Keep knockin' 'em back!

Welcome to Boston, whose official civic motto is, "It's True, We Suck!" I'm told this is the 275th meeting between the Lakers and Celtics. Derek Fisher, though, has only been alive for 271 of them. (*high-fives self for sweet joke*)

The Celts have won nine of their last 10. Aside from consecutive nice wins over the Magic, however, the competition has been pretty limp. They've had lots of games against the Cavaliers, Raptors and other easily poundable teams. As for the Lakers, they just need a win. It doesn't really matter whether it's over their ancient blood enemies or someone else, though it's always nice delivering some well-deserved pain to Boston fans.

Drink anything, ANYTHING, but Sam Adams whenever someone mentions:

• The word rivalry,
• The Pau Gasol-for-Rajon Rondo trade rumors,
• The Patriots' loss in the Super Bowl,
• Jeremy Lin, or
• The Lakers' record on the road.

Say it with me now: BOS-TON SUCKS! BOS-TON SUCKS!

Continue.

As Ben first pointed out in the comments to our game preview, there's no Elton Brand for the 76ers tonight. He's out with a sprained right thumb. This clears the way for Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to wreck things up in the paint. They'll work against Spencer Hawes (dangerous shooter, bad defender), Nikola Vucevic (big but slow of foot, rookie), Lavoy Allen (also slow, also a rookie) and Tony Battie (Ratliffian). This here's the path of lesser resistance relative to Kobe trying to light up Andre Iguodala. One below-the-fold matchup to keep an eye on is Andrew Goudelock versus emerging point guard Jrue Holiday.

Finish what's left of your Super Bowl hooch whenever someone mentions:

• The 76ers' depth,
• How Kobe grew up near Philadelphia,
• Eli Manning,
• How Madonna's halftime show spelled out the words "World Peace," or
• How Doug Collins once coached Michael Jordan. (Obligatory.)

Please to comment nao.

LULZ

Game two of the Lakers' Grammy road trip appropriately features jazz, in this case those uptempo fellas from the great state of Utah. Until very recently, the Jazz were the only team that had lost to the Lakers in their own house after the purple and gold defeated them on January 11, a great game for all (except the Jazz) as Kobe Bryant scored 40 points during his phenomenal stretch of 40+ point games.

I'm not sure we'll be treated to anything like that tonight, and frankly, all I'm hoping for is a win (unlike some people, I never lie).

Bend your elbow each time someone mentions:

• Derek Fisher's past in a Jazz uniform and/or his reason for leaving the team
• Andrew Bynum being named an All Star for the first time
• The rookie hazing of Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock
• Some big game that's being played tomorrow, I forget what it's called
  

Bombs away!

Keep whispering your sweet nothings in my ear.

Here we go with Game One of the Lakers' annual Grammys trip. Speaking of the Grammys, have you heard that Adele has been medically cleared to sing at the show on February 12? She hasn't performed in months because of vocal-cord trauma. I'm excited about her return to action, and I know you are too. (I know no such thing.) In any event, I'm confident it'll be better than Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show.

But this is hardly the time or the place to talk music. We have a game tonight and a game thread to go with it! At least I think we have a game tonight. There's apparently an enormous blizzard going on in Denver right now. Will everyone get to the Pepsi Center on time? We'll find out together.

Moar Friday night drinking whenever someone mentions:

• The blizzard in Denver,
• The Ramon Sessions-to-the-Lakers rumors,
• All-Star rosters,
• J.R. Smith, or
• Adele.

Who do you guys like in Puppy Bowl VIII?