Well, the NBA Finals are over. Yes, the Finals are just one game old, but the Lakers' 102-89 win in Game 1 Thursday assured a 16th NBA title for Los Angeles. Boston fans will be in a tizzy, but Phil Jackson-coached teams are 47-0 when winning Game 1 of a series. That's one of the more crazy streaks in sports history. The Lakers remain unbeaten at home in these playoffs and 29-3 in their past 32 postseason games at Staples Center.

L.A. has opened as a for Game 2 ().

Really Game 1 was never in doubt as Boston never looked in sync. The 1-2 punch of Kobe Bryant (30 points, seven rebounds, six assists) and Pau Gasol (23 points and 14 rebounds) was dominant. In fact, they scored just 20 points less than the entire Boston starting five and had one fewer rebounds. Bryant has scored at least 30 points in four consecutive Finals games dating back to last year. It's the longest such streak in Finals play since Dwyane Wade tallied four straight 30-point games in 2006. Gasol was largely blamed for the 2008 Finals loss to the Lakers because he was thoroughly outplayed by Kevin Garnett, but that was the opposite in Game 1.

You definitely can't win a game, especially on the road, being outrebounded like that," said Garnett, who finished with a mere four rebounds — only two of which were defensive — over 34 minutes, 47 seconds of action. "I gotta initiate that. I played like horse s—."

It didn't help that Boston's Ray Allen picked up two early fouls; he finished with just 12 points in 27 minutes. Rajon Rondo had 13 points — just three in the second half — and eight assists and six rebounds. Kobe guarded Rondo right from the start.

"I thought he did a terrific job," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of Bryant's defense on Rondo. "I thought we fell back into trying to score on him instead of just running the offense. I thought we didn't move the ball."

Boston went 1 for 10 on 3-pointers. The Celtics shot a wretched 43.3 percent and didn't have a single second-chance point compared to 16 for L.A. They managed 19 assists, or the same number Rondo himself had in Game 2 against the Cavaliers. Their 41 first-half points matched their lowest scoring first half of the playoffs.

The Celtics allowed at least 100 points for just the second time in their last 10 games. They were outrebounded by 11. So basically it was an ugly night all around.

About the only negative for L.A. was it got only five points from Lamar Odom, but the Lakers didn't really need him in Game 1. The Lakers scored 48 points in the paint and attempted only 10 3-pointers - firing up too many threes was a problem in the two losses against Phoenix and its zone.

Really it's unrealistic to expect the Celtics to lay another egg in Game 2, although they have now lost three of their past four games. Look for a much closer game on Sunday.

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