Letdown is a concern for the Lakers after beating Celtics

Lakers know that playing the Warriors won't have the same excitement, but it's still a game they need to win.

They survived the hype by playing with intensity in a much-anticipated showdown on Christmas Day on national television. Now the Lakers must move past that, move past a stirring victory over the NBA champion Celtics, move past ending Boston's 19-game winning streak. The Lakers play the Golden State Warriors tonight at Staples Center and that has to be their focus, their drive toward keeping the momentum built not only on having defeated the Celtics but on keeping their three-game winning streak alive.

"I don't know if any game ever matches just the excitement, the pomp and circumstance of Christmas afternoon," Derek Fisher admitted. "I mean, the fans were there at 1 o'clock and the game was at 2. So tomorrow nobody is going to be there at 5:30 [for a 6:30 game]. It's just different. We understand that." The Lakers can look at how the Celtics lost to the Warriors on Friday night in Oakland as an indicator of what...read full article