California Love

California specifically Los Angeles is a very unique place. It's filled with fake boobs and utterly fake people. Even the Lakers towel boy wears a head band. Get a life buddy, nevertheless everybody believes they're somebody in LA.

In the ultimate sign of substance winning over style, the Celtics took care of the Lakers for the second and final time this season, 111-91.

With numerous celebrities and pseudo-celebs sitting courtside, the Lakers (19-11) made the interesting decision to not only wear the throwback jerseys but also rock the 80's short shorts. Really, it happened in a 2007 NBA game.

A bizarre idea, quickly looked stupid as the Celtics proved to be the far superior team led by Paul Pierce (game-high 33 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists), Kevin Garnett (22 points, 12 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals) and Ray Allen (19 points, 6 rebounds).

The unlikely hero for the C's (26-3) was Tony Allen, who started in place of Rajon Rondo (hamstring). Tony has looked terrible since he came back from that knee injury but last night was his reemergence as he submitted 16 points and four assists from the point guard position. He even dunked after a foul call (although it didn't count). Something he seemingly hadn't been able to do until then. James Posey had eight points and eight rebounds while Kendrick Perkins had seven points and seven boards.

For once, the crowd in LA was there before the tip-off, giving this a playoff-like atmosphere. Both teams came out hard with chippy play evident all night. However, only Boston could focus and execute through all of the Lakers talking and cheap plays.

Kobe Bryant was off all night, going 6 for 25 from the floor but making 10 of 11 free throws for 22 points. Lamar Odom had 14 points and 10 rebounds but he wasn't much of a factor besides his ridiculous play late in the game. For the second time this season against Boston, Lakers center Andrew Bynum was completely shut down. He had only eight points and two boards before he fouled out.

Boston outscored LA, 32-23 in the first quarter then the Lakers got one more than the C's in the second, making it 53-45 at the half. Late in the first half, Garnett's face was bloodied as he got elbowed by Bynum down low and somehow KG was called for a foul. Garnett went back to the locker room, got two stitches and a bandage and soon returned without skipping a beat. The guy is an animal.

The Lakers changed into their regular shorts at the break but that didn't seemed to change anything, they're still not quite ready for prime time.

Playing in his hometown where he always plays great, Pierce did not disappointment as he went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter, effectively putting the game out of reach. After nailing a three-ball, he was blowing his fingers (like guns) while he jogged down court. Only in Los Angeles.

Things got crazy in the fourth quarter as the Boston lead got up to as much as 25 points. Most "fans" left before seeing something straight out of the old Lakers-Celtics rivalry. After Garnett blocked a Odom shot late in the fourth quarter (when he could be heard yelling "get that shit outta here!"), Odom responded by tackling Ray Allen into the Celtics bench. Lamar was assessed a flagrant foul and he'll likely get fined and/or suspended by the league. It was a complete bush league play.

The Celtics shot 46.3% from the floor and held the Lakers to 35.4%. Boston also grabbed eight more boards (49-41) and had five more steals (11-6).

There were six technicals in the game, three on the Lakers (Trevor Ariza, Kwame Brown and Kobe) and three on the C's (KG, Perkins and Doc Rivers). Ariza baited KG in the first half while Perkins got a dumb technical for staring down the Lakers after he dunked. Kwame, Kobe and Doc all got theirs from talking back to the refs.

So there you go. The first West Coast trip of the season and the Celtics passed it with flying colors (4-0). They come back home and next play the Rockets on Wednesday. Houston has been up and down but with Yao and T-Mac (who's been out lately), they certainly present a challenge. Happy New Year to the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics.