Lakers defeat Celtics in Game 7 for 16th NBA title

Despite poor shooting nights from stars Kobe Bryant (six-of-24 shooting, 23 points) and Pau Gasol (six of 16, 19 points), L.A. beats Boston, 83-79.

Release the balloons. Ah, better make that purple and gold confetti.In a game of two very tired teams, the Lakers exorcised the ghosts of past failures by winning the NBA championship Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, 83-79.The Lakers had to rally midway in the fourth period to make it happen and it took some key free throws by Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant to wrap it up. The Celtics were within two with 13 seconds to play. Sasha Vujacic was sent to the line and made both with 11.7 seconds to play, giving the Lakers a four-point lead and the win.

Before Thursday, the Lakers were 0-4 against the Celtics in Game 7s, including the infamous Finals in 1969 when Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had stashed balloons in the rafters for what he believed would be the ultimate celebration. He even had instructions placed at every seat telling fans how the postgame celebration would proceed.The Celtics won that game and Cooke's premature celebration strategy would live on in NBA Finals lore.But the legends that were created -- or enhanced -- Thursday came in the form of lifetime achievement. It was Coach Phil Jackson's first Game 7 in the Finals. He's now 1-0 and will be the recipient of his 11th NBA championship ring, two more than Boston patriarch Red Auerbach.Bryant picked up his fifth invitation to a ring-fitting ceremony, one shy of Michael Jordan. But for Bryant it was anything but a Jordan-like performance. Not even a Bryant-like performance. He finished with 23 points on six-of-24 shooting but he did hit five straight free throws down the stretch.As perhaps a Game 7 should, it came down to the final minutes. The Lakers trailed for most of the game until they put together a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to take a six-point lead with about 4:38 to play.That's when Gasol put together a string of free throws and his basket with 1:30 to play allowed the Lakers to keep a six-point cushion, 76-70.That's when the three-pointers started to come, first from the Celtics' Rasheed Wallace, then by Ron Artest and another by Boston's Ray Allen. Then the game got settled when Bryant made both his foul shots with 25.7 seconds to play and the Lakers were up by five.Rajon Rondo answered with a three to cut the Celtics' deficit to 81-79 with 13 seconds to play before the Lakers warpped it up.Artest scored 20 for the Lakers and Gasol had 19 points and 18 rebounds, although he missed 10 of his 16 shots from the field.Each Celtics starter scored in double figures. Paul Pierce led with 18. Followed by Kevin Garnett with 17.It was the first seven-game Finals since 2005 when San Antonio beat Detroit.The Lakers had to consider themselves lucky to be down by only six points at half since they were shooting 26.5% (13 for 49). In fact, it's a bad sign that their leading scorer was Artest with 12 points. Bryant had his worst half since he had his knee drained during the Oklahoma City series. He shot three for 14, including missing all four of his three-point attempts.The Celtics were shooting a very respectful 44% (15 for 34).In the third quarter, the Celtics started strong as Bryant still didn't have his shooting touch and they built an 11-point lead a couple minutes in the period. But the Lakers were able to chip away at that and closed the period four points down. But Bryant remained the missing ingredient in the Lakers offense shooting just two-of-six in the period.The Celtics were at a decided disadvantage before the game started. Center Kendrick Perkins tore two ligaments in his right knee early in Game 6. While Perkins is not always an offensive threat he clogs the middle and keeps teams from getting close-range baskets."It's a little emotional losing Perk," Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said before the game. "He's so important to our team. But he's still in the locker room, he just won't be in uniform. And I think our guys in some ways, they want to do it for him."Los Angeles, a city that rarely gets excited about anything, had a pulse before this Game 7. The streets surrounding L.A. Live, the complex that houses the Staples Center, Nokia Theater and many restaurants, were packed three hours before tip-off.Parking, normally in the $20-25 range, was settling around $40 several blocks from the arena. One lot was even asking $60. Ticket demand was extremely high with one broker reporting an average ticket price around $1,700. It was costing about $1,000 just for a bad seat. Those prices were double what resold tickets were going for in Boston for Games 3-5.During pregame introductions, the crowd was easily louder than in any game this season.Even the very stoic Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said he was feeling the intensity of a final game."I'm keyed up," Jackson said before the game. "I mean, I think it's natural to be keyed up. But I think every final game has its own level."Jackson even foreshadowed the Lakers' mood."I think they're going to be very amped up," he said. "I know that. But whether that high energy makes shots go in . . . it's all about putting that ball in the basket and defending at the other end. I know they're going to react and that's one thing I'm happy about."Now for the Lakers,, their 16th NBA title is in the books, the mood can only get better.

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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 7 Preview

Even when Lamar Odom was a kid with limitless imagination growing up on New York’s playground courts, he thinks he might have dismissed Thursday’s season finale as a bit too extravagant.
When the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA finals, Odom realizes it’s a fantasy come true for any basketball player with the audacity to dream this big.
“It’s historic, especially when you talk about these teams and what they stand for, the pride,” the Lakers forward said Wednesday. “This is what you envision when you’re a kid in your backyard. Counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”
Another memorable chapter in the NBA’s best rivalry will end with a coronation at Staples Center, where the defending champion Lakers will try to earn their 16th banner while denying Boston its unprecedented 18th title in the clubs’ second finals meeting in three years.
For the fifth time in their 12 finals meetings, Boston and Los Angeles need all seven games to decide it. Each previous time it went to Game 7, the Celtics won—but when the current Lakers and Celtics take the court for the NBA finals’ first Game 7 since 2005 and just its second in the past 16 years, most will try awfully hard not to think about the history and pressure heaped on their shoulders.
It’s fine for kids and historians to savor this scenario, but Kobe Bryant knows it’s not a good idea for players to get caught up in it.
“It’s got nothing to do with me,” said Bryant, the series’ leading scorer with 29.5 points per game. “(When) I look back, years from now, or even when I was a kid, (if) you’d talk about being in this situation, I’d be really excited. But when I’m in the moment right now, I’ve got to play. I’ve got to focus on that. I can’t focus on the hype about it.”
Although Boston has the rivalry’s Game 7 history on its side, the Celtics have plenty stacked against them after an embarrassing 89-67 loss in Game 6 Tuesday night. Most glaringly, Boston won’t have starting centerKendrick Perkins, who sprained multiple ligaments in his right knee in the first quarter.
The Celtics’ starting five has never lost a playoff series, but that five must change for Game 7. Although Perkins is a role player next to Boston’s Big Three and point guard Rajon Rondo, the Celtics must hope veteranRasheed Wallace and youngster Glen Davis can make up for Perkins’ inside defense and rebounding.
No visiting team has won an NBA championship in Game 7 since the Washington Bullets did it in 1978, yet the Celtics are a whole lot more worried about the Lakers than the Hollywood crowd.
“I just love the pressure,” said Paul Pierce, who leads the Celtics with 18 points per game. “I love the fact that I get to play against the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7 on the road. I love the fact that if I don’t win multiple championships that I probably won’t be mentioned amongst the other guys in Celtic history that have done it before. That type of stuff motivates me. That’s what the challenge is for me, every time I put on this Celtic uniform.”
Pierce is usually the only player in this series who embraces its history, yet it’s too soon to say where these finals will fit in the rivalry’s annals. Although the games had been uniformly competitive before the Lakers’ blowout win in Game 6, they haven’t been spectacularly played, with gritty defense trumping offense in most of the major moments.
Ray Allen’s historic 3-point shooting barrage in Game 2, the Celtics’ gritty victories in games 4 and 5, the Lakers’ blowout win in Game 6—all will be dwarfed by what happens in the deciding game.
“I guess it’s going to be another decade that people look back and see the formation of this rivalry again,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “The ’90s was missed, and the ’70s was missed, but the ’60s and the ’80s were big decades. It seems to skip a decade, doesn’t it?”
The Celtics have more experience in seventh games than the Lakers over the past three years, playing in two deciding games in 2008 and two more last year. Boston coach Doc Rivers thinks his club’s big-game toughness mostly grew from those high stakes.
“It’s the ultimate players’ game,” said Rivers, a New York guard when the Knicks lost Game 7 of the 1994 finals in Houston. “Unfortunately, I’ve coached in a lot of them over the last few years—or fortunately. All the things you’ve worked on all year, you have to do it, and execute it, and trust and play.”
Los Angeles is in just its second Game 7 of the past three seasons, but that’s because the Lakers have been better at avoiding trouble while winning 10 playoff series since Pau Gasol joined them in 2008. When faced with elimination Tuesday for the first time in these playoffs, the Lakers responded with determination at least partially born from fear, according to Gasol.
“I think about how bad and how much it would hurt if we don’t come out as winners,” Gasol said. “I keep that thought in my mind sometimes, just to understand that I have to do everything possible out there to help my team in any way I can. You want to leave everything you have out there, and compete as hard as you’ve ever competed.”
Los Angeles has won three more titles since Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal returned the club to NBA prominence by winning the 2000 championship, but the Lakers clinched all three of those crowns on the road. They haven’t celebrated at home since beating the Indiana Pacers a decade ago.
The Lakers weren’t discussing the prospect of a party on Figueroa Street during their light workout Wednesday, and the Celtics weren’t making plans for a raucous plane ride back to Boston. Given the weight of history and the intensity of this rivalry, both teams thought it best not to think beyond Thursday night.
“It’s all-out,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. “It’s for the marbles, it’s for everything, all-out. You save nothing. You leave nothing.”

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Lakers make it one for all

They dominate Celtics from the start and force Game 7 with an 89-67 victory.

The Larry O'Brien trophy was in the building, as was Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, along with boxes and boxes of T-shirts and hats designating the Celtics as the 2010 NBA champions.None of them became part of the postgame program.The Lakers made sure of it, clearly and convincingly, thumping the Celtics, 89-67, and forcing a Game 7, in case it wasn't clear by the time Russell headed for the exit with three minutes left Tuesday at Staples Center.
Kobe Bryant was solid, Pau Gasol was borderline spectacular and there was no way to ignore a resurgent effort from the Lakers' reserves, who were outscoring Boston's backups at one point, 24-0.So much for the franchise's recent Game 6 wobbles against the Celtics, the Lakers moving past their 39-point loss to them two years ago in a humbling part of their playoff history.Game 7 is definitely necessary. It'll be Thursday night at Staples Center. Home teams are 13-3 all-time in Game 7 of the Finals.Bryant found a way to sift through the previous eight months and 104 games by saying of Thursday night: "It's a game we've got to win. It's as simple as that."He had 26 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday, but it was Gasol who rebounded from a meek 12-point effort in Game 5, coming close to a triple-double Tuesday with 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, the latter a playoff career-high for him.The Lakers weren't merely dominant. They governed the Celtics, pushing them all over the court, leading by 10 after the first quarter, 20 at halftime and as many as 27.The Lakers tried to lighten up their team video sessions before Game 6, and apparently it worked, transitioning from impassioned clips out of the movie "Patton" to those uttered by Bluto Blutarsky, John Belushi's character in "Animal House," specifically his fraternal decree that "Nothing is over until we decide it is!"An important on-court sidebar, however, became the tale of two injured centers, Boston's Kendrick Perkins leaving in the first quarter after sustaining a sprained right knee and Andrew Bynum leaving the game for good early in the third quarter after aggravating his sore right knee.Bynum could have played again if needed, but Perkins' injury looked more ominous after he was helped off the court by teammates. An important part of the Celtics' physical front, Perkins will be re-evaluated Wednesday."It doesn't look great," Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said.Bynum said he was held out for precautionary reasons after experiencing swelling in the back of the same knee that has bothered him for almost seven weeks."I just felt really stiff at the beginning of the third quarter," said Bynum, who had two points and four rebounds in almost 16 minutes. "But I'll be ready for Thursday."If the Lakers need further motivation, there's a financial one to win Game 7, each player receiving a playoff share of about $250,000 and Coach Phil Jackson receiving a bonus of $1 million if the Lakers win the Finals. (He already received $1 million for getting the team to the championship round.)Not that anybody was talking dollars and cents. It was more about rebounds and defense.The Lakers held the Celtics to 28-of-84 shooting (33.3%) and outrebounded Boston, 52-39. Rajon Rondo had a quiet night, scoring only 10 points on five-for-15 shooting. Paul Pierce had 13 points and Kevin Garnett 12."Our defense was good," Jackson said. "Our rebounding was better."The Lakers' reserves were decisively better, with Lamar Odom totaling eight points and 10 rebounds, and Sasha Vujacic scoring nine points in 14 minutes. The Boston bench was scoreless until Nate Robinson's reverse layup with 9:56 left in the fourth quarter.Thursday will be a first for Jackson, who has never coached a Game 7 in the Finals. He is 3-1 in Game 7s with the Lakers, most recently a winner in last season's Western Conference semifinal against Houston.After the final seconds ticked down Tuesday, longtime Lakers public-address announcer Lawrence Tanter intoned, "There will be a Gaaaame 7."Indeed, he was right. Somebody is four quarters away from a championship.

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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 6 Preview

Down 3-2 in the NBA finals against an old foe that keeps finding new ways to beat them, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to need a big Hollywood ending to escape this jam with another championship.
That’s exactly where they’ll make their last stand against the Boston Celtics.
Game 6 is back home Tuesday night at Staples Center, where the Lakers are 9-1 in the postseason, with everybody from Kobe Bryant to the Lakers’ bedraggled bench playing with much more passion and confidence.
“If you look at it, they’ve come home and carried the 3-2 lead back,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s basically home court, home court. Now we’re going back to home court to win it. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, isn’t it?”
Sure, on paper. But two straight losses in Boston led to a dire series deficit for the Lakers, who hadn’t even trailed in any playoff series this season. The Celtics have won three of the last four games, and they’re responsible for Los Angeles’ only home loss of the playoffs.
So why didn’t Jackson or Bryant seem particularly worried before they headed out on their final cross country flight of the postseason? Throughout a trying season filled with injuries and big-game setbacks since a Christmas Day loss to Cleveland, the Lakers have always been able to rise when they absolutely needed to do it.
Jackson even described the Lakers’ locker room as “spirited” after losing Game 5 in their lowest-scoring performance of the postseason in the 92-86 loss. For all their struggles in Boston, the Lakers realize they only have to defend their home court to win their 16th title.
“We have a challenge, obviously, down 3-2,” said Bryant, who scored 38 points in Game 5 while his struggling teammates only managed 48. “We let a couple opportunities slip away, but it is what it is. Now you go home, you’ve got two games at home that you need to win, and you pull your boots up and get to work.”
If Los Angeles survives, a champion will be crowned Thursday in Game 7.
Heading into the finals, the Celtics believed they could beat the Lakers, even with Bryant at his spectacular best, if they shut down his teammates. After all, that’s what Boston did two years ago in the finals—and so far, it’s working splendidly again.
Bryant is averaging 30.2 points per game, while Pau Gasol averages 18.8 points and 10 rebounds despite glaring inconsistency in his game in Boston. That’s just about it: Nobody else in purple and gold is averaging more than Andrew Bynum’s 9.6 points per game.
Yet after losing Game 1 and only surviving Game 2 with Ray Allen’s 3-point shooting binge and Rajon Rondo’s late-game poise, the Celtics aren’t fooled into thinking they’ve got the Lakers on the run in Los Angeles. Boston’s current starting five has never lost a playoff series for reasons that go beyond their talent.
“They’re playing at home. Home is always where your heart is,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. “With the severity of the game, it’s all-out on both ends for both teams. This will probably be the hardest game of the season, if not of the series, if not of everybody’s career, this game coming up.”
Yet two straight losses undeniably have frazzled the Lakers a bit, with Bryant noticeably furious on the court while Game 5 slipped away. Even Jackson seemed a bit testier than his usual placid self, yelling at Bryant and Ron Artest during the game and later attempting to inspire his team in the fourth quarter with a false bit of information about the Celtics’ propensity for blowing late-game leads.
Jackson likely senses the biggest danger yet to his streak of 47 straight playoff series victories after winning Game 1. The Celtics sense a golden opportunity for their 18th championship and a chance to join the Boston greats who won multiple titles while repeatedly denying the Lakers nine previous times in the NBA finals.
“The Lakers … got homecourt advantage, but we’ve played the best all year on the road,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re going to have to beat them at their best, because they’re going to be great there, and we can’t expect anything else.”
Los Angeles’ inside game has been its most decided advantage throughout the season, yet Boston largely has outplayed Gasol, the limping Bynum and Lamar Odom down low. The Celtics outscored Los Angeles in the paint 46-32 in Game 5, while the Lakers blocked just one shot—and Bryant did it.
Aside from Artest and his miserable series, the Lakers’ least effective regular has been Odom, the reserve dynamo who played a major role in their Western Conference finals victory over Phoenix. Odom, who said he had symptoms of the flu this weekend, had eight points and eight rebounds in Game 5, along with three turnovers in a fairly passive performance.
The rest of the Lakers’ reserves were even worse: Sasha Vujacic scored five points, Jordan Farmar had one, and formerly reliable Shannon Brown played just 19 seconds.
And then there’s Artest, the only newcomer to last season’s championship roster. With the Boston crowd vocally urging him to shoot, Artest went 2 for 9 in Game 5 to drop to 13 for 43 in the series.
His inconsistent offensive skills and shaky ball-handling abilities have abandoned him entirely in the finals, leaving only his defense—and he played precious little of it in Game 5, when Pierce scored 27 points with Artest and Bryant taking turns on him.
“The offensive part of (Artest’s) game kind of comes and goes,” Bryant said. “He does a great job giving us great production most nights. I just thought defensively we weren’t very good at all. We didn’t get any stops (in the third quarter of Game 5). They got layup after layup after layup, and you can’t survive a team that shoots 56 percent. We’re normally a great defensive team.”

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Closing series on road could be tough for Celtics

Boston is ahead, 3-2, in the NBA Finals against the Lakers and would have to win the title at Staples Center. The Celtics are 1-7 in close-out road games in the playoffs over the last three seasons.

An NBA title is just 48 minutes away, a fact the Boston Celtics cannot deny."The moment that is before us, it's starting to rear its head in," guard Ray Allen said.The Celtics, who lead the NBA Finals series three games to two, need to defeat the Lakers one more time, which can come Tuesday night or, if the series goes to a Game 7, on Thursday.
But no matter what, it will have to happen on the road, at Staples Center.The Celtics are 1-7 in close-out road games in the playoffs over the last three seasons, and have lost two such games this season, in Miami and Orlando. In fact, the last time their starting five finished a road playoff series came in the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against Detroit.Last season perhaps stung the worst. The Celtics led Orlando three games to two in the Eastern Conference semifinals but lost a possible road-clinching game and eventually lost the series."Whatever happened last year, I thought we had a great season, we got beat by Orlando," Allen said. "It's a new year and it's definitely been a blessing, but this year has definitely been a lot tougher, and I think the tougher it is, the more you want it."Their playoff road has certainly been tough. The Celtics have faced Miami ( Dwyane Wade), Cleveland ( LeBron James), Orlando ( Dwight Howard) and now the Lakers ( Kobe Bryant).And for a team that finished fourth in their conference after a 27-27 close to the season and was considered over the hill, the run seems remarkable."I think along the way, people forgot, forgot who we were and what we were capable of," Allen said. "We got back to that mentality, but it didn't shake us at all. We didn't worry about what people said, what they thought. People were saying that we were a team that was old, but here we are. We're capable, that's the most important thing and we all knew it."Even though the Celtics beat the Lakers in the Finals in 2008, Rajon Rondo said they carry no mental edge into Tuesday."They're the world champions," Rondo said. "I'm sure they're going to come out and fight hard, so it's not over — the series is not over yet."Said Kevin Garnett: "This will probably be the hardest game of the season, if not of the series, if not of everybody's career, this game coming up."Allen said the Celtics are ready."I think I'm going to see urgency, desperation, a no-quit attitude — and that's from us," he said.Chaos part of Celtics' planOften the Celtics look chaotic, out of control and on the edge of having their emotions boil over.Celtics Coach Doc Rivers can't do much about it either."Listen, I've tried with all of them," Rivers said after Game 5. "Clearly none of that has worked. We have two guys one tech away. I don't know if 'calming down' and 'us' goes together. I would love that, but it hasn't worked out very well."In Game 5, the key moment was Rondo shoving Ron Artest after Artest fouled Garnett in the second quarter. Rivers didn't like the move, which earned Rondo a technical foul, but Kendrick Perkins did."I told Doc that was the right play he made," Perkins said. "A hard foul on Kevin, and he retaliated. He's taking up for his big man."Did Artest flop?"I'm not that strong," Rondo said, laughing. "He did a little bit. He's probably the strongest guy on the court in this series. I've been lifting a little bit, but other than that, I didn't push him that hard."

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Lakers have to hope home is where their heart is

After going quietly in Games 4 and 5 at Boston, Lakers find themselves trailing Celtics, 3-2, and facing possible elimination in Game 6 Tuesday at Staples Center. Rebounding, scoring and post play are notable areas of concern, and Kobe Bryant says it's time to 'just man up and play.'

Uh-oh. It's a Game 6 between the Lakers and Boston Celtics.Lakers fans hate to go there based on recent history, but it's hard to avoid, seeing as how the teams have basically reverted to two years ago, when the Celtics' physically charged 131-92 victory ended the NBA Finals and was either the best or worst game of 2008, depending on perspective.The Lakers returned home Monday afternoon, which might have been the best news for them on a designated travel day where no Lakers coaches or players spoke to the media.

One live morsel could be found on the Twitter account of Lakers executive Jeanie Buss: "Just picked Phil [Jackson] up at the airport. He is concerned but upbeat . . ."It was a good summary of the words coming out of the locker room in the immediate aftermath of Game 5, where the Lakers were again outrebounded and again outscored in the paint in a 92-86 loss that put them down in the series, 3-2.If they can't fix those areas Tuesday in Game 6, Staples Center might be a silent venue Thursday night, though the Lakers were resolute."We'll respond," forward Lamar Odom said. "Our energy is still up as a team. Our confidence is still there. The series is not over."Is he sure?"It's the third win for them," he said. "It's not like the trophy is theirs. They still have to win more and they have to do it on our home court."Of course, Odom could do plenty more himself to back up his words; he's averaging a puny 7.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in a series in which the team with the rebounding edge has won every game.Along those lines, Andrew Bynum's stat line from Game 5 showed one positive number for the Lakers, almost 32 minutes of playing time, but then a lot of zeroes — no made free throws, no blocked shots and, of greatest interest, no defensive rebounds. He had only six points and one offensive rebound.Many eyes will also be on Pau Gasol, who had only 12 points and was stuck on nine until hitting a free throw with 2:25 to play.He was one of many Lakers who weren't exactly hyperventilating after Game 5."We're in a good situation," he said. "As tough as it is losing these last two games [in Boston], we're going to fight for a championship at home. We're in a position that I think we would all be happy in being at the beginning of the season."It'll be intriguing to see whether Kobe Bryant again takes over the Lakers' scoring on his own, a premise that was met with quietly open arms by the Celtics, who almost sensed the rest of the Lakers becoming spectators as Bryant scored 38 points on 13-for-27 shooting Sunday.Bryant was unstoppable in the third quarter, scoring 19 points on seven-for-nine shooting, but the Lakers curiously lost ground, a six-point halftime deficit growing to 10 by the time he checked out with 1:49 left in the quarter.The Celtics didn't seem bothered at all. Gasol was the only other Laker to score in double figures, and he was a distant second."From the standpoint that [Bryant]'s providing points for his team and he's in a rhythm, it's a bit dangerous," Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said. "But for the rhythm of his team, I think it works in our favor. I can't even come up with any words because his flow is just deliberate."Garnett had another interesting observation."They usually run the triangle and it wasn't really typical for what they did tonight," he said.Bryant, meanwhile, was very positive in the locker room after the game, even if he didn't show it in another interview session in which he stuck his chin on his left hand and avoided reporters' questions as if picking his way through rapidly eroding earth.One query seemed to get him going, though, a question about the need for him to address teammates about their recent shoddy play.The Lakers' point total in Game 5 was their lowest of the playoffs, and it came on the heels of an 89-point non-outburst in Game 4."Just man up and play," Bryant said. "What the hell is the big deal? I don't see it as a big deal. If I have to say something to them, then we don't deserve to be champions. We're down, 3-2, go home, win one game, go into the next one. Simple as that."Simple enough. A season with championship-repeat aspirations hangs in the balance.

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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 5 Preview

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are headed to a pivotal Game 5 of the NBA finals, the latest big moment in basketball’s biggest rivalry.
The Celtics can move a win away from an 18th championship, and a 10th in 12 meetings with the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant can inch closer to a fifth title, a chance to further cement his legacy.
Have to love it, right?
Not if you’re Bryant.
“I’m miserable,” he said Saturday.
That’s because of the Celtics, who guarded him well in the fourth quarter of their 96-89 victory Thursday that evened the series at two games apiece, and simply won’t allow him to be as spectacular as he was against Phoenix in the previous round.
Game 5 is Sunday, and the Lakers expect to have centerAndrew Bynum back after he played only 12 minutes in Game 4 because of a sore right knee.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson thought Bryant looked tired in that game, and Bryant was even asked if he’d tweaked his knee. Combine that with all the talk of how well the Celtics have defended him, and suddenly those doubters that surfaced when Bryant looked so worn down late in the regular season are popping up again.
“That’s what they do,” Bryant said. “They show up, disappear, show up, disappear. That’s part of it.”
He can silence them again with a big effort Sunday. That’s not easy against these Celtics, who didn’t flinch when they had to faceDwyane Wade in the first round or LeBron James in the second, and weren’t fazed when Bryant scored 30 in the Lakers’ series-opening victory.
Bryant managed only two field goals in the decisive fourth quarter of Game 4, and Boston limited him to only one in the last 12 minutes of the previous game.
“They don’t want me to beat them, so they put three guys there,” Bryant said. “Nothing we haven’t seen before, it’s just when you win those games, like Game 3, nobody talks about that because we take advantage of it. And if you lose the game, everybody talks about that. It’s part of the process.”
Moody but not as angry as he was during most of last year’s finals, when his own kids were calling him “Grumpy,” Bryant said he hadn’t been watching any coverage during the off days. So he’s missed the highlights of Nate Robinson leaping onto Glen Davis’ back as those reserves powered the Celtics down the stretch of Game 4.
But he may have heard some of the talk about how well another reserve—Tony Allen—and the Celtics have contained him, so Boston coach Doc Rivers would like to quiet that chatter so Bryant doesn’t find himself with even more motivation Sunday.
“Definitely that’s one, but you also know it’s a Game 5 and it’s 2-2. I don’t think there’s anything either one of us can say that is going to rile us up any more than being in a Game 5 in the finals tied 2-2,” Rivers said.
“But, yeah, Kobe is pretty competitive from what I hear, so there’s no doubt that the more you talk about it, the more the target is on. But that’s fine. The one thing I know about Tony, he’s not going anywhere. He’ll be there.”
And he’ll have help. With Pau Gasol the only other Laker who’s hurt them, the Celtics can afford to turn even more attention to Bryant, who is averaging 28.3 points but on just 41 percent shooting.
“Our whole thing is all five guys doing it together,” Allen said. “And when you got all five guys on the same page and focused and in tune on (assistant) Tom Thibodeau’s defensive strategies, I think it makes it difficult for guys, superstars.”
The finals are tied after four games for the first time since 2006. Of the 25 series that were tied 2-all, the winner of Game 5 won 19 of them.
A victory in Boston on Sunday gives the Lakers two chances to wrap it up at home, while a loss means Bryant is closer to going 0-2 against Boston in the finals. He said he couldn’t go down as the greatest Lakers player ever if he never beats the Celtics.
Bryant considers Jerry West to have that title. Yet he never beat the Celtics either, whereas Magic Johnson did it twice.
“What is everybody’s fascination with the Celtics in terms of going down in history?” Bryant said. “It’s a little weird to me.”
With Bynum’s injury, and Ron Artest and Lamar Odom’s inconsistency, the Lakers have had to play Bryant and Gasol major minutes. The burden is heavier on Bryant, who has battled injuries throughout the second half of the season, and it’s likely the reason for his fourth-quarter struggles.
The Celtics are the older team but seem fresher, since a more productive bench has allowed their starters to get some rest during the series. Jackson would like to give Bryant the same opportunity.
“I’ve got to find a little space and time for him to give him some rest in that situation so he can come back with renewed energy,” Jackson said. “But after he’s played 30-plus minutes, to have that kind of energy to finish a game out is important to us, and we’ve got to get that back.”

OTHER NEWS: For those inquiring, the Lakers confirmed that center Andrew Bynum is expected to start in Sunday's Game 5.

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6-11 Injury Update: Andrew Bynum

Lakers center Andrew Bynum, who was able to play just under two minutes in the second half of Thursday evening’s Game 4 loss in Boston, underwent an MRI on Friday that revealed no new damage to his right knee.
According to Lakers spokesman John Black, Bynum also had fluid drained from the swollen knee on Friday, the same process that occurred before the Finals opened in Los Angeles last week (May 31).
Bynum said after Game 4 that he hoped to play in Sunday’s Game 5; he will be officially listed as questionable for the contest.
In the meantime, the 22-year-old will continue a variety of treatments on the knee to get it as ready for action as is possible.
Bynum had been a solid force for L.A. in the team’s first three games against Boston, including a 21-point, 7-block, 6-rebound performance in Game 2 and his nine points with 10 rebounds in Game 3, and was noticeably missed in Game 4.
“It bothered us in the second half not having Andrew be able to come out and play the start of the second half,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “He tried a couple minutes, but it just wasn’t there for him. We’re glad we have a couple days off and we can kind of get him back hopefully in position where he can help us out again.”
Both Jackson and Bynum’s teammates praised what the young big man has shown from a toughness standpoint while battling through his injury, with Kobe Bryant saying that he thought ‘Drew would “be fine,” that he’d “bounce back and give it a go.”
We’ll have another update right here after Saturday’s practice.

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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 4 Preview

Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher had a pretty productive relationship when they first came into the NBA together, winning three titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and forging a friendship that belied the differences in their personalities and their skills.
“It’s not because our games are similar, it’s not because of talent similarities or any of that,” Fisher said Wednesday after the Lakers practiced for Game 4 of the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics.
“It’s just that we’ve experienced a lot of good and bad things together. Because we’ve been through those fires, we’re just comfortable relying on each other, and I think he knows and I know that if anything in the world happened, if there was one person that would stand up and say, ‘I’m here for you,’ you know, it would go both ways.”
A tough and emotional point guard with a history of clutch performances, Fisher made five baskets in the fourth quarter to lead the Lakers to a 91-84 victory over Boston on Tuesday night and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven NBA finals.
His signature play this time wasn’t a long-distance heave—like the one he sank against San Antonio with 0.4 seconds left in 2004—or a series of jumpers like those that turned things around in Game 4 of the finals against Orlando last year.
Instead, Fisher helped clinch the victory over Boston when he followed through on a breakaway layup before being flattened by three Celtics—including 300-pound Glen “Big Baby” Davis and 6-foot-11 Kevin Garnett. Fisher, who’s 6-1 and 210 pounds, converted the three-point play to turn it into a seven-point game.
“He’s very, very, very, very tough—mentally and physically,” Bryant said. “He doesn’t back down from anything or anyone.”
Fisher played the first eight years of his career with the Lakers, winning three titles in the Shaq-and-Kobe era before signing with Golden State as a free agent in 2004. It was only then that Bryant appreciated what kind of friend and teammate he had.
“Fish and I, we’ve always been close, though I think when he left we became even closer, as weird as that seems,” Bryant said. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s kind of good to see him kind of come full circle and be back here again.”
Fisher was traded to Utah in 2006 and spent a year there, but when his daughter, Tatum, developed eye cancer he asked to be released so he could move to a major city where she could be treated. He said Wednesday that she’s doing “great”; she and her twin brother Drew will turn 4 this summer.
“I’m hoping that I can bring them a big, gold trophy as a gift for their birthday,” Fisher said.
Fisher was moving back to Los Angeles to be near the doctors—with or without an offer from the Lakers. The fact that the team needed a point guard at the time, had the cap room and realized what it was missing since Fisher left makes him think that there’s “something else higher than me that was in control of all that.”
It didn’t hurt that the Lakers added Pau Gasol soon after, and then made it to the 2008 finals—his first season back—before losing to the Celtics. Last year, Los Angeles repeated as Western Conference champions and beat the Magic for Fisher’s fourth title.
Now they’re in the finals for their third straight year since Fisher returned.
“Of course, anytime I’m on a team I expect to win, but it’s hard to imagine that it was planned out,” he said. “But, you know, I’m a believer in a higher power, and it’s quite an interesting plan that He had.”
With two more victories, Fisher and Bryant will earn their fifth title in 11 years as teammates, a tenure that has coach Phil Jackson comparing their partnership—both personal and professional—to a couple of Hall of Famers he coached with the Chicago Bulls: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
“It’s not unusual for players that have played together … to have a relationship, especially when you have winning,” Jackson said. “They have a wonderful relationship, not only in communication but also in knowing how to play with each other in a way that’s supportive.”
Fisher is the more vocal of the two, the one more likely to call out his teammates with a motivational speech like the one he delivered before the start of the fourth quarter on Tuesday night. Bryant relies instead on a quiet intensity; there’s often little doubt how he feels, but you have to read it on his face.
Bryant compares the difference in styles to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Fisher said he’s the more peaceful of the two, finding a way to fit in among strong personalities like Bryant, Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal.
“My only concern is for us to win,” he said. “I love everybody. But if we don’t win, I don’t love you as much.”

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Derek Fisher is the Lakers' driving force again

The veteran point guard comes through with a huge fourth quarter to carry the Lakers to a huge Game 3 victory.

Eleven years in 94 feet. A Lakers lifetime in less than 10 seconds. A career of shadows eclipsed in a streak of brilliance.Old, slow Derek Fisher grabbed the basketball near the Boston Celtics baseline in the final minute

Tuesday night and did what he has done countless times in countless moments for a team that has never considered him its star.He quietly pushed. And pushed. And pushed. He dribbled past Rajon Rondo early, past Kevin Garnett at midcourt, legs pumping, head swiveling, fully expecting somebody would eventually stop him.

But as Fisher has long since taught us, if you push long and hard enough, nobody can stop you. And amazingly, on a floor covered in the sweat of legendary defense, in an arena filled with the cries of legendary desperation, nobody did.Fisher drove right to the basket and took flight just as Garnett, Glen Davis and Ray Allen all converged on him. They collided in mid-air. Fisher dropped to the floor.

Just as the ball was dropping in the basket. Just as a dagger was going through a heart. Just as the biggest moment in a second consecutive NBA Finals was being stolen by the smallest presence in the gym."They swallowed him up," said teammate Luke Walton with an amazed grin. "But he came out huge."Bigger than ever he is, this creaky Lakers leader who has once again saved a game that his longtime running mate and much brighter star named Kobe Bryant could not.

Remember when Fisher's two three-pointers stole Game 4 from Orlando last June? This time he was stunning for an entire quarter to steal Game 3 from the Celtics, Fisher's 11 points in the final period leading the Lakers to a 91-84 victory and a two-games-to-one series lead.His coast-to-coast layup, a three-point play because he was fouled, was only his final basket of a period in which he repeatedly held off the surging Celtics amid a blistering roar from TD Garden fans who could not believe this was happening to them.They pull within one point and Fisher fights his way for a layup? They later pull within two points and Fisher bounces off Allen for a jumper? Then he hits another running jumper? Then he fights through Davis and Rondo for a bank shot?Is it any wonder that by the time Fisher grabbed that ball to begin his full-court flush, the Celtics were in such a state of shock, they could only watch him?

Equally as surprised were all those back in Los Angeles who were surely watching their televisions and crying for Bryant to take over. I can show you text from a friend who proclaimed that the game would only be won if Bryant won it for them.Nearly every time, he does. But this time Bryant was scuffling through the end of his worst game in several weeks, making only one of six shots in the fourth quarter while Fisher was making five of seven.The closet closer."He pretty much won the game," Rondo said of Fisher. "When we made our run, he seemed to have answers every time.''Fisher had all the answers until the end, when he was called over for the national television postgame interview. He has four championship rings, yet how many times has he been the one doing that interview? He has heroics that include his infamous 0.4-second shot that beat San Antonio in the 2004 playoffs, yet how many times has he been honored for creating the biggest moment on basketball's biggest stage?Fisher was so overwhelmed by the moment, he initially couldn't answer ABC reporter Doris Burke's question, appearing on the verge of tears."I'm sorry to get emotional," he said.

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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 3 Preview

Chin resting in his hand, mouth barely moving as he spoke, Kobe Bryant had the look of someone who would have rather been anywhere but Staples Center.

The next few nights might make him long to be back home.
The NBA’s best rivalry is returning to its East Coast headquarters, site of perhaps the most miserable moment of Bryant’s career last time he and the Los Angeles Lakers were here for the finals.
And the Boston Celtics and their green-clad fans can’t wait to welcome him back.
“I feel good going back to the jungle,” Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said Sunday.

Those familiar “Beat L.A! Beat L.A!” chants that have echoed through the Garden during so many springtimes will be booming again, and the Celtics can lock up an 18th NBA title if they can do just that three times.
Game 2 is Tuesday night, followed by games Thursday and Sunday in Boston.
The Celtics evened the series at a game apiece with their 103-94 victory in Game 2, with guards Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen taking turns punishing the Lakers, and Bryant often powerless to stop them because of foul trouble.

A fuming Bryant had little to say afterward, offering terse responses as he looked back on that game and ahead to the next one.

“It’s the most important game. Game 1 was the most important, Game 2 was the most important, now it’s Game 3,” Bryant said. “It’s just the next game, simple as that.”

The finals are deadlocked after two games for the first time since 2004, when the Detroit Pistons split a pair in Los Angeles before coming home and winning three straight to take the series. That was Bryant’s first loss in the championship round.

His other one came two years ago, on a night the Lakers will never forget.
The Celtics pummeled them 131-92 in a Game 6 rout that was decided after mere minutes. While Garnett, Allen and Pierce celebrated their long-awaited first NBA title, the humiliated Lakers sat trapped in their team bus as Boston fans taunted them from the street.

“Obviously there’s feelings involved and there’s memories that are in there, which should help us, should help us to push through and to battle even harder,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said of that night.
Both teams were off Monday following the cross country flight from Los Angeles. The 2-3-2 format in the NBA finals was instituted in the mid-1980s, when Lakers-Celtics matchups were as common in June as graduation parties, to limit the amount of coast to coast trips. But a return to California won’t be needed if either team can win three straight.

“We took home court, so we’ve got a chance to play three games (at home),” Celtics forward Paul Pierce said Sunday. “But I told you all yesterday that doesn’t guarantee we’re going to win the games because we’re at home. We’ve got to go out there and play the game. They’re going to be coming into our house and we can’t assume anything. We can’t take it for granted.”

The Celtics turned things around following their 102-89 loss in their opener by toughening up their defense, limiting the Lakers to 41 percent shooting. Rondo tracked down the long rebounds of many missed shots to ignite Boston’s fast break, and Allen capitalized on the open looks that created by making an NBA finals-record eight 3-pointers while scoring 32 points.
The Lakers were frustrated by the foul trouble for Bryant and top reserve Lamar Odom, who has been ineffective in both games. Bryant was more annoyed with his team’s defense against Boston’s guards, wasting strong efforts from Gasol and center Andrew Bynum.

“It has nothing to do with scoring. Nothing. It’s all defensively,” Bryant said. “We gave them too many easy baskets and blew too many defensive assignments. That’s it.”

Now they’ll have to play better on the road than they have in some previous series, having lost twice at both Oklahoma City and Phoenix earlier in the postseason.

Just like in those series, they’re searching for ways to slow down a dynamic point guard. Rondo had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth career triple-double, repeatedly beating the Lakers to loose balls and then beating them down the court.

“In a sequence like this, there’s no doubt it’s a blow to us to lose the home court, but we anticipated this might happen, and we’re just going to have to go pick it up,” coach Phil Jackson said.

Los Angeles dropped all three road games during the 2008 finals, but the Celtics aren’t as dominant on the parquet now as they were back then. The Lakers haven’t lost in Boston since that night that ended their season two years ago, posting a pair of regular-season victories.

“Game 3 is the biggest game of the series so far. These two games are behind us,” Rondo said. “You know, they’re not in a bad situation at all. They’re a good road team, and we’re a good home team. It’s going to be a good game.”

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Allen and Rondo Lead Celtics Past Lakers

LOS ANGELES — It began with Ray Allen’s quick release, ended with Rajon Rondo’s quick hands and finally, definitively, with the Boston Celtics’ indisputable arrival in the 2010 finals.

The Celtics had wobbled through a series-opening defeat and had their vigor and fortitude called into question during the too-long break between games. Their response came Sunday evening, with a 103-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers that hushed the star-studded Staples Center crowd and tied the finals at a game apiece.

The next three games are at TD Garden, starting Tuesday night.
Allen put on one of the greatest shooting displays in finals history, hitting 8 of 11 3-point tries and finishing with a game-high 32 points. Rondo had a triple-double, with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Lakers had a 3-point lead late in the game, then lost their defensive edge. Rondo got loose for back-to-back layups, sparking an 11-0 run that put the game away. He kept providing the fuel, blocking Derek Fisher from behind and poking the ball away from Kobe Bryant.

Bryant scored 21 points but spent much of the night with his arms stretched out to his sides, palms up, shoulders raised, in a mild state of confusion. He got his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and his fifth on a charging call early in the fourth quarter, sending him to the bench.

Bryant returned with 6 minutes 16 seconds left to play and struck immediately, with a 3-point play, then a baseline jumper as the Lakers took a 90-87 lead. The Celtics dominated the rest of the game.
Allen’s eight 3-pointers broke the finals record of seven, a mark held jointly by Allen (2008), Scottie Pippen (1997) and Kenny Smith (1995). Allen hit his first seven 3-point attempts of the night, all in the first half. That broke the finals record of six 3-pointers in a half, held by Allen (2008), Smith (1995) and Michael Jordan (1992).

His brilliance from the arc helped offset the sketchy shooting of the rest of the Celtics’ lineup. Paul Pierce missed his first five shots and finished 2 of 11 from the field, for 10 points. Rondo shot 9 for 19. Kevin Garnett was again overmatched by the Lakers’ front line and finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 5 fouls. But he hit a late 9-footer as the Celtics pulled away.

After taking a 102-89 victory Thursday to open the series, the Lakers anticipated a fierce response. They are familiar enough with the Celtics to expect nothing less. “It’s going to be a much more tight game, I think, going down the stretch,” Coach Phil Jackson said before tip-off.

If anything, it seemed that the Lakers might have underestimated the degree of pushback. The Celtics grabbed an early 14-point lead, despite spotty shooting, a slow start by everyone other than Allen and foul trouble throughout their big-man corps.

Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis all had three fouls by halftime. Bryant also had three, limiting him to 18:33 in the first half. The Lakers’ big men set the tone early, with Andrew Bynum and Gasol combining for 25 points and 7 blocks in the half.

But the most striking numbers came from Allen, all from the outside. “He saved us in the first half,” Coach Doc Rivers said.

Bynum, playing despite a torn meniscus in his right knee, had a huge impact all night, disrupting shots around the basket, tagging the Celtics with fouls and putting every ounce and inch of his 7-foot, 285-pound frame to good use.

As the Lakers shut down the lane, the Celtics responded with a flurry of deep jumpers, most of them by Allen. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter, then five more in the second, as the Celtics surged to a 14-point lead. He had 27 points by halftime, having hit 9 of 14 field goals and 7 of 8 3-pointers. The rest of the Celtics went 8 for 25.

Allen’s final 3 of the half gave Boston a 52-39 lead, and put a chill in the building. The Lakers, after a meandering 22 minutes, at last responded, scoring the final 7 points of the half.
Gasol converted a 3-point play after driving baseline for a pretty reverse dunk. In the final seconds, Bryant stole a looping pass by Shelden Williams, then rose and drilled a 27-foot 3-pointer. Williams immediately threw another lazy pass, which Bryant also picked off and turned into an even more difficult 3-point try, which missed at the buzzer.

The sequence energized the building and sent the Lakers into the locker room with a bit more bounce. It carried in the second half, as they surged to a 57-56 lead, completing a 16-2 run that bridged the second and third quarters.

The night began on a somber note, with a moment of silence for John Wooden and moving tributes from Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The mood picked up from there, with the crowd responding warmly to a lifetime coaching award given to Tex Winter, Jackson’s longtime assistant, and Jack Ramsay.

It was a choppy, tightly called first half. Garnett got a foul for bumping Gasol in transition. Pierce and Davis were called for illegal screens on consecutive possessions. The Celtics had 18 fouls in the half, sending the Lakers to the line for 25 free throws.

Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 2 Preview

Rajon Rondo often enjoys returning to his room at the Celtics’ hotel and watching tape of a Boston victory before he goes to sleep.
The losses, not so much.
Yet Rondo did just that after the NBA finals opener Thursday with teammate Kendrick Perkins, ordering room service and watching the replay of the Los Angeles Lakers’ decisive win. In his own room elsewhere in the hotel, Kevin Garnett did the same thing—twice.
“You learn a lot about yourself when you lose,” Garnett said. “You learn a lot about yourself when you’re down. This shows what you’re made of.”
While Rondo and Perkins muted the television, Garnett turned it up to hear every unflattering thing said about the Celtics. Yet all three came away from the film session with two conclusions: Kobe Bryant is awfully good, but Boston still can compete with the Lakers.
“That might be the first time after a loss that I watched a game again so quickly,” Rondo said Saturday before Boston’s workout at the Lakers’ training complex. “This isn’t the first round any more. You don’t have a lot of time to get things right. I think I correct my mistakes better when I see them.”
Rondo, Perkins and their teammates all promised increased intensity in every aspect of their considerable games when they look to avoid an 0-2 series hole Sunday night in Game 2. After staggering into this finals rematch with an unimpressive effort, Boston hopes focus and adjustments will make their trip out West worthwhile.
“Everybody gets punched,” Celtics big man Glen Davis said. “Everybody gets knocked out. It’s about how you get up. We got punched. We got dazed. It’s about how you react to it.”
The Celtics all realize that while Bryant’s offensive artistry is responsible for most of the attention directed at him, particularly after 12 30-point games already in this postseason, he’s a perennial all-defensive team selection for a reason. Rondo used his film session to analyze exactly what Bryant did to slow down both the Celtics and their young point guard.
“He’s a good defensive player, and we all knew that,” Rondo said. “He did a great job on me. A lot of what they do on both ends keys off Kobe.”
Bryant guarded Rondo at times during the 2008 finals largely because the matchup left him free to help out on other defensive matchups while daring Rondo to beat them.
After Rondo shredded Cleveland and Orlando in consecutive playoff series, he’s possibly the Celtics’ single biggest offensive threat. The Lakers concentrated on using Bryant’s superior size to direct Rondo into tough areas of the court.
“You don’t want to overcommit too much, but it’s a full-time job because he’s very smart,” Bryant said. “He gets after it quite a bit. It takes a great deal of energy and effort to key in on him.”
So everybody played a role. When Rondo slipped underneath the basket for difficult layup attempts in the first half of Game 1, both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum rudely swatted away one of his shots. Lakers coach Phil Jackson drilled his big men on resisting the urge to pick up Rondo immediately, which would allow Rondo to pass to his own low-post players for dunks.
“We try not to commit too early, because that’s when they get you,” Bynum said. “You just have to stay disciplined, and we did that in Game 1.”
Boston ended up with playoff lows in field goals (29) and attempts (67), and Celtics coach Doc Rivers traces it all back to his team’s play on defense.
Los Angeles surprised Boston by running relatively little of its customary triangle offense, instead using pick-and-roll plays that cleared space for numerous aggressive drives to the hoop, even by backup guards Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. Add that to a passionless rebounding effort in a foul-plagued game, and Rivers wasn’t surprised to see the Celtics manage just 89 points.
“Rondo is not going to get going if we don’t get stops,” Rivers said. “Our offense is directly connected to our defense. Every team’s is, for the most part, if you want to run. If we’re going to take the ball out of bounds, if they’re going to shoot free throws, they’re going to get second shots, Rondo is not going to be in the open court. If we can get multiple stops, we can get multiple runs.”
Rivers and Jackson both seemed pleased to have an extra day off between the series’ first two games, as dictated by the NBA’s television schedule. Sunday’s meeting is the first of three in five days, with a cross country flight thrown in, so the time for game-planning was Saturday, and both coaching staffs knew it.
“I think we gain some time for guys that obviously can use time,” Jackson said, referring to several Lakers nursing minor injuries—including Bryant, who again watched practice from a folding chair at courtside.
Jackson said the break gives the Lakers “an opportunity to digest some of the things that are ongoing, concerns about our team’s effort, where we have to expend more energy, more focus. I think you lose a little bit of the continuity of that nervous energy that you build up to get into a series, so you can lose a little bit of your guard. That will be something we have to be prepared for.”

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Kobe, Pau provide one-two punch as Lakers drop Celtics


LOS ANGELES -- So the Celtics want to play rough again? Kobe Bryant and the Lakers look ready this time around, and they barged into an early lead in the NBA finals.

Bryant scored 30 points, Pau Gasol had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and defending champion Los Angeles got tough in a 102-89 victory over Boston in the NBA finals opener Thursday night.

Ron Artest scored 15 points after tumbling to the ground in a tangle with Paul Pierce in the opening minute of the 12th finals meeting in the NBA's most scintillating rivalry. Bryant and Gasol then led a gritty physical effort against the Celtics, who memorably pushed around the Lakers while winning their 2008 finals matchup in six games.

"They were the more physical team by far," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They were more aggressive. They attacked us the entire night. I didn't think we handled it very well."

Pierce scored 24 points and Kevin Garnett added 16 after a slow start for the Celtics, who might not want to know Lakers coach Phil Jackson's teams in Los Angeles and Chicago have won 47 straight playoff series after winning Game 1.

"I wish I had put it in the bank, so to speak," said Jackson, the 10-time champion. "We've got to play this out. ... Our defense stiffened at various points in the game, was very effective. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but it's nice to know that (the 47-0 streak) is on our side."
Game 2 is Sunday night at Staples Center.

If the first 48 minutes of the rematch are any indication, this series again will be a knockdown, drag-out physical confrontation -- and the supposedly finesse-oriented Lakers held their ground early.

Ray Allen scored 12 points in just 27 minutes, saddled with constant foul trouble while trying to guard Bryant. Pierce also picked up early fouls, while Garnett simply struggled, going 7 for 16 from the field and grabbing just four rebounds -- even inexplicably missing an open layup with 5 1/2 minutes to play.

That's mostly because of Gasol, the Spanish 7-footer determined to assert himself after admittedly getting pushed around by Garnett two years ago. Gasol capped a strong game by sprinting downcourt and catching a long pass in stride for a dunk with 6:21 to play.

"Pau played a big game tonight," Jackson said. "I thought they did a good job on him in the post, but his movement and his activity was important."

This one was rough from the opening tumble. Just 27 seconds in, Artest and Pierce got double technical fouls after crashing to the court back-to-back with elbows locked. The mood didn't improve much in a game featuring 54 fouls, but Bryant's playmaking and the Lakers' inside advantages drove them to a 20-point lead after three quarters before surviving Boston's final run.

"You can't ease into the game, espeically in the finals," Pierce said. "That's one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA. We've just got to do a better job rebounding the ball, eliminating easy opportunities. When I look up and we've given up 100 points, I haven't seen that in a while."

Los Angeles outrebounded the Celtics 42-31 and put up a strong shooting percentage until a fourth-quarter slump, again excelling at the their two biggest areas of strength in this postseason.

Andrew Bynum scored 10 points on his injured right knee as the Lakers improved to 9-0 at home in the playoffs, with 12 straight postseason home wins dating to last year's championship run.
Rajon Rondo had 13 points -- just three in the second half -- and eight assists as Boston went 1 for 10 on 3-pointers, but forced 15 turnovers with active hands in passing lanes.

Bryant scored just four points in the fourth quarter, but hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds. He added seven rebounds and six assists in his 12th 30-point game of the postseason.

Pierce and Artest set a resonant tone for the first quarter, which featured 18 personal fouls and 20 free throws, 12 by Boston. The Lakers took a 50-41 halftime lead, but Rondo kept the Lakers close with 10 points, including a buzzer-beating jumper.

Los Angeles took charge in the final minutes of the third quarter, when Bryant led an 11-2 run to an 84-64 lead heading into the fourth. Boston swiftly sliced that lead with a 10-1 run in the first four minutes, but the Lakers kept their lead in double digits throughout the fourth.

Boston had homecourt advantage in the clubs' 2008 meeting, but these Celtics will have to win at least once at Staples Center, where the Lakers have won 12 straight playoff games since last season's Western Conference finals.

The arena was packed well before the opening tip for the Lakers' third straight appearance in the NBA finals, and several thousand fans actually deigned to put on the giveaway gold T-shirts handed out by the team. The T-shirt stunt failed miserably the past two times Los Angeles tried it in the playoffs.


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Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 1 Preview

LOS ANGELES—Phil Jackson knows the story by heart, even if his players only seem interested in the last two chapters.
Their coach is steeped in the history of pro basketball’s most compelling rivalry, familiar with every twist in the Boston Celtics’ half-century of championship clashes with the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA’s most decorated franchises have battled through heartbreaks, high stakes and neck-aches while forging a true pro sports rivalry, that rarest of commodities in the age of free agency.
Jackson doesn’t mind that almost everybody playing in the franchises’ 12th NBA finals meeting, starting Thursday night at Staples Center, doesn’t have much of a grasp on the history sewn into the uniforms they wear.
So what if Ron Artest claims total ignorance of the Lakers’ past, while Kobe Bryant says he couldn’t care less who Los Angeles played? So what if the deep-seated hatred between the franchises’ fans doesn’t seem to be truly savored by nearly anybody exceptPaul Pierce, the Los Angeles native turned Celtics star?
When asked why the kids these days just don’t get it, Jackson smirks and nimbly sidesteps the trap set for grumpy old men and history buffs.
“That rivalry is renewed … it seems like every 20 years, and now here it is,” Jackson said. “This is our second time going back at them. It’s one that I think piques the interest of the fans of basketball.”
Notice he didn’t mention the players’ interest. In the age of easy team-swapping, $100 million contracts and offseason Vegas partying with bitter in-season opponents, there’s not much actual malice to be found between these Lakers and these Celtics.
“It’s not a personal thing,” Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said before the Celtics practiced at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday. “They’re a great team, we’re a great team. We’re both trying to get to the same goal.”
The clubs are meeting in the finals for the second time in three seasons, and the winner will walk away with the franchises’ 33rd combined championship. That’s more than half of the titles in NBA history.
Yet this 21st-century confluence of Boston’s Big Three era and Bryant’s career zenith still hasn’t reached the frequency and ferocity of the rivalry’s early years. They met seven times in 11 seasons from 1959-69—and the Celtics won every time, led by Bill Russell, coach Red Auerbach and whatever leprechaun pushed Frank Selvy’s late jumper off the rim in Game 7 of the 1962 finals, allowing Boston to win in overtime.
“It seems like most of the ’60s, the Lakers were playing the Celtics, and they were never able to get by them,” Jackson said. “That was a long and arduous period of time for these fans.”
Pierce grew up in Inglewood near the Lakers’ former neighborhood, and he heard the story about the balloons. He knows the Lakers were favorites against the Celtics in 1968 and again in 1969, but Boston twice rallied to beat Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, forlornly stranding thousands of celebratory balloons in the rafters of the Forum.
“We’ve definitely got two franchises that never really liked each other because they were always playing for the ultimate prize,” said Pierce, the 2008 NBA finals MVP. “You can definitely sense that, and I already knew that growing up here.”
Bryant, burrowed deep into his playoff tunnel, professes not to care about the rivalry, even when a victory might fulfill West’s prediction that Kobe will go down as the greatest player to wear the Lakers’ uniform.
“I’m playing in it. I don’t give a damn about it,” Bryant said. “That’s for other people to get excited about. I get excited about winning.”
Yet it’s tough to believe Bryant: He also has said his NBA education during his youth in Italy largely consisted of watching Lakers-Celtics games, when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird clashed three times in four seasons.
Other Lakers aren’t excited about playing the Boston franchise so much as they’re thrilled for a chance at revenge on these particular Celtics, most of whom sent the Lakers home from the finals in 2008. Center Andrew Bynum, who was injured for that series, couldn’t resist talking up a Boston rematch even while the Lakers were in the thick of a tough Western Conference finals against Phoenix.
These Lakers don’t remember Game 4 of the 1984 series, when Kevin McHale clotheslined Kurt Rambis before Cedric Maxwell mimed a choking motion at James Worthy during a key game in perhaps the most fascinating finals in NBA history, an era-defining showcase of the Magic-Bird rivalry.
No, they remember June 2008, when celebrating Celtics fans punctuated their team’s 39-point victory in the clincher by throwing rocks at Los Angeles’ bus.
Leave it to Pau Gasol, the Lakers’ cultured Spanish forward in his third straight NBA finals, to find a common ground between the importance of this franchise’s history and the immediacy of winning one last playoff series in an eight-month grind of a modern season.
“The history just makes it a little more exciting than it already is,” Gasol said. “It’s a matchup that a lot of people want to see. The history is exciting, and there’s a lot of—you could say hate—between the teams, crowds and fans and stuff, but we try to be above that a little bit, and try not to let that affect our minds.
“Obviously it’s motivating, but you still want to win the Finals and championship no matter who it’s against. But obviously it will taste better, to be honest, than what we went through in 2008.”

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If at first they succeed, Phil Jackson's Lakers are perfect

Jackson's Bulls and Lakers teams are 47-0 in playoff series when they win Game 1.

Best of one?Welcome to an NBA Finals that, despite being blessed with rivalry of 51 years, could be decided in the first 48 minutes.Welcome to a series where the Lakers aren't playing the Boston Celtics as much as both of them could soon be tangling with the one of the most majestic, maddening statistics in sportsIt's all about a number. A number so trivial that half the players in the series are unaware of it, yet so powerful it could end the series almost before it starts. A number with as much lore as Kobe Bryant's 24, as alive as Kevin Garnett's 5, even more important than the number of the paramedics that Paul Pierce will phone the first time he is gently pushed to the wood. You've probably heard the number. You've probably thought you heard it wrong. You haven't.When Phil Jackson's teams have won the first game of a postseason series, they are 47-0 in that series.Think about that.When Jackson's teams win Game 1, it's Series Done. If they win the first one, they will win the last one. Nineteen seasons. Every single time.Theoretically, the Game 1 winner in any sport has a 65% chance of winning a seven-game series. Historically, the NBA's Game 1 winners ultimately triumph 79% of the time.Jackson's teams do it 100% of the time, including 23 consecutive times with the Lakers.''Staggering,'' said Kobe Bryant''Mind-boggling,'' said Luke Walton.''Huh?'' said Rasheed Wallace.The Celtics forward, among others, apparently has never heard the number. Judging from the way he stared vacantly at the media during Wednesday's interview day, one might think he couldn't even remember the number on his back, but I threw this one at him nonetheless.''That's just media stuff,'' he said. ''That don't mean nothing to me.''That's what all Lakers opponents say. Over the last several years, as the number as grown from an oddity to a coincidence to a real trend, the other guys insist they know nothing about it. Then the Lakers win the first game, and they can't forget it."I'm sure with some players, when they lose that first game, it's like, ''Oh my gosh, do you see that number?''' said Will Perdue, former Jackson disciple and current radio guy. ''The players are telling each other, 'They never lose after they win the first game of a series? If we don't win the next game, we're done.' ''The Celtics are not those players. Or are they? Surrounded with history, the Celtics are smart enough to understand the difficulty in defeating it.Are you telling me that if the Lakers win in the opener Thursday night at Staples Center, the Celtics aren't going to be peppered with that number for the next two weeks? And that at least some of it isn't going to stick?"I know when I go to the free-throw line, the odds of me missing one grow if I haven't missed one in a while,'' Boston's Ray Allen said with a grin. ''So I'll think of it like that.''

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