Stars come out, LA style

LOS ANGELES - Ah, nothing brings out the beautiful people here quite like the NBA Finals, and last night was no exception. Even with the home team trailing in the series 2-0, LA's famously front-running fans showed up. Some celebs, like stalwarts Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon, could be easily ogled at courtside. Others were less obvious, ensconced in luxury suites high above the action. (Leonardo? Is that you?) Who knew Hugh Hefner was such a hoops fan? Playboy's 82-year-old founder attended last night's game with "Girls Next Door" Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson. Other VIPs on the guest list included soccer stud David Beckham, who was sitting next to Celtics managing partner Irv Grousbeck, directors Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and Penny Marshall, New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, A-list actors Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Dustin Hoffman, Eddie Murphy, Sylvester Stallone, Kristin Davis, Tobey Maguire, and Adam Sandler, Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, rapper Kanye West, ex-boxing champ Floyd Mayweather, and former NBA player John Salley. (Our boy Ben Affleck had tix, we're told, but decided to watch at home.) Arlington-bred actor Timothy Hutton was expected in the house, as was tennis star Maria Sharapova, Brody Jenner's buddy Frankie Delgado, soccer players Darren Bent and Didier Drogba, who scored a ticket thanks to Kevin Garnett, and assorted Celts and Lakers alums, including Jo Jo White, Rick Fox, and A.C. Green.

This is one kind of flip-flopping we like in a politician. Senator Barack Obama told NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday that although he initially thought the Lakers would take the NBA Finals in six games, he's changed his mind. Now he's thinking: Celtics in six. "I tell you what, I thought the Lakers were the better team," Obama said, according to a transcript of an interview scheduled to air last night. "But the Celtics have been tough." Still, the former Harvard Law student admits his team loyalties lie elsewhere. The Illinois senator is, not surprisingly, a Chicago Bulls fan.

"The Shield" star Michael Chiklis attended last night's game with his pal, FX president John Landgraf. "He called and said, 'Chiky, I got two tickets. It's you and me," the actor told us before the game. "Thing is, John's a Lakers fan and I'm a Celtics fan. . . . Could be interesting." An Andover native and BU grad, Chiklis said he's been waiting a long time for the Celts and Lakers to renew their rivalry, and he wouldn't miss a minute of the action. "I think everyone who loves basketball is into it - check out the ratings," he said. "Watching the Celtics kick some Laker [butt] again has been great." Asked about the star-studded scene at the Staples Center, Chiklis, who's lived in LA for nearly 20 years, just chuckled. "When you can order a Caesar salad at an NBA game, that kind of says it all, doesn't it?" he said. As much as ABC would like to see the NBA Finals go the full seven games - ka-ching! - Chiklis says his central nervous system couldn't take it. "With what I've been through as a Sox fan, I'm into total domination at this point."

Maria Menounos was hard to miss at last night's Lakers game. She was the loud one in the Paul Pierce jersey. "I'm not intimidated rooting for the Celtics in LA," the "Access Hollywood" correspondent told us. "I take this seriously. I'm going to let you know." No neophyte Celts fan, Menounos, who grew up in Medford and went to Emerson, said she chose her date to last night's game carefully. "My best West Coast friend said to me, 'You have to take me to the Lakers game, blah, blah, blah. . . . I said, 'No, I can't bring you. It's just another event for you.' " While she respects Kobe Bryant and his Lakers teammates, Menounos (inset) doesn't think much of the fans in the City of Angels. "I call them the LA fakers," she said. "They're kind of expecting to win and being so disrespectful to the Celtics." She said she was so impressed with Leon Powe's Game 2 performance that she pitched a piece about him to "NBC Nightly News." "He's got such a great story," she said. "I just think he's fabulous."

Sonny McLean's, the LA bar famous for its allegiance to Red Sox Nation, is all about the Celtics at the moment. The watering hole on Wilshire Boulevard is ground zero for C's fans who can't swing the pricey ticket to the Staples Center. "They start showing up around 3 p.m., and by 5 p.m., it's standing room only in here," says manager Mike Bongarzone, who grew up in Scituate. Featured prominently in the Sox movie "Still, We Believe," Sonny McLean is a home away from home for Boston sports fans stranded in LA. Sox chairman Tom Werner is a regular when he's on the West Coast, and Coco Crisp celebrated his birthday here last year. For now, though, patrons have traded red for green. "The chant of 'Beat LA' gets pretty loud in here," says Bongarzone.

At the risk of sounding overconfident, New Kid Joey McIntyre says he can't see LA beating Boston. "Tell me how are they going to do it?" Joey Mac said yesterday on his way to rehearsal with his bandmates. "Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol? They're nice players, but they're soft. They're pushovers." McIntyre was MIA last night, but told us that he and Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, and Jordan and Jonathan Knight will all be at Game 4. Asked about the New Kids' fall tour, McIntyre said the preparations are exhausting. "We want to put on a kick-[butt] show," he said, "and that takes a lot of work."

If one of the Los Angeles Lakers dancers looks familiar, she should. A blonde Laker Girl named Whitney was a member of the Celtics dance squad last year. We should have known Whitney was a phony when, on the Celtics website, she listed James Frey's fraudulent memoir "A Million Little Pieces" as her favorite book. The UCLA grad also claimed that green was her favorite color. Sure it is.

"Today" show meteorologist Al Roker threw out the ceremonial first pitch before last night's Red Sox-Orioles game at Fenway Park. Roker's mound appearance capped a busy day during which the NBC weatherman visited the Boston Ronald McDonald House and presented checks to a pair of local organizations - Handi Kids of Bridgewater and The Ron Burton Training Village in Hubbardston - on behalf of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern New England.

Bill Bratton is playing it safe. A native Bostonian who happens to be LA's police commissioner, Bratton wouldn't bite when asked who he's backing. "I don't talk about that," he said. We talked to the top cop after his lunch at the Four Seasons with flack George Regan. Asked if he's friendly with any of the Lakers' famous fans, Bratton said he has a few buddies. "There's almost no one I haven't met while working in Boston, New York, and, now, LA," he said. "Ellen Pompeo and her husband, for instance, are very good friends."

Joseph P. Kahn of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.