LOS ANGELES -- Tinseltown is now titletown, at least when it comes to NBA supremacy.
The Lakers were as good as gold in Thursday's dramatic Game 7, repeating as champions to earn the franchise their 16th NBA crown.
It came against their historic rivals, a Boston Celtics team that played like champions, but couldn't get enough offence to lay claim to their 18th title.
L.A.'s 83-79 win marked the first time it beat the Celtics in a Game 7 showdown, a matchup that saved its best for the very end.
Kobe Bryant wasn't at his offensive best, but his will inspired his teammates, his ability to crash the boards setting the tone for others.
"This one is by far the sweetest, because it's them," Bryant said. "This was the hardest one by far."
L.A. was in catch-up mode all night until a 9-0 run in the fourth shifted momentum.
Leads changed, teams exchanged misses, but the key was L.A.'s ability to rebound, a theme that was constant throughout this marathon series, and its ability to get to the foul line.
It's very rare Bryant gets upstaged, but he did by Pau Gasol, who can no longer be considered soft.
Without Gasol, the Lakers do not repeat.
Without Ron Artest, the Lakers do not win Game 7.
Artest stepped up in the clutch, exorcising all those demons and silencing all those critics who have justifiably dogged this basketball bad boy, whose image is now partially cleansed.
The Celtics, who led by as many as 13 second-half points, just could not make enough shots and could not match L.A.'s size.
"It was a hell of a series,'' said Doc Rivers, who may have coached his final game. "At the end of the day, our lack of size was the difference. It was tough getting shots.
"Our guys battled, but it's hard to win when it's 23-8 in offensive rebounds and 37-17 in free throws."
The Lakers were in the bonus with 6:49 left when Gasol forced Rasheed Wallace into taking his fifth foul on an over-the-back call.
As befitting the whole night, Gasol missed both his shots from the line, errant heaves that followed Ray Allen's first miss of the series.
It was that kind of Game 7, when shots weren't awry, nerves were frayed and the air inside Staples Center dripped with drama.
Somehow, all the missed shots, every time when a player with the ball in his hands looked lost became completely insignificant when the game was tied 64-64 in the final quarter.
This was not vintage basketball, not a game for those looking for offensive excellence, but it had everyone on the edge of their seats.
Boston could not have scripted a better beginning, inserting Wallace into the starting lineup for injured centre Kendrick Perkins and shooting their way to a 23-14 lead after the first quarter.
Without Perkins, the Lakers had a huge size advantage, but it was mitigated by their inability to make shots.
The Celtics, despite yielding second-chance opportunities, competed hard, were active and used a 13-3 run to end the opening period to take the early initiative.
Bryant and Gasol went a combined 6-for-26 from the field in the opening half, a 24-minute period of physical, grind-it-out basketball that wasn't pretty, but it was awfully compelling.
Boston led 40-34 at the break, holding the Lakers to 26% shooting but it surrendered 15 offensive rebounds.
Bryant earned his second straight NBA final MVP, an award that was presented to the five-time champion by the game's ultimate champion, Bill Russell, whose Celtics defeated the Lakers in L.A. in Game 7 in the 1969 final.
History would not be repeated, at least if you were a Celtics fan.
