Reporting from Boston, the L.A. Times' Lisa Dillman tries to capture the pulse of the Boston sports scene in preparation for Thursday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals. After speaking with several Boston sports fans, Dillman tries to answer the question of who is the second most popular sports team in town.

"It's a Red Sox city obviously — they've been around the longest and passed through the most generations," he wrote to The Times. "The No. 2 spot rotates [depending] on how the other teams are doing. In the '70s, it was the Bruins. In the '80s, [ Larry] Bird came to prominence and the Celts were actually more popular than anyone until [ Roger] Clemens and the Red Sox took it back in 1986.

"In the mid-90s, [Bill] Parcells made the Pats the No. 2 team and that held through the last decade. I'd say the Celts are No. 3 right now [behind the Sox and Pats] but the 1-2-3 spots are tighter than you'd think."

The city is certainly abuzz with Celtics fever, especially given the dream Boston-LA matchup in the finals. But can the C's overtake the Patriots? Have the Pats left the door open after two sub-par seasons? Celtics? Patriots?