* – Subtitled: “Or See the Item Below.”

The Lakers’ 110-109 victory over the Celtics in Boston certainly falls into the above (hurray, I’m wrong) category. Since I may loathe the Celtics as much as any team in sports. It’s them or the San Francisco Giants.

(Hmmm. Celtics or Giants? Giants or Celtics? Probably Giants, over the course of a lifetime … but my Celtics loathing is more intense when they happen to be good. Such as now.)

Things we learned Thursday night:

1. The Lakers certainly are good enough to defeat the Celtics in the NBA Finals, if that is the matchup. These Lakers and those Celtics, anyway. We don’t know about injuries or trades, of course, between now and June. Both sides know who is better, this season, now that the Lakers have defeated the Celtics twice, snapping Boston winning streaks of 19 and 12 in the process.

2. The game on Thursday, which was not particularly well-played, was more about the Celtics looking almost  ordinary. Rather than the Lakers looking like world-beaters. The Celtics played like a team built around three thirtysomethings — and one of them, the annoying Kevin Garnett, seemed lethargic from an apparent bout with the flu. The Celtics of a year ago would have put away the Lakers in the third quarter, when they twice led L.A. by eight points.  But they let them hang around, and that is telling. The 2007-08 Killer Celts would have been up 20 going into the fourth quarter.

3. Kobe Bryant was something approaching “awful” in the middle two quarters, too, when he was passive and settled for rim-clanging jumpers. Perhaps from the exertion of carrying the team in two games in the previous three days. But he was strong in the first quarter. And the fourth, when he bombed in all three three-pointers he attempted, enabling the Lakers to take the game to overtime.

4. It was a game that statistics would indicate the Celtics probably won — considering they had more assists (26-21), more rebounds (47-42) and shot 85 percent from the line (17-of-20) to the Lakers’ unforgivable 58.6 (17-for-29). But the Lakers pulled out this one by winning the turnover battle (16-11) and by being more aggressive going to the basket; they had those nine extra attempts to get to 17 makes, allowing one extra made three to be the difference in the game. And with Kobe being so clutch behind the arc in the fourth quarter.

5. The Lakers, without Andrew Bynum, need Lamar Odom to regularly contribute the sort of effort he gave against the Celtics. That is, actually taking advantage of his talents and giving the Lakers a Third Option. He scored 20, and 19 after halftime. He got to the line 11 times (after averaging exactly 3.0 free throws in his first 45 games), which indicates how active he was. Yes, depending on Lamar Odom is a very shaky position to be in (which is why Phil Jackson had been bringing him off the bench, before Bynum’s latest injury), but the fact that he turned up big in Boston in a game that was so meaningful to both sides … well, Lakers fans can always hope Lamar turned some corner, nine years into his career. Because the Lamar we have been watching for nine seasons tends to get smaller,  the bigger the game.

Some bad news.

The Lakers still have a statement to make if you wish to consider them The Official Favorites to win the NBA title. And that will be in Cleveland, on Sunday, when they play LeBron James and the unbeaten-at-home (23-0) Cavaliers. Winning at Cleveland would make the Lakers 2-0 against the two best teams in the East, and that would be huge for an emotionally fragile (Kobe aside) Lakers team. It also would help them in their push to secure home-court advantage, which would be particularly pronounced if the Lakers end up in an L.A.-Cleveland final. Which seems the most likely scenario, at this writing.

There is one statement the Lakers cannot make: That they are better than Orlando.

The Lakers already have lost twice to the Magic, and Orlando might still carry its season into mid-June if it wins the Eastern Conference. But it would seem as if having to beat both Boston and Cleveland (which is what Dwight Howard & Co. would have to do, if they finish with anything other than the best record in the conference) is something the franchise isn’t quite ready for. Especially with point guard Jameer Nelson apparently out for the season.

Anyway, no, you don’t win championships in February. But you put ideas in the heads of players — good ideas or bad ideas — and they often have significant meaning, come the postseason. And hanging an “L” on a team with which you are struggling to gain that extra home game … that’s a help, too.

I’m glad I was wrong about this game. I would be happier, as a follower of the Lakers, if they had given me more of a sense of taking that game, rather than accepting it. But the fact that they didn’t melt down in the third quarter, when they could have, is achievement enough.