Los Angeles, CA (My Sportsbook) - One of the great rivalries in sports continues tonight, as Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers host Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics at the Staples Center.

The Lakers enter tonight's contest having lost two in a row.

LA dropped its second straight contest on Thursday with a 99-87 setback to the Houston Rockets in front of its home crowd.

Kobe Bryant paced the Lakers with 23 points while O'Neal totaled 22 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Los Angeles has lost four of its last six games overall. Gary Payton put up 13 points and dished out seven assists in the losing effort.

The Lakers played without forward Karl Malone, who missed Thursday's contest with a knee injury. The future Hall-of-Famer is expected to miss tonight's contest but could return to the lineup for the Lakers' January 2 matchup against Seattle.

The Lakers are 14-2 at home.

The Celtics play the third of a four-game road trip tonight. Boston is 1-1 so far on the swing.

On Friday, Ricky Davis hit a baseline jumper with 2.8 seconds left to give the Celtics a 104-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns at America West Arena. Boston was able to rebound from a disappointing 93-88 loss to the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at Philips Arena.

Pierce poured in a game-high 27 points to go with his 11 assists for the Celtics, winners of two of their last three. Walter McCarty pitched in with 20 points, while Mark Blount added 16.

Boston is 7-7 on the road this season.

In 2002-03, the teams split a pair of contests as each club won on its homecourt.

Overall, the Lakers have won five of eight and seven of the last 11 meetings between the two squads. Boston has lost three of four and five of its last seven at the Lakers.