With the Los Angeles Lakers readying to battle the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, hometown newspapers are naturally talking trash, even across 3,000 miles.

But one effort by the Los Angeles Times to rally Lakers fans backfired when a comment about Celtic star Paul Pierce went too far.

In its Monday "Guide to Hating the Celtics," Times sportswriter Ted Green offered a list of jabs at the east coasters, including one directed at Pierce that noted his being stabbed 11 times in an altercation in 2000, according to LAObserved.com: “By the way, Pierce's idea of a fun night is going clubbing and getting stabbed. Good times!”

The comment sparked complaints from several Celtic supporters, including Michael Hurley of New England Sports Network, who wrote: “The Times can likely expect to be flooded with e-mails from the Boston area asking for an apology, similar to the firestorm that Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan created eight years ago for his comments regarding Jason Kidd's wife."

Indeed, the Times removed the item from the Green column and replaced it with this note to readers: “An earlier version of this post contained an inappropriate comment about Pierce relating to an incident in 2000 in which he was stabbed repeatedly. That comment should not have been published and has been removed.”

Let the series begin.