And so it was that the Lakers won something more than a game and a pocket full of vengeance that day. They popped Boston's balloon filled with all that air of confidence, and the Celtics have followed their best-in-NBA-history 27-2 start with a 2-5 skid.

Now the Celtics don't even have the best-in-NBA-this-season start ... or the best-in-Eastern-Conference-this-season start.

The Lakers are 27-6, tied with the 27-6 Cleveland Cavaliers, who have inched ahead of the 29-7 Celtics with Boston's loss in Charlotte on Tuesday night.

This isn't gimmicky Major League Baseball where home-court advantage in the championship round is determined by the winner of the All-Star Game. NBA teams earn home-court advantage with the work they put in on a daily basis.

And considering the specter of those three losses in three tries last June in Beantown, the Lakers want very much to finish the regular season with the best record in the NBA.

"We look at it as a challenge to achieve that goal," Kobe Bryant said.

But it's interesting what has happened since Christmas. The Lakers spent most of this season beating nearly all comers with one eye on Boston, to some extent believing the Celtics were the only other tribe on the island. The pain from losing the NBA Finals ran that deep.

Then the Lakers beat Boston, and the subsequent body language has been nodding with satisfaction instead of relaxing their shoulders with relief. The Lakers have validated their own belief that they have the best team, and they have flowed in a natural way with the Basketball ever since Christmas, even without important orchestrator Jordan Farmar.

The home loss Tuesday night to the Hornets was a bit of a unique situation, with New Orleans holding every possible intangible advantage entering the game. The Hornets were all geared up based on two losses this season against the Lakers. In the last matchup, Pau Gasol schooled New Orleans' David West, an All-Star last season -- prompting West to fire back with his 40-point retort.

This was a highlighted game even more because the last time New Orleans had a showcase-type game, the Hornets didn't show up in an 88-68 Christmas loss to Orlando. Meanwhile, the Celtics look shaken since their Christmas loss, with Boston's only victories since Christmas coming against Sacramento and Washington, who are a combined 15-54.

There is certainly legitimate reason for concern in Boston -- the primary one being that the Celtics last season became the first title team with its top three scorers all age 30-something. The odds aren't great for such a team to repeat without landing any significant outside help.

Come June, Kevin Garnett will be 33, and Ray Allen will be nearly 34. Even if Paul Pierce, 31, bottles his lightning again next spring, the Celtics need much more than continued development from Rajon Rondo to meet the high demands of this long road.

Everyone knows the Lakers have superior depth and youth than Boston. Still, it was a bit alarming to look out there on Christmas and see how stark the situation is: At one point the Celtics had 6-foot-9 Glen Davis on 7-foot Andrew Bynum, 6-1 Eddie House on 6-7 Sasha Vujacic, robotic Leon Powe on agile Lamar Odom ... and Tony Allen on Bryant.

Can Cleveland wind up good enough with its defense and great enough with LeBron James to meet the Lakers in the NBA Finals? Considering last season's lesser Cavaliers pushed Boston to seven games, it's certainly possible.

Everyone in Lakerland should be paying attention Friday night, when the Celtics have a chance to get back on track with another meaningful regular season game at Cleveland. Boston has lost its past nine games there.

Yet it'll take a lot more than a 10th consecutive LeBron home victory over the Celtics to get anyone in Southern California worrying about him over KG.

With 2:59 to play in the Lakers' victory over Portland on Sunday night, Staples Center public-address announcer Lawrence Tanter read the final scores from around the NBA -- something that is simply never done at Staples.

But on this night, with both Boston and Cleveland losing, why not?

Boston's Paul Pierce falls at the feet of Charlotte's Gerald Wallace on a drive to the basket Tuesday. The Celtics lost and are 2-5 since losing to the Lakers on Christmas.