REPORTING FROM ...
LAKERS VS CELTICS GAME 4: THE HATE

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After Game 4, he began to write: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and…"

The massive lead blown and history made, a strange vibe permeated the Staples Center.

Somber celebrities filed through the players tunnel, consoling each other along the way. Penny Marshall gave Justin Timberlake a big hug. Jack Nicholson looked he might go home and channel The Shining. Even Andy Garcia, typically very accommodating, wasn't up for a chat.

There's no joy here. Earlier Emmanuelle Chriqui had bemused, mixed feelings. "My friend next to me is a Celtics fan, so I'm hearing him in my ear the whole game," the Entourage beauty said at halftime. "I don't know what to feel."

And now?

"It's official. I'm devastated," she says. "I want to clothesline somebody."

Chirique wasn't alone. Even Flea, who before the Finals told me "I try not to advertise hate, just love the Lakers," had changed his tune. "I've gone into the darkness, the realms of hatred," he said. "It's not good. It's not good for my marriage. I just get too angry."

"Oh, boy. The hate is growing," said Dyan Cannon. "This Celtics team plays rough, and we're not. I don't know what's wrong."

A theory is percolating through Lakers fans. The fans know the rivalry, and the fan bases genuinely hate each other, but the Lakers players are different. Their hate hasn't evolved yet. Not into something effective, at least.

"When was that, '80-something? I was like two. I don't know nothing about that," Trevor Ariza said a week ago. "I like all the Celtics…I even like He Got Game."

"Growing up, I was a die hard Celtics fan," Luke Walton—son of former Celtic great Bill—had told me. "I'm a Laker now, but I don't really hate (the Celtics.) They're a great team."

The vets of the old battles are different. To this day, AC Green says, "I wouldn't invite any of the Celtics over for dinner. Especially Danny Ainge. "He's just A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G."

Earlier, Magic Johnson broke it down.

"When you're in it, you have to feel it," he said. "You have to remember the great history. Both cities can respect each other, but we knew that they have to hate us and we have to hate them if we're going to beat each other."

Other NBA players even came in for the game.

"That was history. Just unbelievable," said Ron Artest, who came because "my boy Lamar needed a pick-me up, so I'm trying to help him out. "I was never a Garnett fan, I've never seen him come through. But tonight he surprised me. The biggest shots of his career, and he came through."

Outside, a cop nailed two Lakers fans for jaywalking. "We blew a 24 point lead, and now we have Celtics fans screaming at us," said one. "We're just trying to get a cab and get the hell out of here."

The cop looked the dudes over, then handed them their IDs.

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