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LOS ANGELES – Before we get to why Laker fans already should be more concerned than they probably thought they’d be for months, let’s start with the feel-giddy ceremony. This was, after all, Ring Night, an evening to recognize achievement by placing a small sports utility vehicle on each Laker left hand.

The magical night began with the fans inside Staples Center cheering…for the Celtics.

It then continued with Ron Artest, in a pregame ceremony, public-address microphone in hand, in front of a full house, proclaiming the Lakers to be world champions for the “2010-11” season.

At that point, the 2010-11 season, technically, hadn’t started for the Lakers.

Ring Night or Ding-A-Ling Night?

How can you not enjoy a loose floorboard like Artest, who should be required to address the fans before every home game? That would make even next month’s Raptors visit worth attending. Evidently, the media aren’t alone in thinking this regular season is just an unnecessary nuisance separating the Lakers and Heat from their preordained meeting in the next NBA Finals.

Even the Lakers – if only subconsciously, perhaps – are thinking that way, and we certainly can’t blame them. Heck, they already have a one-game lead over the Heat for the best record in the NBA and home court throughout the playoffs.

But we’ll get to more of that shortly. First, the festivities, remember?

Which brings us to those Celtic cheers surging Tuesday through the same building in which, just three months ago, the fans were rooting for Kevin Garnett to break something other than a sweat. Like both his ankles, for example. It was about 45 minutes before the Lakers would tip off defense of their consecutive titles. On the giant video boards over the court, the Celtics-Heat game was being shown.

OK, so the fans weren’t cheering as much for Boston as against Miami, but their allegiance was as obvious as those rings the Lakers would later receive. The rings, by the way, were so showy and oversized, Phil Jackson called them “unwearable.”

The start of this Lakers’ season was delayed several minutes by love, yes, the fans showering their adulation as the franchise commemorated the events of last June. It was a entertaining flashback, with Artest finishing things by delivering his unintentional punch line. It clearly was a celebration of the past, since Sasha Vujacic was allowed to participate. In the game itself, Vujacic sat and watched all 48 minutes, indicating how much the Lakers have upgraded their bench.

(Fittingly, it was the new and improved Vujacic, Steve Blake, whose two plays in the final 20 seconds – a three-pointer and a defensive stop – beat Houston.)

Then again…once the action finally did commence, the Lakers couldn’t generate enough offense early with Kobe Bryant struggling and couldn’t stop the opponent’s little point guard and Andrew Bynum’s knee was bothering him.

Another new ring, but the same old issues?

Don’t fret. Those problems haven’t prevented the Lakers from lording over this league since June, 2009. In the end Tuesday, they also didn’t stop the Lakers from escaping the Rockets. But there is one new obstacle this team must clear: The trap of looking ahead – particularly with Bryant still searching for his winter legs – and not just past an opponent or two.

The Lakers have an epic laurel-resting opportunity stretched out before them, the likes of which few teams in sports have stared down. We’re talking the La-Z-Boy of laurel-resting chances. Given the top-heavy nature of the NBA today and the amount of drool already pooling nationally for Lakers-Heat, these guys could find themselves guilty of looking past homestands, weeks and months.

This is unlikely with Bryant aboard, 100 percent or not. The Lakers would seem to be much too experienced to think their mere presence would translate into major points. But don’t forget that the core of this group has a history of misplacing its focus for stretches. How many times have you marveled at the Lakers’ ability to go numb as a group?

A sluggish start to this season – despite a promising schedule – could leave the Lakers chasing the Heat for best-record status, something Jackson already was acknowledging as significant before Tuesday’s game. When talking Lakers, it’s never too early to place things in the context of the Finals, since that’s all that matters around here. You know that’s the mentality the Lakers themselves possess.

Before the opener, Jackson also said he liked “the parity of the NBA,” noting the emergence last season of Oklahoma City. Having finished atop the league 11 times, it is easier to appreciate the also-rans. In reality, however, the battle to win the 2010-11 NBA champion isn’t exactly wide open. Narrow open is more like it. Artest, during Tuesday’s pregame, had the correct idea. The next eight months will determine if he made the correct mistake.

The center of attention... Mr. LeBron James... Who will he play for next... Any predictions?

"So now Kobe Bryant comes to the Third Act, the nut scene, John McClane vs. Hans Gruber, loser dies hard.

It's not enough that Bryant has left baskets smoldering in these playoffs. It's not enough that he's made shots from elevator shafts, burning buildings and tilting helicopters. It's not enough that his fourth quarter in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals was his career Thriller, the most retina-popping streak of clutch moves I've ever seen, Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson included.

No, now he comes to do-or-die, the stand-back-kids moment, his chance to hang in the Louvre, sing at Carnegie, mine the Hope diamond. It's a Celtics-Lakers finals and he's been here before, one time, two years ago, and wound up flatter than forgotten beer. His Lakers had their pants yanked down in front of the whole school. So there's not just a title on the line but his legacy, too. This is Kobe's big moment, his final answer, his Rubicon.

Yes, he has won four rings, two scoring titles, a regular-season MVP, an NBA Finals MVP, and has more power and money than all the Bushes combined. He has left entire arenas gasping, gone on streaks that even Jordan couldn't imagine, played at such a preposterously high level that at times he looked like a man doing handstands on an airborne 747. But he has never taken a ring from the hated Celtics and until he does, it's all very Catskills. Compared to the Celtics, Orlando is just K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Until he slays the Celtics, Kobe Bryant can never be what he has the chance to be: The Greatest Laker."

Team USA has a chance to win the Winter Olympics' medal count for the first time in 78 years. What has been your favorite moment in the 2010 Winter Olympics?