“Quit” is the ugliest word in sports, but I don’t know how else you describe the Lakers’ pathetic “effort” in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

They quit. Mailed it in when it got tough. Folded the tents and started watching the clock wind down. If they could have left at halftime, I imagine they would have.

They got to 18-18 nine minutes into the game, but that was only because Kobe Bryant scored 11 difficult points. But it was a false score because they were scoring on jumpers and being overwhelmed on the boards — while Boston was missing wide-open looks.

Then the score very quickly began to reflect what was happening on the floor.

The roof fell in. And the Prudential Tower. And the North Pole. And the Lakers melted away.

A loss is a loss is a loss, but criminy, 131-92? The biggest blowout in NBA Finals clincher history?

Had the Lakers lost “only” by, say, 15, we might just remember this as the season the Lakers got to the Finals and took the best team in the league to six games.

Now, well, remember it as the year they got to the last game of the season and the Lakers just rolled over and died.

After that 18-18 start? Boston outscored the Lakers 40-17 till the end of the half.

How awful were the Lakers? Unspeakably awful.

They were annihilated in every “effort” statistic out there.

Rebounds; Boston 49-29.

Offensive rebounds: Boston 14-2.

Steals: Boston 18-4.

And so on.

What this game was, while the Lakers still were trying … was a perfect storm of every Celtics advantage coming into play at once. From mental and physical toughness to superior interior play, to home court, to the lack of a real Lakers second scoring option, to the Lakers’ softness around the basket, to the youth and inexperience of the Lakers bench.

It was all there. In spades.

I hate to say “I told you so” … but yeah, I did, back on June 2 and June 4, when I predicted a Celtics victory. Though I thought it would go maybe five games, instead of six.

As awful as the Lakers were, as horrifically as they performed, it would have been better to go out in five. Then they wouldn’t have this humiliation as the exclamation mark at the end of their season.

Yikes.

Where do they go from here?

Their bench needs shoring up. They need an experienced shooter, off the bench. They need a banger. Maybe that’s Andrew Bynum. Maybe it isn’t. If he isn’t back on the court soon, practicing hard, they need to acquire one.

Vlad Radmanovic is not an answer, but he has a contract that will be hard to trade. Same deal with Luke Walton. The Lakers have very few bargaining chips, actually, and no first-round draft pick this year.

Thus, their best hopes? That Bynum comes back and improves on what had looked like a breakout year. That their young bench players continue to mature.

Basically, they are what they are. Good enough to win some games. And they still have Kobe. But they need more depth, more toughness and way, way more physicality. Can they get somebody like Ron Artest for the mid-level exception? Probably not.

The calendar is probably their greatest ally. The Celtics will be a year older next year. Which isn’t good, for them. The Lakers will be a year older, and that’s better for most of their guys.

Let’s just hope they are dumb and short-sighted enough that they can forget losing the clincher by 39. Maybe they are.