0-BE

If you had the Lakers up by 18 at halftime and Kobe Bryant being without a field goal, you should have my job. Then again I am not sure you'd want it.

Bryant was 0-4 in the first half, but not necessarily because he was working so hard to get his teammates involved. Rather, Paul Pierce was blanketing him and the Lakers were working harder than they have all series to get the ball to the high post and start the offense from there, as opposed to the wing.

The big men? They came up big. Odom had 15 points and 8 boards, while Gasol had 10 and 6.

Trevor Ariza had twice as many points (6) as Kobe did in the first half.

Larry David is here. And he's sitting just four seats down from Phil Jackson. I'll keep an eye out to see if he trips (inadvertently, of course) Kobe or Lamar as they run down to the scorer's table. That would be pretty, pretty, pret-teeee good.

Other US Weekly worthy fans in attendance: Justin Timberlake, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, David Beckham, Linda Evangelista and Toby Maguire. And Jessica E., of course.

Meanwhile, as I type, the Celtics have completely turned this contest around. Down by 24 at one point in the second quarter, they enter the 4th quarter down by just two after a P.J. Brown slam just before the buzzer. The difference? L.A.'s offense has become stagnant, too much one-on-one action. And the Celtic defense has been monstrous, particularly Paul Pierce, who is blanketing Kobe.