LOS ANGELES -- Before we look at some of the box score disparities that grab your attention as if Hubie Brown were barking them into your ear canal, let's examine this moment in the victorious Celtics locker room that was every bit as revealing as the stats.

Kendrick Perkins emerged from the trainer's room to find Rajon Rondo holding court with the media, reporters spilling over into Perkins' locker. Normally Perkins is as protective of his space as a self-important bouncer. You want to get at a rebound that he's secured, you'll end up with a mouthful of elbow. So Rondo was properly respectful.

"You want me to move?" Rondo asked.

"Nah, you're good," Perkins replied. "I want to hear what you have to say."

These Celtics are all about collaboration and cooperation. In other words, they're everything the Lakers weren't on Sunday.

It was reflected in the lopsided numbers from Boston's 109-96 victory: 34 to 10 in assists, 60.3 percent to 44.4 percent in field goal shooting, 43 to 30 in rebounds.

In the 2008 NBA Finals the Celtics showed the Lakers that the tougher team wins championships. The Lakers learned their lesson and were able to stand up to the Celtics in last year's Finals.

And it wasn't as if the Celtics smacked the Lakers around Sunday. (In fact it was Kevin Garnett who shed the most blood and needed multiple stitches after catching a Pau Gasol elbow to the head.) The new standard the Celtics have established that the Lakers haven't reached is in the decidedly less physical but more aesthetically pleasing category of teamwork.

"When we play together as a team," said Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 32 points, "we're tough to beat."

There was none of that from the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant taking as many shots as the Lakers' entire starting frontcourt. Even though Bryant was more efficient than usual -- he made 11 of his first 18 shots and 16 of 29 on his way to 41 points -- the Lakers still couldn't hang with Boston. Bryant's offensive outburst caused his teammates to check out and stop participating in their sets.

On one first-half play, Lamar Odom remained in the corner while Bryant brought the ball upcourt, Odom not bothering to prepare for a pass he knew would never come (it didn't). On a second-half set, with Bryant on the wing and a low-post spot there for the taking, neither Odom nor Pau Gasol bothered to occupy it, as they both stood near the top of the key.

"We were horrible offensively, as far as our spacing is concerned," Odom said. "Whenever we play games like that we give Kobe no choice but to try to take over the game, we just didn't get everybody involved like we needed to."

Increasingly, when Bryant gets it going his teammates don't come along for the ride, they stand on the platform and watch as the train leaves the station. He had a 17-point second quarter Sunday in a loss. He scored 21 points in the first quarter Friday against Sacramento in another loss. He scored eight points in the first three minutes of a loss at San Antonio. His best single quarter against the Celtics in the 2010 Finals -- the 19-point third in Game 5 --came in a loss.

Granted, none of Bryant's teammates rose to the occasion the way, say, Nate Robinson did in scoring 11 points for the Celtics.

The telltale sign that the only athletes more solitary than Bryant Sunday were PGA golfers: He had no assists and only four of his 16 field goals were assisted. During one stretch in the fourth quarter Bryant took 10 consecutive shots for the Lakers.

"I didn't think anybody else wanted the ball," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

By that point the other Lakers might have forgotten what it felt like.

A stagnant offense is doubly dangerous for the Lakers because it dictates their defense as much if not more than any other team in the league. I'll let Andrew Bynum explain it:

"If you're standing around in the triangle, it's going to lead to fast breaks," Bynum said. "Because you have three guys on the baseline, you have a guy in the corner, a guy in the other corner, someone in the block. That's automatically, a long shot or long rebound, you're starting from the baseline."

In the second half the Lakers shot only 40 percent, the Celtics got into early offense and Rondo dished out 15 assists. Rondo was coming off his two lowest-assist games of the season, 6 and 5, and had only one assist in the first half Sunday, but was allowed to push the offense and set up his teammates again.

The Celtics are making a league-high 50 percent of their shots this season. Ray Allen (50 percent) and Pierce (51 percent) are both having the best-shooting seasons of their careers. When I asked Allen to explain it before the game he said, "We're so efficient. Great screen-setters from the bigs. Everybody's making great cuts. Rondo's doing his job getting to the hole, he's making great passes, getting the ball to guys when they're in scoring positions. So between me and Paul we've had great shots."

Notice he discussed three different elements to describe their hot shooting before he even got to, you know, shooting the ball. That shows the level of basketball the Celtics are playing when they're on, how team-oriented they've been.

The Lakers can't come to a unanimous agreement on what's wrong with them. This is twice they've followed a home loss to a losing team with a home loss to a championship contender (we all remember Milwaukee-Miami at Christmastime), in addition to road losses at San Antonio and Dallas in other marquee games.

Bryant says, "We've got to be more disciplined defensively," while Bynum seemed to agree with me that they get in trouble when the offense isn't working.

The only consensus is that it isn't time to panic.

"Is it the playoffs yet? No," Jackson said. "OK. It's not the playoffs yet. We're still playing regular-season games. We'll get there in time."

"It's not important to meet [the challenge] now," Bryant said. "We would love to meet it now, but we need it if we're fortunate enough to face them down the road."

Perhaps the Lakers will even get it together in time for their game in Boston on Feb. 10, in the midst of a seven-game trip.

What we do know is that the last two times Perkins lasted an entire game in Staples Center (Sunday and Game 2 of the NBA Finals) the Celtics walked out with a victory. We know the Celtics (36-11) are four games ahead of the Lakers (33-15) in the loss column in the race for home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.

Whether you look at the standings or watch the way the play together, the Celtics are the better team at the end of January.

Dimes past: Jan. 15-16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22-23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29-30

By Brian Windhorst
ESPN.com

Zach Harper, TrueHoop Network bloggers and fans gave their in-game opinions throughout Sunday's slate of NBA games in Daily Dime Live.