Didn't happen. Didn't need to happen. But the fact that the chants happened -- by all those great Celtics fans we're assured are really out there -- stunned many in the Lakers' entourage, most notably trainer Gary Vitti, who was around for the real Lakers-Celtics battles in the 1980s and figured he'd see God first before he heard an MVP chant for a Laker in Boston.
But the chants were hard to miss. Then again, many of those among the eighth sellout of the season wore Lakers garb and cheered openly for the once-hated purple and gold. When you've lost 13 straight overall, tying the franchise record, and you've lost 10 straight at home, extending the franchise record, what else is there? The Celtics haven't won a home game since Dec. 15, or since the Republicans still controlled Congress and Jack Bauer was still in China.
For the Lakers and their extended posse, it was a pretty painless enterprise. The visitors trailed only once (4-2) and never really allowed the Celtics to stage one of their frantic (and futile) finishes of late. Kobe, suspended by the NBA for Tuesday's game against the Knicks, is the reason for that.
With 6:50 remaining, Brian Scalabrine (season-high 17) had just hit a runner to cut a onetime Laker lead of 14 points in half. In came Bryant, who had had all of two minutes' rest. A pretty drive/finger roll started the Lakers on a game-deciding, building-emptying 9-4 run, which blew the lead out to 100-88 with 3:06 to play. Bryant also had an across-the-lane floater in the burst. Then came the fun stuff.
In a span of 66 seconds, he knocked down two 3-pointers and added a ridiculous dunk, one on which he went under the basket and came back up looking like a hungry shark. Those three plays got what was left of the crowd into Official Slobber Mode, which in turn led to the chants.
"He's the best player I ever have played against," gushed Gerald Green, who occasionally held his own against the Laker supernova, scoring 22 points and adding five assists without a turnover. "When he retires, he's going to be one of the best, if not the best, to ever play the game. All I tried to do was contain him because he's capable of doing so much out there."
