Are Lakers days numbered?

BOSTON -- It really was a blowout game, the Boston Celtics in total control in the fourth quarter, up 20 with about seven minutes remaining, and the Los Angeles Lakers playing liked they couldn't wait to get on the plane and go back to Marina Del Ray.

The Celts were doing what they wanted to do, out-toughing the Lakers. All you really have to know is Leon Powe, who kept getting to the rim.

Not Moses Malone.

Leon Powe.

Then the game just got goofy, a game you expect to see at the end of some long road trip in February, not in the NBA Finals. The Celtics seemed to go on cruise conrol, the Lakers made some threes, and all of a sudden it's a game again. Goofy. The NBA is a game of runs, and the Lakers had theirs at the end, when it really came too late.

So I don't put a lot of stock to the finish. Once again, the Lakers got out-toughed by the Celtics, something that's going to have to change if they want to win this series. Certainly they will play better in L.A. They will play with more energy, will get more calls, and will shoot better.

They'd better, anyway.

The Celtics did exactly what they wanted to do in these two games, and it's more than just winning the games. Their defense set the tone, and it exposed both the Lakers' lack of inside game and their lack of physicality.

The Lakers now have to win four of the next six games if they want to win this series. I doubt they can do that.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)