thursday night, the franchises responsible for 33 of the 65 NBA titles took the floor as aging warriors trying to hang on for one more win. Ask Kobe Bryant about winning a sixth championship and he says, "I'm obsessed about it."
Ask the Celtics about keeping their Big Four together for one more run and you know they're ready to make the push — even with Rondo, and even Paul Pierce, mentioned in trade reports.
Thursday night, the rumors were gone. The Lakers were booed when they came out for warmups, Kobe got blasted during the introductions and it was business as usual. There were Lakers fans in the crowd, but this was a Boston house that chanted "Beat LA!" down the stretch.
Forget the fact that the Celtics, even with the five-game winning streak they brought into the game, were just 14-10. The Lakers had lost six of their past 10, were 14-11 overall and already had lost nine times on the road. Derek Fisher looked a thousand years old. Kevin Garnett plays in five-minute shifts to save him for down the road. Metta World Peace isn't as good as Ron Artest.
It was still Celtics-Lakers. That's why TNT was here to do a national game.
The Celtics have the Bulls coming in Sunday, and in many ways that's a bigger game for them — the teams being in the same conference and all — but it's not Celtics-Lakers.
"Oh, always. Always," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said when asked about playing the Lakers. "I don't really appreciate that we have to play them twice. It would have been nice if they just had us once and we could have gone somewhere else.
"But listen, we should always play twice, really. No matter what the season is, and it's great to play them."
Reminded of the Bulls game being within the conference, Rivers said, "This year, . . . there's no such thing as far as conference, as far as I'm concerned, because the season is so quick and short. I think you've just got to try to win every game that you can. You can't even worry about whether it's East or West; there's just not enough games."
Celtics guard Ray Allen said the preparation has to be the same for every game, saying, "I would say it's different (playing the Lakers), but you don't really notice the difference until you kind of go out on the floor. But the preparation and everything is all the same. It's how we approach it, as pretty much the same."
But it was still the Lakers, and the game was still great. Flawed, but great.
