So Kobe Bryant said the Lakers can beat the Celtics a second time this season. Should win, he said.
But what is everyone else saying? Let’s just say, the Celtics aren’t going to roll over and hand Kobe the keys to TD Banknorth Garden.
“Playing a great team like the Lakers, we definitely wanted to get this one because we know we have a tough one (next),” Paul Pierce told reporters after the Celtics’ victory against Philadelphia.
When the Lakers and Celtics met the first time this season, Boston was riding a 19-game winning streak which came to an end in a 92-83 loss at Staples Center. The Celtics (41-9) bring a 12-game streak into tonight’s game.
“We have extra motivation this time because they broke our streak the first time,” Pierce said.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers also is looking foward to a rematch, calling it one of those “fun games.”
Ray Allen wasn’t as guarded in his excitement, saying it will “definitely (be) a playoff atmosphere.”
You won’t find the same enthusiasm in the Lakers locker room. Either the loss of Andrew Bynum has tempered their outlook for another victory against their dreaded rivals, or they are great actors. (It is L.A. after all).
“Honestly, it’s just another game,” Lamar Odom said. “It’s not like we are going to play them in a seven-game series and it starts tomorrow.”
Phil Jackson, though, didn’t mask his feelings about the game/Celtics/need for victory.
“To be not only beaten, but humiliated, in a game like that to end the series, and have them celebrating and throwing [stuff] all over the court, disrupting the game with 2 1/2 minutes left to go, it was in-your-face and everybody remembers that,” Jackson said. “There’s a certain element of, you know, we have some serious work to do.”
