Adrian Wojnarowski's NBA coverage on Yahoo! Sports is pretty much always a must-read, and today's column on Kobe Bryant certainly qualifies -- especially for Celtics fans.

While the Lakers star's revelation that Michael Jackson -- yes, that Michael Jackson -- was something of a mentor to him, the most interesting nuggets from this perspective in the wide-ranging interview are in regard to how he views the Celtics.

When talking about how often fans come up to him and tell him to beat the Heat -- we presume this doesn't happen so much now that LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and the rest of the South Beach All-Stars are off to an 8-6 start -- he says that's not the opponent on his mind and the Lakers' Christmas Day matchup with Miami is "just another game."

But, Wojnarowski writes, the Celtics are different.

“Now that’s a war,” Bryant said. “Boston is a great city to go to, all the history. If you’re an opponent, they hate your [expletive] guts – like New York, like Chicago, all those Eastern cities. That’s the one that gets me excited.

“If you’re a basketball purist, that’s the [expletive] you want to see.”