Jimmy Bramlett

There were a lot of preconceived notions with the Lakers and Celtics that were dashed in the Lakers’ 88-87 overtime victory in the Boston Garden (or TD Price WaterhouseCooper Garden whatever it’s called now).

It was a mixed bag for Los Angeles sports teams on Tuesday. Clippers: Guard Chauncey Billups after going down in the fourth quarter Monday night in Orlando was diagnosed with a tear of his left Achilles’ tendon. He will miss the rest of the season

It really does seem people just like to foam at the mouth over the most irrelevant things. I understand people being horrified by what happened in Penn State and various LAUSD schools. Being horrified by the Holocaust is also acceptable. There needs to be some gravitas is the things we rise up against. That’s why the furor over MIA and Giselle is perplexing.

The three teams who call STAPLES Center home departed on long road trips because of a culturally irrelevant award show happening next Sunday. For all three it will test the mettle as they try and solidify their playoff credentials. And for those three, there were three different results.

It’s easy to think nothing is wrong with the NBA from our vantage point in Los Angeles. After all it was announced that four of the starting five players for the Western Conference in the All Star Game would be comprised of players from the Lakers (Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum) and the Clippers (Blake Griffin, Chris Paul).

That was as close to a walk-off in regulation for the Kings in their 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at home. As the final seconds were ticking off ready to send the game to the inevitable overtime period, Drew Doughty got the fortunate bounce during a power-play and shot the puck past Columbus goaltender Curtis Sanford as the clock hit 0.3 remaining.

After a night where two of the three best teams in the NBA Western Conference matched up and featured a ferocious dunk, somehow Tuesday night was a bit of a breather on the excitement meter in Southern California. Hell, only the last two championship winning teams in Southern California played.

Brent Barry of NBA TV called it their signature win of the season, even more than their overtime win over the Miami Heat. The Clippers indeed put on a spectacular performance in their 112-100 thrashing over the Oklahoma City Thunder, owners of the best record in the NBA.

The Kings and the Lakers have a lot of things in common right now. On Friday night the Lakers shot 19% from the field in a ten-point first quarter of their 92-80 loss to the Orlando Magic, their offensive woes becoming more glaring having only scored in triple-digits once this season. Of course it’s hard to have any offensive continuity when it comprises of only one player.

As the Kings started their just completed road trip with a Sutter Brothers showdown, they started their four-game home stand with a rematch. While the first matchup was a 4-1 victory for the Kings up in the wasteland of Calgary last week, the rematch was less than inspiring as the Kings lost 2-1 in a shootout.

Along with Ken Hitchcock of the St. Louis Blues, the only other head coaching change of the seven in the NHL this season that has worked out is Darryl Sutter with the Kings. Along with the Kings’ 3-2 road shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night, the Kings are now 8-1-5 since Sutter took over the reins on December 20.

I was watching Saturday’s Lakers-Clippers game with friends who don’t keep up with sports like I do, although they do enjoy watching sports. You see, they have actual real lives while I live in this suspended adolescent world of athletes. Nonetheless they were still behind the times on the Clippers landing Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups. Although this is a huge indication that they don’t read anything I write, so they’re nothing more than pig fuckers.