LOS ANGELES — They won with a clobbering 13-2 finishing push, with Ray Allen missing two late jumpers and then having a third blocked, with Pau Gasol doing everything at the end but choking the Celtics with their own championship rings.

Who knows what the Lakers' 92-83 victory Thursday will mean in June? But for one Christmas Day, it meant the world, if not the world title.

So there you are, folks, just what you kept asking Santa for — Boston, finally beaten.

A Tickle Me Rondo? The perfect gift for the fans who want everything.

"We didn't win a championship today," Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic said. "But we won the belief for our fans. This win was for all the people who support us. Belief was the gift we gave them."

The victory didn't erase the Lakers' last encounter with the Celtics — NBA Finals, Game 6, 39-point loss, remember? — nor did it replace that national embarrassment.

But it at least updated the NBA's greatest rivalry with a more palatable result for the Lakers.

The Celtics still have their rings; the Lakers regained their pride.

"I'm not going to say it felt like a Finals game, but it was a big game," Trevor Ariza said.

"Everyone was in their seats before tipoff. There was a little more spice to it. I think it was a win we needed."

The Lakers didn't definitively answer questions about their suspect inside toughness. (The smaller Celtics outrebounded them, 40-35.)

They didn't prove Andrew Bynum will make an enormous difference. (He finished with a below-average nine points and seven rebounds.)

They didn't display the ability to bury a reeling Boston. (The Celtics came all the way back from a double-digit deficit.)

But the Lakers did show they can smother the league's best team, impressively suffocating Boston's offensive efforts throughout, particularly in the final five minutes, when most games — especially ones in June — are decided.

At the end, Bynum blocked a layup, Gasol forced a couple of Boston shots to be rushed and the scrambling Celtics generally played minus their senses.

If you want to attach your hopes to anything from this game, Lakers fans, we would suggest Boston's 16-point fourth quarter.

"Today, we got to silence a lot of people," Ariza said. "When we see them (the Celtics) again, I think winning this game will help us. We needed a big game where we played with a lot of aggressiveness."

To recap the final, crucial 12 minutes:

Paul Pierce, zero field goals.

Ray Allen, zero field goals.

Rajon Rondo, zero field goals.

The Lakers blocked four shots in the fourth quarter and didn't give Boston a free throw.

All totaled, the Celtics made just six free throws, the same number Gasol had by himself.

"We played with heart today," Vujacic said. "And we learned to play with our heads also. When we put the two things together, you saw what's possible. This is our time now, our year."

In winning its previous 19 games, Boston averaged 107 points. But Thursday, the Lakers practically starved the Celtics while in turn feeding everyone else in Staples Center.

The victory combined with the sub-100-point Boston showing meant free Jack In The Box tacos for all.

If there was a play that symbolized the Lakers' passion it came in the first half, when Ariza was credited with assisting on an and-one layup by Vujacic.

Those are the facts, but this is the story:

It started when Kobe Bryant lunged to bat a loose ball from the backcourt toward the Lakers basket.

Ariza hustled and out-fought Eddie House for possession, barely saving the ball at the end line.

Teetering and flailing, he somehow passed back to a streaking Vujacic, who finished while being fouled.

"I just saw the ball, saw an opportunity to get the ball back," Ariza said. "Every possession in a game like this is important."

Asked to describe the way he kept his feet inbounds, Ariza said, "It was kind of wide receiver-ish."

So the Lakers won this mega-gigantic, monstrous showdown, the most biggest and Titanic-est regular season NBA game in perhaps generations, if not the history of civilization.

When it ended, Staples Center filled with a sound that made it feel like something significant had just happened.

But who knows? On Friday, the Celtics are in Golden State and the Lakers are off, awaiting a Sunday visit from the same Warriors.

Who knows? Not even Phil Jackson, and he knows enough basketball to already be in the sport's hall of fame.

Asked about the meaning of this victory, the Lakers' coach looked mostly blank.

"I don't know," he said. "We'll have to see what happens after this."

We all know what happened before this. And today, finally, last June is more distant than ever.