Men of zeal

Now that everyone understands how little the Lakers’ 21-5 record has to do with greatness, let’s see what life is like for the other half, with the Celtics on their 76-win pace with their 17-game winning streak.

Oh, that bad?

The Celtics look so lean and hungry, nothing short of a repeat means anything, not the title they won last spring, or this season’s amazing 25-2 start, which might even eclipse last season’s amazing 29-3 start.

When they beat Utah, 100-91, last week for their 15th win in a row, the Boston Globe headline was a dire: “Better watch out.”

Nor was Coach Doc Rivers impressed, regarding the win as slightly better than a loss.

“It’s a good sign in a lot of ways because to me, we have not played to a stretch where as a coach you would say, ‘We’ve hit our stride,’ ” Rivers said.

“We clearly have not done that.”

Thank heaven. Otherwise, they’d be 27-0 and Kendrick Perkins and Eddie House would be All-Star candidates along with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and, of course, Rajon Rondo, now hailed by Celtics fans as the latest in the line from Bob Cousy to Jo Jo White to Dennis Johnson.

There are more differences between these Lakers and Celtics than uniform colors, motifs (Irish vs. Hollywood) and climate. At this point, the dream team would be either starting five, the Lakers’ bench and the Celtics’ attitude.

The Celtics have been no less aware of their Christmas game. Unlike the Lakers, that didn’t keep them from getting excited about everyone else they ran into.

The Lakers insist they’re on a mission to avenge last spring’s Finals humiliation, although the mission seems to have taken a wrong turn back around Nov. 14.

The Celtics don’t say anything but look like they’re trying to get even for every game they lost last season.

Before they routed Orlando, 117-88, on Dec. 1, Magic officials were surprised to find the Celtics awaiting their arrival as if they were Attila and the Huns, burning to get even for beating them in the 2007-2008 season series.

Last week’s game in Atlanta, where the Celtics went 0-3 in last spring’s first round, was like an exorcism. Noting a video with series highlights featured on the Hawks’ website, the Globe noted, “If you didn’t know better, you would have thought the Hawks won the first-round matchup.”

Allen said the Celtics knew all about the video, apparently sparing no effort to discover disrespect wherever it was hiding.

They beat the Hawks too, to go to 24-2, celebrating in typical fashion.

Asked Pierce: “What do we get for that?”

The Celtics still lack depth and opponents barely guard two of their starters, Rondo and Perkins. On the other hand, no team may ever have had their zeal.

Kevin Garnett, a font of emotion all his career, has gone to a new level -- Mt. St. KG! -- venting nightly, with emotional runoffs like taunting Toronto’s Jose Calderon all the way up the floor by clapping his hands in his face, or going into a lineman’s four-point stance in front of Portland’s Jerryd Bayless.

No less of an admirer than Rivers said if anyone had done that to him when he was playing, “I would have run him over, legally, of course.”

Mostly for better but also for worse, KG’s attitude is contagious. Perkins, of all people, mouths off so much, he’s tied with Rasheed Wallace for the league lead in technical fouls.

Not that Perkins is in this alone. If you take his nine Ts out, the Celtics would still lead the NBA.

Unlike Red Auerbach’s cigar-smoking days, today’s Celtics are gracious as gracious can be off the court. On it, however, they’re a massive pain.

As Portland’s Channing Frye put it after Garnett dogged out Bayless, “The Celtics, they irritate everybody.”

Whether the Celtics can run this hot all season remains to be seen, but if the Finals started today, they’d open in Boston -- again.

Happily for the Lakers, the Finals still start in June, which is why Coach Phil Jackson has been in What-Me-Worry? mode.

Jackson’s didn’t orchestrate the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant feud, as Shaq claimed, nor was it Phil’s idea for this team to take a month off.

However, Jackson’s approach is the same in each case, or in games when he refuses to call timeouts, leaving his players to work it out themselves.

This just in from Florida: Lakers Find They Can’t Beat Everyone by Showing Up.

Aside from such basics like playing hard or defending, the Lakers’ “issues” last week still included Jordan Farmar’s confusion with his role and Andrew Bynum’s concern with his involvement in the offense.

For the Celtics, that’s like stuff they watch with their kids on “Sesame Street.”

If Farmar and Bynum were Celtics, Garnett, who reduced teammate Glen Davis to tears on the bench, would be glad to clear up any misunderstandings, even if Jordan and Andrew needed counseling afterward to get over the trauma.

The Lakers actually have to start passing more, rather than less, and guarding people, assuming they can play this Boston-style, helping defense, another question yet to be answered.

Recess is over, kids.

The grown-ups are coming! The grown-ups are coming!

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Longest NBA winning streaks

*--* 33 Lakers Nov. 5, 1971-Jan. 7, 1972 22 Houston Rockets Jan. 29-March 16, 2008 20 Milwaukee Bucks Feb. 6-March 8, 1971 19 Lakers Feb. 4-March 13, 2000 18 Chicago Bulls Dec. 29, 1995-Feb. 2, 1996 18 Boston Celtics Feb. 24-March 26, 1982 18 New York Knicks Oct. 24-Nov. 28, 1969 17 Boston Celtics Nov. 15, 2008-present 17 Phoenix Suns Dec. 29, 2006-Jan. 28, 2007 17 Dallas Mavericks Jan. 27-March 11, 2007 17 San Antonio Spurs Feb. 29-March 31, 1996 17 Boston Celtics Nov. 28, 1959-Jan. 1, 1960 17 Washington Capitols Nov. 16-Dec. 30, 1946 16 Lakers Dec. 11, 1999-Jan. 12, 2000 16 Portland Trail Blazers March 20-April 19, 1991 16 Lakers Jan. 9-Feb. 5, 1991 16 Milwaukee Bucks Oct. 24-Nov. 25, 1970 16 Boston Celtics Dec. 19, 1964-Jan. 22, 1965 *--*

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Source: Associated Press

Lakers vs. Boston

Thursday at Staples Center

2 p.m., Channel 7

BEFORE THEN . . .

Lakers: Monday at Memphis

Tuesday at New Orleans

Boston: Today vs. New York

Tuesday vs. Philadelphia.