<Table> <Tr> <Td> Staples Center, Los Angeles, California </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> Staples Center, Los Angeles, California </Td> </Tr> <P> The Celtics finished the regular season as the Atlantic Division champions with a 50--32 record . As the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, they eliminated the No. 5 seeded Miami Heat in five games during the first round in the playoffs . Then in the conference semifinals, Boston defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games, the earliest that a top seed has been eliminated since the Dallas Mavericks' first round loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2007 . In the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics went on to eliminate the Orlando Magic in six games . In reaching the Finals the Boston Celtics became the first team in NBA history to do so with a better regular season road record than home . Also, the Boston Celtics became the second team in NBA history to reach the NBA Finals after beating the team with the best record, Cleveland Cavaliers, and team with second - best record in the league, Orlando Magic, after the Houston Rockets did it in their championship season of 1995 . </P> <P> After the Lakers won the Finals in the preceding year, the team management wasted no time in making changes to the roster . Their most notable offseason player change was when Trevor Ariza departed to the Houston Rockets for free agent Ron Artest . Longtime assistant coach and former head coach Kurt Rambis left the organization to pursue a head coaching opportunity with the Minnesota Timberwolves . The Lakers finished the regular season as the Pacific Division champion, compiling a 57--25 record . On February 1, Kobe Bryant moved past Jerry West into 14th place on the NBA's career scoring list . He also surpassed West to become the Lakers franchise scoring leader . </P>

La lakers vs boston celtics 2010 finals game 7