GatewayRedbirds.com

BOSTON (AP) - Even when things are going well for the Celtics - and they most certainly are not right now - Paul Pierce looks forward to the Lakers' annual visit to Boston.

"It's always a big deal. It is for me,'' the Los Angeles native and longtime Celtics forward said. "We feel like it's a must-win. These are teams we're going to see in the playoffs so we're giving them psychological edge right now. That's not something that you're going to be able to turn on once the playoffs start. So we've got to turn it around right now.''

And it won't be easy.

The Celtics (29-15) are in a rut unlike any they've seen since assembling the New Big Three in the summer of 2007. They have lost five of their last seven and 10 of their last 16 since beating Orlando on Christmas Day, including back-to-back losses to the Magic and Atlanta Hawks.

That makes Sunday's matchup of the last two NBA champions Boston's third game in four days - all of them against top teams in the league.

"Yeah, and the Lakers are the cherry on the top for us!'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "It's still fun to play these games, because they're good teams and you enjoy playing them. There's no love lost, and all that stuff's good. It's good for our league. But more importantly, it's just fun in the middle of the season to have days like this.''

Gantz wrote:This is a really physical game, but these refs are calling everything.

jim wrote:

Gantz wrote:This is a really physical game, but these refs are calling everything.

How about the flop by Artest? At first I thought it was a big time pushoff, but there was another angle where it looked to me like what you see 20 times a night.

Kobe. Freaking ridiculous shot. That's NBA basketball right there.

Gantz wrote:I hate Ron Artest as a Laker. He was so physical and went hard to the rim and now he waits for nancy little three pointers and flops on defense.

Bryant looked at Artest in the locker room and recounted the start of the game, when the Lakers and Celtics were already jostling and trash-talking in the jump circle before tipoff. Artest got the ball in the post on the first play and was fouled hard by Boston's Paul Pierce — at which point Artest struck the sort of wide-eyed, menacing pose very few non-institutionalized people can.

He stared and seemingly braced himself to fight. Bryant told Artest he noticed the Celtics' reaction at that precise moment: "They didn't want any part of this crazy (expletive). I'm telling you. I saw it."