I’m sure there is much hyperventilating going on in the Hub today after the Lakers dismantled the Celtics, 89-67, in Game 6, the 67 points a new low point for the Celtics, literally. They were the fewest points this fabled franchise has ever scored in an NBA Finals game.

It became quite clear the Celtics weren’t winning this one in the second quarter, when both Shelden Williams and Rajon Rondo clanged dunks. I haven’t checked with the Elias Sports Bureau, but it’s safe to say that a team has never won a clinching game of the NBA Finals on the road while bricking a pair of slams. You have to miss dunks to shoot .333 percent from the field.

So, instead of celebrating another championship, the Celtics are preparing for another game. Instead of dousing each other with champagne in the visiting locker room of the Staples Center they were forced to swallow a humbling defeat. Instead of preparing to participate in another rolling rally, they got rolled.

It’s okay. This is just all part of the process in this see-saw series. The Celtics and Lakers are too talented, too evenly matched, too well-coached and too championship-driven (the royalty check is in the mail, M.L. Carr) to determine legacies and the Larry O’Brien trophy without going to the limit.

The last two NBA champions are going the distance to decide the next titlist. It has a certain symmetry to it, so you might as well sit back and enjoy the bonus basketball, even if it means gnawing your nails LeBron James style. In an NBA playoffs that has been devoid of drama, the Celtics and Lakers will script a dramatic conclusion.

“This is what it’s all about,” said Glen “Big Baby” Davis. “This is what you guys are going to talk about for years. You guys are going to remember this moment. You are going to remember Thursday forever. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to step up on the floor and win here in LA.”

Did the Celtics truly believe they’d win last night and close it out at the Staples Center? Absolutely.

Are they surprised it’s going to take a seventh game to vanquish their Southern California counterparts? “No, not at all. Not at all,” said Garnett.

“No. You know it’s Lakers-Celtics, the biggest rivalry in NBA basketball, seven games. It is what it is,” said Rajon Rondo, part of the Core Four, who through three quarters had every one of Boston’s 51 points.

That’s right Paul Pierce (13), Ray Allen (16), Garnett (12) and Rondo (10) had accounted for every Celtics point up until that point, as they trailed the Lakers by 25 (76-51) after three. Boston’s ballyhooed backups had zero points until Nate Robinson hit a reverse lay-up and got fouled with 9:56 left in the game.

The occasionally quarrelsome quartet finished with 54 points, led by 19 from Allen, who broke an 0-18 3-point skid and was the only one to score in a fourth quarter that was glorified garbage time.

You can also toss this game into the cerebral circular file. It’s over, and we shouldn’t expect a repeat. Game 7 should be more reflective of the series, tense, taut, tight and tremendous.

There has been a lot of discussion about 50-50 balls in this series. Well, Game 7 is a 50-50 game.The teams are so even after six games that they even have the same primary injury concern. Both teams could be without their centers due to right knee injuries.

Kendrick Perkins sprained his right knee going up for a rebound with 5:30 left in the first quarter, hobbled off and never returned. Watching him limp out of the arena in street clothes, it doesn’t look good for Game 7.

After the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said that Andrew Bynum, whose right knee issues have been well-documented, asked the Zen Master to pull him after a minute and 42 seconds of the third quarter, telling Jackson, “You’ve got to take me out. I can’t run.”

“It’s unfortunate what happened to him,” said Bynum of Perkins. “I know where he’s at, so I wish him the best, and I hope he’ll be able to play.”

Both centers are candidates for a Willis Reed-type attempt at playing. Choose any well-worn sports bromide you like, but the sentiment is the same — you’re not sitting out this game if you can walk.

Davis, who was scoreless last night, and Rasheed Wallace, who missed all of his “big boy” shots, going 0 for 7 and 0 for 6 from 3-point land, figure to get the call if Perkins can’t go or is severely impeded by the knee.

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher said after the game that he didn’t believe in leprechauns, but does he believe in omens?

Game 7 is going to be played on June 17, exactly two years to the day of the Celtics defeating the Lakers to win their 17th NBA title. That was the last time a Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals featured such a resounding rout, as the Celtics blasted the Lakers 131-92 in Game 6 at TD Garden.

On the anniversary of their last title, the Celtics will try to win their next. The Green want to secure Banner No. 18 on June 17. If you’re the superstitious type, the date has to count for something.

The truth is we latch on to anything in a Game 7 because they are completely unpredictable, sports’ version of a complete crap shoot.

What is very predictable is that it would take seven games for the Lakers and Celtics to settle the matter of crowing an NBA champion.

It didn’t happen. Los Angeles stomped Boston in Game 1, so now Boston reshapes its goals and aims to steal a single win before the series shifts to the Hub for three games.

It’s easy to point to the Celtics’ bigs for the discrepancy. Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace, and Glen Davis combined for 14 rebounds. Heck, Pau Gasol collected a game-high 14 rebounds himself, including a staggering eight offensive caroms that matched the team total for Boston.

Talking about offensive rebounding after Game 1, Glen Davis suggested it all comes down to will — the desire to get the ball more than your opponent. Take away all the physical breakdowns Boston endured, and the most frustrating aspect of the Game 1 loss might have been that the Lakers proved they wanted it more than Boston.

“Passion, that’s what you want to call it” said Davis. “I would say energy. I think the Finals are the Finals and it’s a different level of play. We’ve just got to bring our level of play up. I feel like our passion is there; we want to win. We know the consequences of this game. We know the consequences of every game, even if we don’t bring it.”

It worked over the last three years when Davis guarded and contained Tim Duncan and the 7-foot-6 Yao Ming. It worked in the conference semifinals when he gave up six inches to Shaquille O’Neal. And it has largely worked in this series as part of Boston’s three-pronged attack on Howard. While Kendrick Perkins draws the primary assignment of matching up against Howard without benefit of a double team, Davis and Rasheed Wallace are also called upon to spread out the responsibility and the fouls. Each brings a different approach to the assignment, which has helped frustrate the Magic’s leading scorer during the regular season. The trio made Howard a non-factor in Game 1 when he hit just 3-of-10 shots and had 13 points. Howard struck for 30 in Game 2, but was only able to get off 13 shot attempts, and it led to a second straight Orlando defeat.

“Perk uses strength and length,” Davis said. “Rasheed is clever in how he uses his hands a lot, uses his length. I just use my quickness.” Often surprising quickness on a frame that carries 289 pounds.

“He’s got a lot of weight,” Perkins said. “He can move his feet real well and he’s strong. That helps him a lot. “He knows how to defend too. He has a high basketball IQ.”

The battle begins long before Howard catches the ball. Davis tries to force Howard 12 feet from the basket when he wants to be 10. If Howard is allowed to get too close, it is already all but over. “He has a pretty good, low center of gravity and it’s effective with bigger guys,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “He has an ability to get into people’s leg. He’s the strongest guy on our team in that way. That’s how he’s able to guard Shaq and Dwight.

“But when those guys get in deep we’re in trouble. When Dwight was getting shots over him, it was in the paint. So what he’s got to do is keep everybody out of the paint with his size, and he is effective doing it.” In that way, he is a little more like Perkins against Howard than Wallace.

“Me and Baby both like to get physical with him,” Perkins said. “Rasheed likes to play those mind games.”

It’s a skill Davis has had to develop quickly in his three years in the league. At LSU, Davis often didn’t have to match up against other centers playing alongside leaping sensation Tyrus Thomas for two years. Even when he was forced inside, he seldom had to deal with the type of height and athleticism of NBA centers. But while many 6-foot-8 interior players are pushed to the wing in the pros, Rivers sent Davis inside defensively. Perhaps not surprising for a near 300-pounder, he has been difficult to move since.

“I think I’ve done a good job of using my abilities as best as possible,” he said. “I’ve learned how to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

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This is WIM in a nutshell: A ball springs off the rim directly above two players. Both have an equal shot at it — athletic prowess notwithstanding — but only one player can come down with it. The player who gets it? That’s a tick in the WIM column. And it’s no surprise that there’s a strong correlation between WIMs and wins.

The Boston Celtics, as they have done throughout the Eastern Conference finals and the entire postseason, dominated the WIM category during Saturday’s Game 3 matchup with the Orlando Magic. As usual Glen Davis left it all on the floor Saturday, but he also scored a game-high 17 points. From Rajon Rondo lunging through the legs of Jason Williams while forcing one of the most spectacular steals of the season to Glen Davis willing himself to every available offensive rebound to an unrelenting defense that made every necessary rotation for a full 48 minutes, the Celtics clearly wanted it more than the Magic. The result: a 94-71 triumph at TD Garden.

The Celtics lead the series 3-0.

There’s no arguing their dominance thus far. Simply put, they’ve wanted it more than Orlando since the opening tip last Sunday.

“We want it, we know we want it,” said Davis, the unlikely source of a game-high 17 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Davis paced six Boston players in double figures, connecting on 5-of-9 shots, while adding six rebounds, half of which were of the offensive variety. “We remind ourselves we want it,” Davis said. “Every day we have banners [in the Celtics' practice facility], we see banners and we want another banner. That’s what it’s all about.”

After an eye-opening postseason while starting in place of Kevin Garnett last year, Davis has struggled at times during the 2009-10 campaign. Yet Orlando, as it did last postseason, brings the best out of him.

Davis scored 10 second-quarter points Saturday, grabbing two offensive rebounds in the period. The Magic never cut their deficit lower than 14 after that thanks in large part to Davis’ hustle.

His WIMs helped leave Orlando a broken team. “Everybody knows [when the Celtics want it more], you don’t need to say it,” Davis said. “We all want it. We’ve just got to go out there and physically take it.”

Emphasis on physically. In Game 2, Davis provided a spark by taking a pair of charges, once enduring a knee in the sternum in order to force a turnover and a huge momentum swing. In that same game, Garnett pump-faked a defender and went strong to the basket. Instead of stepping up and taking the charge, Rashard Lewis made a feeble swat at the ball as Garnett delivered a thunderous one-handed jam.

WIM, Boston. Davis didn’t know his role earlier this season after missing the start of the year because of a thumb injury and with the Celtics having acquired Rasheed Wallace. Davis figured it out along the way and his role is predicated on energy and desire — two of the key assets necessary to thrive in the WIM category. While Davis remains frustratingly inconsistent at times, he’s often able to offset those nights when he doesn’t fill up the box score by doing things that don’t appear in the final stat lines. “My role is just being an energy guy, making sure that I play defense, get rebounds,” Davis said. “[Coach Doc Rivers] lets me, offensively, do what I want to do — hit the open jump shot, play in the post. But at the same time he makes me still remember my role and what I am capable of doing.

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In a series featuring rosters that overflow with talent, it’s clear both teams have reloaded for the 2009-10 playoff run. Boston pieced its Big Three back together with a healthy Kevin Garnett, while Cleveland surrounded two-time MVP LeBron James with weapons such as Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison.

Those additions pushed Davis and Varejao out of the starting roles they enjoyed last postseason, but the duo remains in the spotlight in a series that could ultimately be decided by the play of the benches.

Forget LeBron vs. Pierce. Don’t even worry about KG vs. Jamison. Look past Rondo vs. Mo.

This series will be decided by “Big Baby” vs. “Wild Thing.”

The two players are more similar than immediately meets the eye. Both are capable of providing a spark off the bench, both can be overly dramatic and flamboyant and, most importantly, both do all the little things that hardly show up in the box score, such as keeping rebounds alive, chasing loose balls and taking charges.

“He’s the biggest threat on the floor,” Davis said of Varejao. “At the end of the day, that’s what’s going to win the series, is the energy guys.

“He’s everywhere. He’s a pest. He’s showing off screens, he’s getting his hand on balls. He’s getting rebounds. He’s getting easy putbacks, getting free throw rebounds. His energy is a big key for that team. What he brings is hard to find. He’s the type of player that can determine a game.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers was hard-pressed to argue. He dubbed Varejao the MVP of the Cavaliers in the two games in which Cleveland beat the Celtics during the regular season (he missed the final meeting in Boston with an injury).

“We need somebody to match Varejao’s energy,” said Rivers. “The two games they won, he was the best player in those two games. He dominated those games with his energy and effort. We need somebody to shut him down.”

Could Baby be that guy?

“He has to be as consistent as [Varejao] because the other guy does it every night,” said Rivers. “We can’t pick and choose.”

It’s the latest challenge handed down from Rivers to Davis, who seems to rise when his coach demands more from him — particularly in the postseason.

Filling in for Garnett last year, Davis started 14 games and averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 36.4 minutes, more than doubling his regular-season production.

The addition of Rasheed Wallace and a head-shaking, off-the-court thumb injury at the start of the 2009-10 season sapped any momentum Davis had built (though he did receive a two-year, $6.3 million contract extension).

Despite inconsistencies, he seemed to find his role as an energy player late in the season.

Now Rivers lumps him in a category with guys like Varejao and Chicago’s Joakim Noah, players who exceed their talent because they play so hard and so smart. Rivers went so far as to compare them to Dennis Rodman, who never let his height prevent him from dominating on the glass.

Davis shined twice in the first round against the Heat.

Making a spot start for the suspended Garnett in Game 2 against Miami, Davis posted 23 points and eight rebounds in a lopsided win. When Rivers needled him before Game 5, asking if he planned to be a Milli Vanilli-like one-hit wonder this postseason, Davis responded with another brilliant effort in which he did a little bit of everything, including taking a pivotal Dwyane Wade charge and converting a monster three-point play, both in the fourth quarter of what proved to be the Heat’s elimination game.

Davis wants to show he’s capable of bringing that effort every night. He’s going to have to for Boston to get past the Cavaliers.

“I’ve already got a chip on my shoulder because it’s the playoffs and everybody is surprised when I play well,” said Davis. “Well, everyone is going to be surprised by what you see out of me this series.”