If there has been one asterisk affixed to the Lakers’ blazing 14-1 start, it’s that just four of those games have come away from the comforts of the Staples Center.

That’s what passes for angst in what’s has become one of the breeziest starts in Lakers history.

But like most issues that have come up for what used to be one of the NBA’s most dramatically-bent teams, this one should come to a quick resolution, or solution, as the Lakers leave town for a three-game road trip with stops in Indiana (tonight), Philadelphia on Wednesday and Washington on Friday.

“An outsider might say they had all their games at home, but we say we’re taking care of business at home,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. “(Going on the road) won’t be different for us. We’ll come out and do the same thing, try and play a defensive game at first, make teams uncomfortable and try to wear them down.”

Last week, Lakers owner Jerry Buss suggested that the true measure of this year’s team would come when it plays the best teams in the Eastern Conference on the road.

These next three teams don’t exactly fit the criteria. Coming into tonight’s game, the Pacers, Sixers and Wizards were a combined 15-32.

Nevertheless, Lakers coach Phil Jackson warned about being overconfident.

“The tempo of the game changes (on the road),” Jackson said. “There is more control and we have to be more concerned about things. We have to be more concerned about controlling

the game with fewer turnovers, less fouls and for less opportunities for our opponents to win.”Last season, the Lakers tied Orlando with the second-best road record in the league (27-14). Boston (31-10) had the best road mark.

“We were a pretty good road team last year,” Kobe Bryant said. “We feel pretty confident about going into other teams arenas and winning games. We just focused on doing what we have to do.”

Who says it’s a contract year?: Odom is averaging a career-low 7.5 field goal attempts this year in a career-low 25 minutes a game in his new role as the Lakers’ sixth man. But after taking just three shots in 29 minutes in Sunday’s win over the Raptors, Odom said that was less about playing time and more about the way the Lakers have been sharing the ball this season.

“The game is called basketball, not shoot,” he said. “You can play a complete basketball game without shooting a lot of shots. There aren’t too many guys that can do it, I just happen to be one of them.”

Odom finished with three points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals in Sunday’s game.

Fisher weighs in on Marbury mess: As president of the NBA Players Association Derek Fisher has been keeping an eye on the growing debacle swirling around the Knicks and embattled guard Stephon Marbury.

The two parties met in New York on Monday to try and discuss a resolution to the quickly degenerating situation.

The Knicks had deactivated Marbury in the early part of the season, but required him to attend all team activities. Late last week the team suspended him without pay for one game for refusing to play in two games earlier in the week. Marbury disputes that allegation.

Now he’s being told to just stay away from the team indefinitely.

“It’s just a bad situation. It’s a no-win situation,” Fisher said. “I think the main thing is just that teams don’t take advantage of the employee-employer relationship, that they don’t try to pile on with fines and suspensions.

“I think the best thing for all sides is for there to be some resolution. What exactly that is, I won’t know that until I’m briefed on how the meetings go. But I think that’s the best thing for all parties involved.

“They’ve got to figure something out so everyone can move on.”

Our boy Kobe Bryant in action..

With only one game to play this week, the Lakers had to find other ways to motivate themselves in practice. Simply maintaining the status quo was not an option, according to superstar guard Kobe Bryant.

“I think we’ve done a good job of coming here and doing what we have to do and accomplish what we have to accomplish,” he said after Friday’s workout. “That’s our message for the week: We can be good or we can be great.”

This could have been a challenging week for the Lakers, with a day off Sunday followed by two days of practice, followed by an 18-point win over the Clippers, followed by a day off, followed by two days of practice to get ready for Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

“This is a time we can use to get better, to make another step forward,” Bryant said. “It’s tough to learn too much about yourself at this time of the year. The important thing is to rack up wins and try to get better.”

So far, so good for the undefeated Lakers, who are 4-0 for the first time since starting the 2003-04 season with a 5-0 record.

The Lakers have defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, the Clippers (twice) and the Denver Nuggets to start the season. But the road ahead gets tougher, mainly because of the quality of the competition.

After facing the Rockets, the Lakers hit the road to play the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday and the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday. Then they return home to play the Detroit Pistons on Friday.”What we’re made of,” sixth man Lamar Odom said when asked what he expects the Lakers to learn during their four-game stretch against difficult opponents next week. “How we want to play. How we want to define ourselves. Do it early in the year. It’s going to be a battle. Just like every game is.”

Unlike the media, we are not going to bash Kobe, for not winning a title. 2007-08 MVP! And leading his team to the NBA finals. Out of the West, that is quite a feat. He did about all he could, the Celtics were better, and played great defense on him. No shame Kobe. We still feel you are the best player in the game, and probably of all time. Let’s take a look at some of Kobe’s numbers, and we aren’t even going to analyze them, just simply give you the chance to take a look at them,

2008 season

• 82 games(WOW)
• 38.5 minutes per game
• 45.9% from the field
• 36.1% from three point
• 84.0% from free throw
• 6.3 rebounds per game
• 5.4 assists per game
• 3.1 turnovers per game
• 1.8 steals per game
• 28.3 points per game

2008 playoffs

• 21 games
• 41.1 minutes per game
• 48.0% from the field
• 30.2% from 3 point.
• 80.9% from free throw
• 119 total rebounds
• 117 total assists
• 70 total turnovers
• 35 total steals
• 633 total points

Career Stats

• 866 games
• 36.3 minutes per game
• 45.3% from the field
• 34.0% from 3 point
• 83.9% from free throw
• 5.3 rebounds per game
• 4.6 assists per game
• 2.9 turnovers per game
• 1.5 steals per game
• 25.0 points per game

On a quiet day in El Segundo, Kobe Bryant seemed upbeat, even cracking a few jokes, seemingly more reassured now by the Los Angeles Lakers‘ future than by what the team failed to accomplish a few days ago.

“I’m comfortable with what we have,” he said. “Whatever (GM) Mitch Kupchak decides to do, he decides to do. It’s more of a relaxing summer for me because I know we have an opportunity to win. It’s exciting.

“We know we got close and came up a little bit short. I’m excited about the opportunity to get back next year if we’re fortunate enough and have a different result.”

It certainly was a different demeanor from last season’s exit meeting, after which Bryant came down the stairs and unloaded on reporters after his ill-tempered session with Kupchak and Phil Jackson.

“That’s one of the things when I re-signed here, they promised they would build a contender and build a contender now,” Bryant said 13 months ago. “I don’t want to have to wait any more than I already have. . . . The important thing to me is winning now. We have a team here that’s very good,” Bryant said, repeating the “very good” part for emphasis. “Boston played better, they played more physical than we were. But at the same time, you look around at our roster, they’re young kids. We managed to do something that I don’t think anybody expected us to do. It’s a great learning opportunity for them at a young age to come back next year, knowing what to expect, knowing how to perform and what the goal is in mind. We’ll be fine.”

What would the “Bench Mob” be without Ronny Turiaf or Sasha Vujacic?

That’s the question the Lakers will have to answer this offseason as both of their colorful, energetic young reserves become restricted free agents July 1.

The Lakers can match any offer another team makes them, and while both Turiaf and Vujacic said Thursday that they would like to stay in LosAngeles, the financial reality could change things.

“I know I’m going to be next year with a team that wants and needs me the most,” said Vujacic, coming off a career season where he established himself as a premier outside shooter and pesky defender. “Who it’s going to be, I’m not sure right now.

“But we are a great team, we have great chemistry. Who wouldn’t want to keep that together?”

Vujacic made $1.8 million this season, Turiaf $770,610. This is a relatively tight free-agent market, so it’s unlikely either would land an exorbitant contract, but each should be in line for a substantial raise nonetheless. How big that raise is will likely determine whether the Lakers decide to match it.

“If they want me here, I for sure would be more than happy to keep on going on this journey I started about three years ago with all my teammates,” Turiaf said. “I built relationships here that are very strong and it would be tough for me to say goodbye to that.

“But when it comes down to it, this is a business decision for both sides. They have to worry

about salary-cap issues and I have to find the best situation for me as far as playing time, also as far as the financial situation.”

Turiaf said that he would only play for France in the Summer Olympics if his contract status is resolved in time.

Small forward Trevor Ariza and center Chris Mihm, who each have a player option for next year, said they planned to exercise them and return to the team.

“It’s like a dream almost, playing here,” said Ariza, a former UCLA standout. “I don’t really want to wake up from it. I want to just stay in my dream, sleep through everything and ride it for a long time.”

It would seem the Lakers feel likewise.

“They told me that this is a good place for me, that I fit in really well and I can be here for a while,” Ariza said of his meeting with Jackson and Kupchak.

Ariza said his injured foot, which kept him our for nearly four months, feels great, but that he’s going to have an MRI on it Monday to get another assessment.

His goals for the offseason include getting stronger, gaining weight and working on ball-handling. He’ll also be switching his jersey number from No. 3 to No. 1.

“I’m going to try to put on like 10 pounds if I can, but that’s always been a problem for me,” he said. “I can’t really put on weight too well. I can get stronger, I just stay skinny.”

Mihm, who played in just 23 games due to lingering complications from his surgically repaired foot, said he feels better now than he has in two years and is looking forward to training at a high level this summer.

“Over the last three to four weeks, I really started to find my old explosion,” he said. “I was finally able to start training my legs in the weight room to get some pop back in my step that I’ve been missing for quite a while.”

Ariza, Mihm say

they’ll be back Bryant, Gasol

bound for Beijing

Kobe Bryant (United States) and Pau Gasol (Spain) said they’d take a week or two off before starting preparations for the Summer Olympics, but are looking forward to their scheduled confrontation in Beijing during group play.

“The important thing is, when I do that training to still be able to do the things that will get my body ready for next season,” said Bryant, who re-iterated that he would have surgery on his right pinkie after the Games.

“It’s a bit of a balancing act, but we’re used to doing stuff like that.”

Asked whether the chance to win a gold medal will help assuage the pain from losing in the NBA Finals, Bryant used some colorful language, not fit for a family newspaper or the evening news, in his answer.

“They’re two different things and I wanted both of them,” he said. “I told Pau: `Being that we lost this series, you (guys) have no chance now because I ain’t going 0 for 2, homey.”

Said Gasol: “That was (his) threat before the Finals, it’s been a threat the whole time. He talks about that a lot.

With Russell and Havlicek sitting courtside, and Red surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, these Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.

Dominant in every way.

On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners hung in the rafters two decades back, the Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one—at last — for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen—their Big Three for a new generation.

After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.

Lifted by ear-splitting chants of “Beat L.A.” early and cries of “Seven-teen” in the closing seconds by their adoring crowd, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.

“It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, the Cousys,” Pierce said. “These guys started what’s going on with those banners. They don’t hang up any other banners but championship ones.

“And now I’m a part of it.”

With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.

Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the finals MVP who shook off a sprained right knee sustained in Game 1, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first title since 1986.

Rajon Rondo had 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals as the Celtics, who built a 23-point halftime lead and obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

They didn’t stand a chance.

Boston’s 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA finals.

In the final minute, Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth—a tribute to Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise’s first 16 titles.

Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court and then found Russell, the Hall of Famer who taught him the Celtic way, for a long embrace.

“I got my own. I got my own,” Garnett said. “I hope we made you proud.”

“You sure did,” Russell said.

Rivers pulled Pierce, Garnett and Allen with 4:01 left and they shared a group hug with their coach, who was nearly run out of town last season. Rivers lost his father at the beginning of this remarkable run, a season no one expected.

By the time Rivers was handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy, it was June 18—his late father’s birthday.

When the game clock reached zeros, Rivers reflected on his dad.

“My first thought was what would my dad say,” Rivers said, “and honestly I started laughing because I thought he would probably say, if you knew my dad, `It’s about time. What have you been waiting for?”’

It’s was Boston’s first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose presence was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by Rivers, Auerbach’s beloved team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.

The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry, nothing more than black-and-white footage from the 60s and TV highlights of players wearing short shorts in the 80s to young hoops fans, remains tilted toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2 against the Lakers in the finals.

Boston missed its first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but the Celtics didn’t miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of the gym.

Bryant, the regular season MVP, finished with 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting.

He started 4-of-5 from the field and seemed intent on forcing a Game 7. But he missed seven shots in a row and everywhere he went, L.A.’s No. 24 ran smack into a wall of Boston defense as high as the Green Monster.

“They were definitely the best defense I’ve seen the entire playoffs,” Bryant said. “I’ve seen some pretty stiff ones and this was right up there with them. The goal was to win a championship, it wasn’t to win MVP or anything like that, it was to win a championship.”

Garnett and Allen were All-Stars in other cities, stuck in Minnesota and Seattle, respectively, on teams going nowhere. But brought together in trades last summer by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, a member of the ‘86 Celtics champions, they joined Pierce and formed an unbreakable bond, a trio as tight as the club’s lucky shamrock logo.

They resisted being called The Big Three, a nickname given to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish two decades ago.

“This is the reason we came here,” Garnett said. “This is the reason we got together, and Danny made it go down. This is it right now.”

With Garnett scoring 17 points and Pierce adding 10, Boston built a 58-35 halftime lead, and unlike Game 2 when they let the Lakers trim a 24-point lead to two in the fourth quarter before recovering, the Celtics never stopped.

They pushed their lead to 31 in the third, and with Boston still up by 29 after three, plastic sheets started going up in the Celtics’ locker room in preparation for a champagne celebration.

No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th postseason game after being pushed to seven games by Atlanta and Cleveland before taking care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.

They entered Game 6 slowed by injuries as Pierce, Kendrick Perkins (shoulder) and Rondo (ankle) were less than 100 percent. There was also uncertainty surrounding Allen, who stayed behind in Los Angeles following Game 5 after his youngest son became ill and was diagnosed with diabetes. The Celtics needed three planes to get back from L.A. and didn’t get home until late Monday night.

But there were no excuses, and just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench as P.J. Brown, James Posey, Leon Powe and rookie Glen “Big Baby” Davis came in and contributed.

It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers, who borrowed an African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too) and roughly means “I am, because we are” in English, as the Celtics’ unifying team motto.

The Celtics gave the Lakers a 12-minute crash course of ubuntu in the second quarter.

Boston outscored Los Angeles 34-19, getting 11 field goals on 11 assists. The Celtics toyed with the Lakers, outworking the Western Conference’s best inside and out and showing the same kind of heart that made Boston the center of pro basketball’s universe in the ’60s.

House and Posey made 3-pointers to put the Celtics ahead by 12 points and baskets by Pierce, Garnett and Rondo put Boston ahead by 18.

In the final minute, Garnett floated in the lane, banked in a one-handed runner and was fouled. His free throw made it 56-35, and after Perkins scored, the Celtics ran to the locker room leading by 23.

On his way off the floor, Garnett screamed, “That’s that.”

And so it was.

A multi-spot advertising campaign has been prepared for the launch of Kobe Bryant’s new signature Nike shoe, the Zoom Kobe III.

Zambezi Ink, of Venice, CA created, directed and produced the five-spot campaign, with one spot per week to premier at Bryant’s website.

The ads, called ‘Genius’, feature Bryant dressed as Leonardo Da Vinci, Amadeus Mozart, George Washington Carver and Albert Einstein.

The Nike Zoom Kobe III is being sold online, with two new colour ways to be released late March and early May.

Check out KB24’s new commerical: http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/03/03/kobe-bryant-launches-genius-campaign-for-nike-s-zoom-kobe-iii/

We like it Kobe. Keep it up, 2008 MVP!