On a night dedicated to rivalry buzz, the main sound heard from the Lakers was a thud.
The fans were ready. They stacked Staples to the ceiling and the noise cascaded down as well as up. They cheered the sights and sounds on the scoreboard, shocking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his seat with their huge applause.
They recognized Rick Fox, even with all that gray that's now sprinkled in with the curly black hair.
But the Boston Celtics did what the Boston Celtics have done all too often to the Lakers. They wrecked the show. If this is to be a rivalry again, like the old days of Wilt and Russell or Magic and Bird, then the Lakers have a long way to go to hold up their end.
Let's call this concept the rivalry in waiting.
Or the rivalry of the wishful thinkers.
The Lakers had won four in a row and were on an 10-2 roll in their 19-10 season start. The Celtics, who thumped them in Boston a month ago in the only other game the teams will play in the regular season, brought a 25-3 record into the game, a five-game winning streak and a 9-1 run in their last 10.
The Celtics are so good this season that it's scary, especially considering how bad they were last season (24-58).
But the Lakers' recent surge brought back those glimmers of title-contending hope, and a win against the Celtics, especially with Boston playing the second night of a back to back, seemed achievable. Instead, it turned into a demonstration of a Lakers team that is still not quite ready for prime time.
The Lakers hung close for as long as they could.
They played physical defense. Andrew Bynum fouled out; the Celtics' Kevin Garnett had to leave the game for a few minutes with a cut over his eye that made him look as if he had been in the ring with Evander Holyfield.
They created a mood for hot competition. The referees called five technical fouls on individuals in the first half alone.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson called the tone of play "jagged."
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers called it "chippy."
That meant that some things never change. Lakers don't like Celtics a lot. Celtics feel the same about Lakers.
The pre-game planners even pitched in with an introduction ceremony that featured the good old days of L.A.-Boston, including pictures of Red Auerbach and his cigar. There was the famous Celtics-Lakers motto that asked the rhetorical question: Can you imagine it any other way?
Well, this season, yes. How about the Celtics and the Suns?
