Bresnahan’s take

Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before each Finals game.

Q&A; of the day

Question: If the Lakers win Game 6, Phil Jackson should have the team dress in yellow uniforms instead of purple ones for Game 7. I don’t know if L.A. has ever worn yellow for an away game, so it would be a bold statement, like Notre Dame wearing green against USC in ’77.

It’d be a classic move and the team is young enough and dumb enough to go for something like that. They just have to make sure they aren’t [wearing] short shorts.

P.S.: No chance of Andrew Bynum coming back for Game 7, is there? Never mind. I know the answer to that already.

-- Hal Summers

Answer: Wow, Hal. This e-mail is anything but shallow.

There’s ingenuity in it (a proposed jersey switch), a historical crossover into a different sport and immediate use of Jackson’s humorous “young and dumb” observation from the other night.

Not to mention that you answered your own question about Bynum (correctly, no less).

I could ruin things by revealing that I’m a lifelong Notre Dame fan and mentioning how that 1977 game always makes me smile, but why mess up such a good e-mail by irritating so many readers? Besides, it’s almost three months until the Irish begin the road back to respectability with a season-opening pasting of San Diego State.

--

Best-case Lakers scenario

Kobe Bryant rediscovers his outside touch. Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol carry over their Game 5 aggressiveness. The Lakers spend a few more days in Boston.

--

Worst-case Lakers scenario

Too obvious to write.

--

That’s harsh

Kevin Garnett wasn’t in the best mood after missing two free throws with 2 minutes 31 seconds to play and the Celtics down by two points in Game 5.

“It was trash,” he said of his effort. “I played like garbage. I can do better and I will.”

Garnett finished with 13 points, five fouls and four turnovers in 33 minutes. He also had 14 rebounds.

--

Final thought

Does anybody have an extra pair of earplugs? The Celtics are 12-1 at home, the crowd will be whipped into a froth, and the Lakers have little margin for error. The Lakers won’t go away meekly as they did in playoff elimination games on the road the last two seasons (a 31-point loss in Phoenix in 2006 and a nine-point loss in Phoenix last year that led Bryant to appeal immediately to Jerry Buss to “Do something and do it now”). However, this has the feel of a Celtics victory.