NBA 2010-2011 Season Opener: Celtics 1, Heat 0.

Those are the numbers after the much-anticipated season opener between the two teams many assume will ultimately face off in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The first game of the season is always exciting, but this one was different. Last year's Eastern Conference champs who fell to the Lakers in 7, now with a healthy roster and some key additions, against the biggest story of the summer: the team that won the LeBron Sweepstakes, the NBA's new villains. The media presence, ticket sales, and the crowd at Boston's TD Garden were all playoff-esque.

The game itself? Not so much. At least, not to begin with. The Heat scored a measly 9 first-quarter points. They picked it up a bit in the second quarter but still ended the half with only 30 points on 26% shooting. Meanwhile, the Celtics led by as much as 19 and, at the half, had 45 points on (somewhere around) 46% shooting. They also won the battle of the bench (14 points to Miami's 7--special mention Glen Davis and Marquis Daniels, who were great) and outscored Miami in the paint by double figures.

Things started to get exciting in the second half. LeBron started to do his thing, like he was back in Cleveland and like it was his team (as opposed to Wade's). The ball was in his hands, he shot a bunch of 3s (and so did Jones... Who? Yeah, that's what I said) and scored 15 of his 31 points in the third quarter. Bosh was something of a pest, grabbing offensive boards throughout the game. Meanwhile, the Celtics showed that they still have the same bad habits: turnovers (18), offensive fouls (on illegal screens), and, oh yeah, blowing big leads. (Also, Paul Pierce fell on his back after a collision with LeBron and had to retreat into the locker room for treatment. And yes, he did come back out to play. No, not on a wheelchair.)

By the end of the third quarter, Boston's lead was down to 6, and by the 1:10 mark of the fourth quarter, Miami had cut the lead to 83-80.

Out of a timeout, Ray Allen (team-high 20 points) hit a timely 3 to bring the lead back up to 6. Miami in turn called a timeout and drew up a play for a Wade 3, which he missed. With 46 seconds left, Boston dribbled off the seconds on the shot clock to use up as much time as possible. With 6 seconds left on the shot clock, Wade made the costly mistake of fouling Pierce. Pierce made both free throws, and the remaining 26 or so seconds thereafter were uneventful and inconsequential.

Final score: 88-80, Celtics.

So, what do we get out of this game?

The Celtics look like they're in much better shape than they were last season. The big 3 are healthy (KG looks a lot like his old self), Rondo is his usual self, the old bench guys showed that they are capable of holding down the fort, and Shaq looks to be a good fit with the team. After 10 games, Delonte West will be able to join the crew, and sometime next year, so will Kendrick Perkins, adding even more depth to the roster. However, the team still is plagued by the same bad habits that ultimately cost them the title last season, and that should be a cause for concern.

The Heat obviously have issues to work out. They're a new team who haven't been playing together long. They gave away most of their roster, so after their "big 3," the dropoff in talent is pretty significant.
Despite these issues, this team's potential to be phenomenal is evident. LeBron showed he's still the same old LeBron who can completely take over a game and cut into a double-digit lead in a matter of minutes. Bosh showed that he might be the third scoring option, but he can still make a difference on the boards. Wade had a bad game, but he spent most of the preseason recovering from injury; he will get into his groove, and when he does, we'll get to see what this new superteam can do at full strength.

So all in all, this was a fun game, and it showed us some things about two teams we expect to see in late May and June. One team now was a 1-0 record, whereas the other has an 0-1. And that's about it. One regular-season game down, 81 to go.

*Point of Interest (to me, at least): Each of these teams has added two members who played for the Cavs last season: LeBron and Big Z in Miami, and Shaq and Delonte West in Boston (the latter of whom used to be a Celtic anyway). Furthermore, both teams have a player who won a championship with the other team: Shaq won a championship with Miami in 2006, and Eddie House won one with Boston in 2008. Also, Jermaine O'Neal, now playing for Boston, spent the previous two seasons with Miami.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  —Kobe Bryant(notes) sprinted after the ball, which Lamar Odom(notes) joyously flung downcourt to burn the remaining seconds in Game 7 of the NBA finals. With the celebration starting behind him, Bryant chased it down and then held it aloft to his teammates.

The two-time finals MVP has a ring for every finger on one hand precisely because he never slows down, even with injuries, the Celtics’ defense and his own erratic shot conspiring against him. That’s why this ring will have a special place in his collection, and this banner in the Staples Center rafters will loom a little larger than the rest to Kobe.

“I wanted it so, so bad,” Bryant said. “On top of that, I was on E. Man, I was really, really tired, and the more I tried to push, the more it kept getting away from me.”

Out of an unsightly 6-for-24 shooting performance, Bryant led the Lakers to a sweet repeat with 23 points and 15 rebounds Thursday night. While he could barely make a shot or even hold onto the ball at times, Bryant relentlessly drove the lane to earn nine free throws in the fourth quarter while Los Angeles erased a 13-point second-half deficit.

The Lakers earned their rings by winning a gritty, grind-it-out Game 7 for the first time in their franchises’ history.

“This one is by far the sweetest, because it’s them,” Bryant said after the Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game 7. “This was the hardest one by far. I wanted it so bad, and sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My guys picked me up.”

While the basketball in Game 7 wasn’t terribly attractive, as evidenced by the Lakers’ 32.5 percent shooting and 12 missed free throws alongside the Celtics’ 15 turnovers and 53-40 rebounding disadvantage, the teams’ collective will and determination still were stirring—and they’ll only get more beautiful with age.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson also has his 11th championship, matching Boston great Bill Russell’s total and possibly putting a cap on Jackson’s remarkable career if he decides to leave the Lakers. The Zen Master will have trouble walking away from the chance for a fourth threepeat next year.

“Well, it’s done. It wasn’t well done, but it was done,” Jackson said. “I thought our defense was terrific. We were able to step in and play the kind of defense that we’ve established as a calling card for this team, and we found a way to generate some points.”

Exactly two years to the day after Boston beat the Lakers by 39 points to clinch the 2008 title, Los Angeles got revenge for perhaps the most embarrassing loss of Bryant’s career—even if that revenge was as cold as Bryant’s jumper.

Bryant said he had to downplay the magnitude of the rivalry during the series, but he came clean while sitting at the podium with his daughters, Natalia and Gianna.

“I was just lying to you guys,” Bryant said. “When you’re in the moment, you have to suppress that … but you guys know what a student I am of the game. I know every series the Lakers have played in, and I know every Celtics series. I know every statistic. It meant the world to me, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had to focus on playing.”

And when Bryant was asked what the title means to him personally, he answered without self-censorship: “Just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank. You know how I am. I don’t forget anything.”

As if anybody could forget, Shaquille O’Neal(notes) and Bryant teamed up for three titles from 2000-02, with Shaq winning his fourth in 2006 with Miami. The Lakers’ last two belong to Bryant and Pau Gasol(notes), who had 19 points and 18 rebounds after a slow start in Game 7.

Ron Artest(notes) added 20 points for the Lakers, who didn’t exactly show a champion’s poise while making just 21 shots in the first three quarters, even hovering around 50 percent at the free throw line. Los Angeles finished with just 32.5 percent shooting.

Yet the Lakers’ defense slowed Rajon Rondo(notes) and the Celtics’ offense to a trickle in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles reclaimed the lead midway through and hung on with a few more big shots from Gasol, who had nine points in the period, and a remarkable clutch performance by Artest, a first-time champion as the only newcomer to last season’s roster.

“I had 20 points, and I still think we did this as a team,” said Artest, whose 3-pointer with 1:01 to play was the Lakers’ last field goal of the season. “We fought together. This was one of the best games in, I don’t even know, man. I don’t want to be in a game like this, where the game can go either way. … I’m just like, OK, what did I get myself into?”

He might be into a budding dynasty, with most of the Lakers’ core locked into long-term contracts. With their fifth title in 11 seasons, the Lakers moved one championship behind Boston’s 17 titles for the overall NBA lead.

Paul Pierce(notes) had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who just couldn’t finish the final quarter of a remarkable playoff run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett(notes) added 17 points and Rasheed Wallace(notes) had 11 before tiring while starting in place of injured center Kendrick Perkins(notes), but Boston flopped in two chances to clinch the series in Los Angeles after winning Game 5 back home.

“We were scratching and clawing, trying to do everything we could to try to pull this out,” said Ray Allen(notes), who had 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting, his legs worn out from chasing Bryant on defense. “We had an opportunity to win, but it just didn’t go our way down the stretch. I don’t think we ran out of steam. Lady Luck just didn’t bounce in our corner. … There were a lot of tears, a lot of tears.”

The Celtics had never lost a seventh game in the finals. Despite nursing a lead through most of the night while holding the Lakers to that ridiculously low shooting percentage, Boston couldn’t close it out on the coast, becoming just the seventh team to blow a 3-2 finals lead after winning Game 5.

Boston faces even more offseason uncertainty than the Lakers, with Allen’s free agency and coach Doc Rivers’ decision atop the list.
Phil Jackson (R) celebrates his 11th NBA championship as coach.
(Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

“There’s a lot of crying in that locker room,” Rivers said. “A lot of people who care. I don’t think there was a dry eye. A lot of hugs, a lot of people feeling awful. That’s a good thing. Showed a lot of people cared.”

The Celtics had much more poise from the opening tip in Game 7, playing vicious defense that forced Los Angeles to miss 21 of its first 27 shots. Bryant and Gasol were a combined 6 for 26 in the first half.

But forget how it looked early on, because history will. Bryant even did something Jerry West and Magic Johnson never could: He beat the hated Celtics in Game 7 of the finals.

“Close is not enough,” said Glen Davis(notes), whose six points and nine rebounds were the Celtics’ only contributions from their bench. “You’ve got to win it. I don’t know what’s going on with who’s coming back, but I’ll be ready when training camp comes around.”

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  The trophy, the champagne, the hats, the T-shirts. Even Bill Russell and Kevin McHale. Everything was in place at Staples Center for the Boston Celtics to wrap up their 18th NBA championship.

And then the Lakers shoved everything back in its boxes and sent all the Celtics in sight back to their hotels for two more days.

With an emphatic, historic blowout win in Game 6 Tuesday night, Los Angeles earned the right to host the grand finale to both the NBA season and this scintillating chapter in the league’s most glamorous rivalry.

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and the Lakers held Boston to the second lowest-scoring performance in NBA finals history in an 89-67 victory, setting up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Thursday.

Faced with elimination for the first time in this postseason, the defending champion Lakers didn’t flinch. Just look at Bryant, who still hasn’t cracked a smile during the quest for his fifth title—the same number as Magic Johnson, and one behind Michael Jordan.

“We’re used to being in must-win situations,” Bryant said. “The way we look at it, (Game 7) is just a game we’ve got to win. … I don’t mean to be a buzzkill. I know what’s at stake, but I’m not tripping.”

He left that to the Celtics, who fell all over themselves after falling behind by 22 points in the first half. Boston memorably eliminated the Lakers in the sixth game of the 2008 finals with a 39-point blowout—but this time around, the Celtics lost their series lead and their starting center in one disastrous Game 6.

“We didn’t get in any rhythm early, and it affects our chemistry,” said Ray Allen, who scored 19 points. “We each tried to make the home run play early. As a starting unit, we take responsibility. We have to do a better job next game.”

Ron Artest added 15 points for the Lakers, who got their backs off the wall with a dazzling first half and a strong finish built around defense that held Boston to 33 percent shooting. Only Utah’s infamous 54-point performance against Chicago in 1998 was worse.

Bryant grabbed 11 rebounds, and Gasol led the Lakers with nine assists in a remarkable bounce-back game for Los Angeles, which dominated from the opening minutes by vacuuming up rebounds—13 more than Boston—and playing relentless defense.

“I was very happy,” Bryant said after the defending champions stretched the finals to the limit for the first time since 2005. “We did a great job defensively. We kept them out of the middle, kept them out of the paint, did a good job on the boards. It was a solid effort by us.”

These rivals have played a Game 7 four times in their 11 previous finals meetings, with Boston winning all four. But it hasn’t happened since 1984—and it hasn’t happened to Bryant, who looks determined to stake a spot among the NBA’s highest circle of greats.

But while Bryant was a one-man band for much of the Lakers’ three-game stay in Boston, Los Angeles was a symphony in Game 6. Gasol was a constant low-post presence and playmaker after disappearing for long stretches of the series, while Artest harnessed his wildly inconsistent jumper and hit three 3-pointers.

“We want to carry everything we did tonight to (Game 7), and then I think we’ll be in a very good place to win,” Gasol said. “When you bring the intensity we did tonight, good things are going to happen.”

With first lady Michelle Obama watching from a luxury box, the Lakers were on their best behavior—and the Celtics responded terribly to the chance to clinch a title.

Paul Pierce scored 13 points and Kevin Garnett added 12, but the Celtics’ offense was a jumbled, stand-around mess. Rajon Rondo, the late-game hero in Boston’s last appearance in Los Angeles, got off to a 1-for-8 shooting start before finishing with 10 points and six assists.

“I thought we’d play better, obviously,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought we were ready. … We played an individual game tonight on both ends. We never gave ourselves an opportunity offensively, because we never trusted each other. Everybody was out to make their own place.”

The Celtics lost starting center Kendrick Perkins in the first quarter to a sprained right knee when he landed awkwardly under the hoop, but his absence couldn’t explain the Lakers’ utter domination of the first half—a 30-13 rebounding edge while holding Boston to 34 percent shooting and frustrating Rondo.

“To me, the game is over,” Rondo said. “We have one game (left). They have one game. All or nothing. (Game 6) is in the past.”

There hasn’t been a winner-take-all finals game since San Antonio finished off Detroit five years ago, and Thursday’s Game 7 will be the 17th in NBA history. The Spurs’ victory over the Pistons was the first Game 7 since 1994, when the Houston Rockets capped a comeback with two home victories over the New York Knicks and their point guard—Rivers.

“It’s really a high-tension situation,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, a 10-time champion who has never coached a Game 7 in the finals. “Players have come down to putting a lot on the line at this particular point. It’s not about the coaching at that point. They’ve already got it in them. It’s about who comes out and provides the energy on the floor.”

The Lakers improved to 10-1 in the postseason at Staples Center, while the Celtics dropped to 3-4 in closeout playoff games this season—including 0-3 on the road. Boston had nine chances to finish a playoff series away from home in the past three postseasons, but has been successful only once.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  Paul Pierce is heading back to his hometown, and a second NBA championship could be waiting for him.

A Los Angeles native who has played his entire career with the rival Celtics, Pierce scored 27 points to help Boston withstand 38 points from Kobe Bryant to beat the Lakers 92-86 on Sunday night and move within one victory of an unprecedented 18th NBA title.

The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. Game 6 is Tuesday night, and a victory then or in Game 7 in L.A. on Thursday would give Pierce the chance to celebrate in the city where he grew up.

“It’s going to have to happen if we’re going to win the title,” Pierce said. “I mean, that would be great. I’m not going to try to jinx it right now. We’ve got to win one game; that’s the goal. But it would be amazing if we get it done.”

With the “Beat L.A!” chant reverberating through the TD Garden, Kevin Garnett scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds to help Boston become the first team in the series to win two games in a row. If Los Angeles can’t do the same at home, the Celtics will improve to 10-2 against them in the finals, from a 4-0 sweep over the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959 through the Bird-and-Magic era of the ’80s and Boston’s win in ’08.

But Bryant said neither the rivalry nor revenge should be motivating his teammates when they try to stave off elimination at home.

“Just man up and play. What the hell is the big deal?” he said. “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.”

Bryant was the MVP of the finals last year, when the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win their 15th championship. But Pierce earned the honor at his expense in ’08, when the new Big Three beat the Lakers to raise an NBA-record 17th banner to the rafters at Boston’s TD Garden.

Bryant outscored Pierce this time, but the Lakers’ guard got little help from his teammates. And the stretch where he was most dominant was also the time when the Celtics pulled away.

“I wasn’t in a personal duel,” Pierce said. “I didn’t notice that we were going back-and-forth scoring at the time. He’s a tough player. He makes shots.”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson defended Bryant’s attempts to take over the offense.

“He’s the kind of guy (where) you ride the hot hand, that’s for sure,” Jackson said. “We were waiting for him to do that. … He went out there and found a rhythm.”

Bryant did everything he could to send the Lakers home with the edge.

He scored 23 straight Lakers points between the 4:23 mark of the second quarter until there was 2:16 left in the third. But over that span, the Celtics expanded the lead from one point to 13.

“I just tried to keep telling them, it’s only 2 points each time he scores. It’s not 10,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s just like if someone else was scoring. … I love that our guys for the most part, they understood what he was doing. But we defended everyone else. And I thought it was big.”

And Pierce was having his best game of the series, too.

The Celtics’ captain scored seven points in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and added nine more in the first 5 minutes of the third. Ray Allen, who hasn’t hit a 3-pointer since making an NBA-record eight in Game 2, made a pair of baskets that gave Boston a 71-58 lead with 3:08 left in the third.

Jackson, wearing a microphone for the TV broadcast, told his players during a late timeout, “This team loses more games in the fourth quarter than any team in the league. They know how to lose games, and they’re showing us that now.”

The Lakers got within six points several times, but never within five until Bryant made three free throws to make it 87-82 with 90 seconds left.

The Celtics got a break from a review when replays showed Allen’s 3-pointer barely nicked the rim, giving them the ball with a fresh 24 seconds and 1:05 left. Rasheed Wallace missed a 3-pointer, but the rebound wound up tied up between the 6-foot-11 Garnett and 6-foot-1 Derek Fisher.

Fisher won the jump ball, tipping the ball ahead to Ron Artest for a breakaway; Pierce fouled him to keep him from scoring an easy layup, and he missed both free throws. Bryant grabbed the rebound, but Pierce ripped it out of his arms and dribbled off to the side to call timeout.

A desperate inbound pass went to Pierce, who fed Rondo under the basket before falling out of bounds, and Rondo made an over-the-head layup to make it 89-82 with 36 seconds left.

“I was just showing off my Randy Moss and my (Tom) Brady the whole play,” Pierce said. “I was Randy when I caught it; then Brady on my pass to Rondo.”

Bryant missed a series of desperation 3-pointers down the stretch, and when Allen made two free throws with 19 seconds left and Garnett one of two with 8.9 to play, it was over.

“He’s the best shot-maker in the game. There’s probably better athletes and all that, but there’s no better shot-maker than Kobe Bryant,” Rivers said. “You’ve just got to live with it and play through it.”

Pau Gasol scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and Fisher, the Game 3 star, scored all nine of his points in the first quarter as no other Laker reached double figures in scoring until Gasol hit a free throw with 2:25 left. Andrew Bynum played on his sore right knee for 31 minutes, but he scored all six of his points and his only rebound in the first quarter.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  When Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers gave his starters a breather to start the fourth quarter in Game 4 of the NBA finals, he told them not to get too comfortable.

“Doc was like, ‘One minute, and I’m putting you in the game. You’re not sitting too long, so just be ready,”’ Celtics captain Paul Pierce(notes) said. “Then you look up: we tie the game, then go up two, three and then they push the lead to seven. … It was beautiful to watch, just being a cheerleader on the sideline.”

Glen “Big Baby” Davis led the Celtics bench on a game-changing run Thursday night, scoring half of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as Boston pulled away from the Los Angeles Lakers to win 96-89 and knot the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

“This is what legends are made of, this is where you grasp the moment,” Davis said. “Just play in the moment.”

Game 5 is Sunday night in Boston.

The Celtics’ win guaranteed them a trip back to Los Angeles and averted a 3-1 deficit that has never been overcome in NBA finals history.

“We know what to do. We know how to play. We know how to get it done,” said Lakers forward Pau Gasol(notes), who scored 21 points to go with a game-high 33 for Kobe Bryant(notes). “And we know how important Game 5 will be, so we’ve just got to get ourselves mentally and physically ready … to accomplish our mission.”

Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett(notes) had 13 and Ray Allen(notes) bounced back from a seven-quarter shooting slump to score 12 points for Boston. But the new Big Three that led the Celtics to their unprecedented 17th NBA title in 2008— beating the Lakers in the finals—was on the bench for much of the fourth-quarter run that gave Boston the lead for good.

And that was fine with them.

“I don’t think guys really care and that’s why we’re here, it really is,” Rivers said. “(Rajon) Rondo and the rest of them, they were begging me to keep guys in. ‘Don’t take them out! Don’t take them out!’ It was great. That’s the loudest I’ve seen our bench, and it was the starters cheering from the bench.”

Garnett and Pierce didn’t rejoin Allen on the court until there was 2:51 left. Bryant scored 10 of the Lakers’ last 12 points, hitting all three free throws to make it 92-86 after he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 1:08 left.

But then Rondo stole a pass from Bryant and took it the length of the court for a layup that made it an eight-point lead with 32 seconds left.

And this time, the reserves were cheering for the starters.

“All I’m thinking about is, ‘Let’s win,”’ Davis said. “I’m not thinking about anything else. I’m not even thinking about Kobe making all these shots, worried about this or worried about that. I’m just worried about winning, whatever it takes to win, and just making sure that I give my teammates positive energy to finish out the game.”

Bryant hit three straight 3-pointers to give the Lakers a 62-58 lead with 1:25 left in the third. Davis’ putback left the Celtics trailing by two points heading into the final quarter, and he scored on a reverse layup in the opening minute of the fourth to tie it.

Gasol made a basket to give L.A. the lead—its last of the game—before Allen scored, Davis followed, Allen made another basket and Davis followed with a three-point play that made it 71-64 with 8:22 left.

“They got all the energy points, the hustle points, second chance points, points in the paint, beat us to the loose balls,” Bryant said. “I mean, that’s how the game turned around.”

In all, the Celtics scored 13 of 15 points during a five-minute span when Allen was the only starter on the court, mostly with Davis, Rasheed Wallace(notes), Nate Robinson(notes) and Tony Allen(notes). Asked if he was surprised to see his bench extend the lead, Rivers said: “I’m happy. I don’t know about surprised.”

“We’ve done that during the season, but this is the finals,” Rivers said. “So it’s obviously different against such a quality team.”

Asked for his team’s strategy in stopping the Celtics’ bench, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, “No, I don’t want to talk about that.”

Davis played along.

“I don’t have no comment, either,” he said. “If Phil Jackson don’t have no comment, then I don’t have no comment.”

Robinson scored 12 points in 17 minutes as the Celtics’ bench outscored the Lakers’ 36-18. Ten of L.A.’s bench points came from Lamar Odom(notes), who played 39 minutes after starting center Andrew Bynum(notes) tested his sore knee but did not play in the second half.

“We just knew we had to bring our energy, that’s the main thing for us,” Robinson said of his fellow reserves. “The more energy we bring, the better offensively we are and the better defensively we are.”

Ray Allen, who had a record eight 3-pointers in Game 2 and then went 0 for 13 from the field in Game 3, made his first basket but then went cold again, missing his next six shots before snapping out of it. He finished 4 for 11 from the field—missing all four 3-pointers, but scored 10 points in the second half.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  Derek Fisher broke down the court after yet another miss by Ray Allen, with nothing between him and the basket. And nothing—not even three hard-charging Celtics—was going to keep the Los Angeles Lakers guard from finishing off a Game 3 victory.

A hard foul from all three pursuing Celtics sent Fisher sprawling to the floor, but not before he laid in his fifth basket of the fourth quarter and converted the three-point play to help the Lakers beat Boston 91-84 and take a 2-1 lead in the NBA finals.


“Truthfully, he’s done it over and over and over again,” said Kobe Bryant, who scored 29 points. “So it’s almost his responsibility to our team to do these things.”

Bryant had 25 points after three quarters, but he did not score for the first 10 minutes of the fourth. That’s when Fisher took over, hitting four of five Lakers baskets after Boston cut a 17-point first-half lead down to one point to reclaim the home-court advantage they lost when the Celtics won Game 2 in L.A.

Game 4 is Thursday night in Boston, and a Lakers victory would put them within one win of avenging the loss to their longtime rivals in the 2008 finals — not to mention the eight other times the Celtics have won an NBA title at the Lakers’ expense.

“Our thoughts are really just still on how disappointed we are, or were, losing that second game on our home court. I think that had more of our attention and focus than what happened in ’08,” Fisher said. “We didn’t doubt our ability to win here. … We understand when you want to be the best, you have to win wherever, whenever.”

Fisher finished with 16 points, and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum had 10 rebounds apiece for Los Angeles.

Kevin Garnett, who had just six points in Boston’s victory Sunday, had 25 in Game 3. But Allen, who had 32 points in Game 2, missed all 13 field goal attempts—one shy of the NBA finals futility record—many of them while Fisher was guarding him.

“It’s a hell of a swing, I’ll tell you that,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s basketball. That’s why you can’t worry about it. He’ll be back in the gym tomorrow and getting ready for the next game. … It happens to the best of us.”

The Celtics had high hopes after splitting the opening two games in Los Angeles, but the “Beat L.A.!” chants at the TD Garden couldn’t help them overcome poor shooting.

And it couldn’t stop Fisher.

“Derek Fisher was the difference in the game,” Rivers said. “He’s just a gutty, gritty player and he gutted the game out for them. I thought Kobe was struggling a little bit, and Fisher—he basically took the game over. … I don’t know what he had in the fourth quarter … but most of them were down the stretch.”

Fisher, 34, came into the league with Bryant in 1996 and has a history of clutch shots, from the heave with 0.4 seconds left to beat San Antonio in the 2004 playoffs to the late jumpers in a series-swinging victory over Orlando in Game 4 of last year’s finals. The Lakers went on to beat the Magic in five games, earning their 15th NBA title—second only to Boston’s 17.

“I think as you grow in this game and you put in the work that’s required to still be around 14 years later, you start to recognize that being in this moment, on this stage, it’s not a given. It’s not something that happens every season,” Fisher said. “Five or 10 years from now, when I’m long gone, I would have hated to feel like I didn’t just do everything I could have to help my team. Things have worked out well, and we have two more wins to get to really put a nice cap on it.”

The Lakers opened a 37-20 first-half lead, but Boston cut the deficit to four late in the third quarter and then made it 68-67 early in the fourth on consecutive drives by Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Rajon Rondo. With a chance to take the lead, Allen was called for an offensive foul away from the ball.

Fisher then scored four of the Lakers’ next five baskets to give them a five-point lead with about 4 1/2 minutes left. He scored another with 49 seconds left before being flattened by Davis, among others, and adding the free throw to make it a three-possession game.

“He saw the opening and went and made a very bold play. … It was imperative that it goes in for us to win,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “When he’s got an opportunity to hit a key shot, it seems like he’s always there and ready.”

Allen and Paul Pierce combined to go 1 for 13 from the field as Boston went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal in the first half. Pierce finished with 15 points, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range, but Allen never snapped out of it.

He missed all eight 3-pointers, all five 2-pointers and got to the line just twice. He was spared of matching the worst shooting performance in NBA finals history when Garnett was called for an offensive foul away from the ball in the final minute while Allen clanged another shot off the rim.

“We obviously didn’t expect him to go 0 for 13, but it’s a tough gig for him to run around offensively the way he has to and then have to guard Kobe on the other end,” Fisher said. “I mean, that takes anybody’s legs out. It takes my legs out chasing him. So there are going to be nights maybe when his legs aren’t there because he’s having to work so hard on both ends, but we won’t see 0 for 13 on Thursday night, that’s for sure.”

Garnett matched his Game 2 total of six points in the first 75 seconds of Game 3, and Rondo had Boston’s next three baskets to give Boston a 12-5 lead. But the Lakers ran off eight straight points to go ahead, scoring 32 of the next 40 points to open a 37-20 lead with 9:10 left in the half.

Rondo, who had a triple-double in Game 3, finished with 11 points, eight assists and three rebounds.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  Somewhere during the second quarter in Game 2 of the NBA finals, Ray Allen slipped into that shooting zone only visited by real-life superstars and movie characters.

With his fundamentally flawless jumper snapping crisply from his wrists, the Boston guard hit 3-pointers in dizzying bunches against the helpless Los Angeles Lakers. He made seven in the first half and finished with a finals-record eight 3’s in the Celtics’ 103-94 victory Sunday night.

Allen’s wry smile after he hit three straight 3-pointers in a two-minute span evoked memories of Michael Jordan shrugging his shoulders during his 35-point half against Portland in the 1992 finals. Even Jesus Shuttlesworth— you know, the sharpshooting kid Allen played in “He Got Game”—would have been proud.

“There’s no better place, moment, time … to win a game, and to win in a great fashion,” Allen said. “I don’t know what record it is that people are telling me that I got, but it’s great to have, great to be able to look back on it and say I did that. This is definitely our time.”

Yet Allen’s barrage still wasn’t enough to hand the defending champions their first home playoff loss of the season. All that elegant brilliance might have been wasted without Rajon Rondo, whose triple-double contained much of the dirty work necessary to even the finals.

While Allen scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half with a record-setting 3-point shooting display, Rondo completed his fifth playoff triple-double down the stretch. Taking charge after Allen cooled down, the point guard racked up 19 points—including the quick-reflex basket that put Boston ahead for good—along with 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

“The best part about getting a triple-double is getting a win,” Rondo said. “That’s pretty much it. It would be pointless to get a triple-double and lose the game.”

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Boston.

Kobe Bryant scored 21 points while battling more foul trouble for the Lakers, who couldn’t catch up to Boston’s dynamic guards in Los Angeles’ first home playoff loss since last season’s Western Conference finals. Pau Gasol had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, and Andrew Bynum added 21 points and six rebounds.

“It’s a series,” Bryant yawned. “You’re trying to stay even-keel. You don’t get too high, don’t get too low after a win or a loss. You just go into the next one and take care of business.”

Allen had just 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting in the finals opener, never finding his rhythm after early foul trouble. He didn’t even hit a 3-pointer in Game 1—but he was just saving it up.

Allen tied the finals record for a full game with seven 3-pointers in the first half alone, sliding effortlessly around his teammates’ picks for open shots while Derek Fisher and Bryant flailed in his wake. He didn’t even miss until his eighth try rimmed out in the waning moments of the half, stunning both his bench and the fearful Staples Center crowd.

“I didn’t think it was easy, getting the 3’s up in the air,” Allen said. “You look up and everybody is probably thinking, ‘How did this guy get open?’ But there’s so much going on there—big screens, misdirection plays. I thought they did everything they could to keep me from shooting 3’s, (but we) worked tirelessly.”

With his eighth 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, Allen broke the record for a full finals game he shared with Kenny Smith and Scottie Pippen— and though he didn’t hit another under tight defense, Rondo took charge.

Rondo’s layup put the Celtics ahead for good with 3:21 to play. The play was vintage Rondo, scooting in to collect a shot blocked by Gasol and scoring before Gasol could react.

Kevin Garnett then hit a jumper, and after another possession of stifling defense, Rondo hit another jumper, celebrating with a swing of his arm in the mostly silent Staples Center.

Rondo has grown into possibly the Celtics’ biggest offensive threat in these playoffs. Although it wasn’t as gaudy as his monstrous 29-point, 18-rebound, 13-assist Game 4 in the second round against Cleveland, his 10-point fourth quarter against the Lakers looms among his largest achievements—particularly if Boston gets rolling toward its 18th championship during three straight games at home over the next week.

“He just did a lot of things—the blocked shots, the steals,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s our quarterback, and he does a lot of stuff for us. He was special tonight.”

After the Lakers’ whistle-plagued 102-89 victory in the opener, both teams again struggled under the weight of foul trouble. Garnett and Bryant both spent extra time on the bench, with Bryant picking up his fifth foul early in the fourth.

Garnett had just six points, and Paul Pierce never got going, scoring 10 on 2-of-11 shooting. The Lakers stayed in it with an inside game that generated 41 free throws—15 more than Boston—and strong efforts from Gasol and Bynum.

With Allen and Rondo playing spectacular basketball, none of their flaws mattered much.

“Our big guys played great,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “We didn’t get the ball often enough to them, or in a good enough position many times, and a lot of our outside shooting was not that (good). … In a sequence like this, there’s no doubt it’s a blow to us to lose the homecourt, but we anticipated this might happen, and we’re just going to have to go pick it up.”

Bryant’s vaunted defense didn’t help much after switching onto Allen, and Kobe didn’t even get his second field goal of the game until Allen already had 22 points. Bryant spent most of the first half’s final minutes on the bench after picking up his third foul on a charging call drawn by Allen.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  Ron Artest proved it in his opening-minute scuffle with Paul Pierce, tumbling to the ground with a vise grip on the Celtics star’s elbow.

Kobe Bryant emphasized it one last time with a rub-it-in 3-pointer in the waning seconds of an NBA finals opener that was already a rout.

These aren’t the same Los Angeles Lakers who got pushed around by their biggest rivals on the NBA’s biggest stage two years ago. They’re rougher and tougher—and surprisingly willing to play the Boston Celtics’ bad-tempered game.

Bryant scored 30 points, Pau Gasol had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and the defending champion Lakers did a remarkable job of the dirty work in a 102-89 victory over Boston in Game 1 on Thursday night.

Artest scored 15 points after his tangle with Pierce in the opening minute of the 12th finals meeting between the NBA’s most decorated franchises. Artest and Pierce backed into each other with their elbows locked while battling for rebounding position. Both got technical fouls after they crashed to the court and got up ready to rumble.

“That’s not a tone that we want to set,” Artest claimed. “I was a little emotional, and I had a little bit of anxiety at that point, and I was fired up.”

Yet other Lakers were grateful for the tone, and they weren’t surprised Artest set it. The Lakers’ defensive stopper is their only new player this season, and he quickly showed Pierce—the 2008 finals MVP—that trophies won’t be quite so easy to earn against the Lakers this time.

“I knew it was going to be physical. That’s a given,” Gasol said. “After consecutive finals, we understand the nature of the game. We understand who our rival is, how they play. You’ve got to compete, and you’ve got to match that physicality, that aspect of the game to be successful.”

The Lakers overwhelmed the Celtics in the third quarter, taking a 20-point lead with sturdy defense and a quick-strike offense. Los Angeles outrebounded the Celtics 42-31, outscored them in the paint 48-30 and put up a lofty shooting percentage until a fourth-quarter slump.

Bryant added seven rebounds and six assists to his 12th 30-point game of the 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—and not many were more physical than this one.

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.

The Celtics were frustrated after giving up 100 points for just the second time in their last 10 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.”

Game 2 is Sunday night at Staples Center.

While the Lakers played to their strengths, the Celtics’ ostensible advantages—toughness, defense and veteran savvy—weren’t so much in evidence. Rajon Rondo had 13 points—just three in the second half—and eight assists for Boston, which went 1 for 10 on 3-pointers.

“You can’t ease into the game, especially 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.”

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.”

After Artest and Pierce got wrapped up, the mood didn’t improve much in a game featuring 54 fouls. Yet the Lakers’ aggressiveness was reflected in 10 free throws apiece for Bryant and Gasol, who made 16 of them, along with steady guard penetration from Bryant, Derek Fisher and backups Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown.

Bryant also praised the defensive effort of Artest, whose block on Glen Davis triggered the fast break that led to Gasol’s dynamic dunk.

“I think he does a great job for us of setting the tone defensively with his intensity and with his energy,” said Bryant, who greeted Artest with a hug after that block. “I was just letting him know it was well appreciated.”

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  The Celtics were supposed to be too old, too hurt, too inconsistent.

Boston coach Doc Rivers knew better.

The team that muddled through its last 54 regular-season games with a 27-27 record is headed to the NBA finals after winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals over the Orlando Magic 96-84 Friday night.

“The first thing we said when we got in the locker room is this is where we thought we would be,” Rivers said. “So don’t be surprised. This is what we talked about before the season started.”

An 86-77 win at Orlando on Christmas Day gave the Celtics a 23-5 record. Then injuries to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce took their toll and the Celtics were content to give them and others time to heal even if it meant risking losing games late in the season.

The strategy paid off and now Boston will play Los Angeles or Phoenix with a chance for its second championship in three years and 18th overall, an NBA record.

“That stretch the last month, we formed a game plan, and I thought it was the right plan,” Rivers said. “Obviously, it didn’t look right because we were losing games, but guys were resting and conditioning, and I thought that was the only chance we had.”

That mediocrity didn’t fool Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, not after the Celtics eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James in six games. And certainly not after they won the first three games of the best-of-seven series against the Magic.

“They beat two very good teams, and made us both look like we weren’t very good teams,” Van Gundy said.

Boston’s “Big Three” of Pierce, 32, Garnett, 34, and Ray Allen, 34, all made key contributions Friday.

Pierce led the Celtics with 31 points and 13 rebounds, Allen scored 20 and Garnett added 10 points and 5 rebounds. Throw in Nate Robinson’s 13 points off the bench in the second quarter, and the Magic’s chances of becoming the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 deficit—there were 93 others—were slim.

“I never really think negative about losing, or being up 3-0 and something tragic happening,” said Pierce, the MVP of the 2008 finals. “Even though one day it’s possibly going to happen. … I’m just glad we were able to prolong it one more year.”

The Boston Bruins opened a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia this month in the NHL’s Eastern Conference semifinals before the Flyers rallied to win in the same building. The Magic, who dressed in the same locker room where the Flyers celebrated their comeback, couldn’t even force the series back to Orlando for a Game 7.

“To win four straight games, you’ve got to be perfect,” Orlando forward Matt Barnes said, “and we weren’t perfect tonight.”

The Magic were far from it.

They led for just 11 seconds, trailed by at least 12 points throughout the second half and were outrebounded 56-44.

“Those guys played like they wanted to win the championship the whole series,” said Dwight Howard, who had 28 points and 12 rebounds for the defending East champions. “That’s why they’re in the position they’re in now.”

Vince Carter scored 17 points, and point guard Jameer Nelson finished with 11 points and four assists but had five turnovers and was outplayed by Rajon Rondo, Boston’s starting point guard, and Robinson, his backup.

Reporters and fans scoffed when Rivers said last month that Robinson, who struggled to get playing time since coming to Boston at the trade deadline on Feb. 18 and had never appeared in the postseason before this season, is “going to win us a playoff game.”

He came off the bench at the start of the second quarter, when Boston led 30-19, and hit 3-pointers 90 seconds apart to help stretch the lead to 15 points.

“Nate Robinson was huge in the first half,” Van Gundy said. “That was a huge, huge lift for them.”

Orlando cut the lead to 55-42 at halftime, but the Celtics scored 11 of the first 13 points in the third quarter—including back-to-back 3-pointers from Allen 38 seconds apart.

“The one thing that Doc said all year was, `I like this team. I like the guys on this team. We can win it with the guys that are on this team,”’ Allen said.

Last year, the Magic eliminated the Celtics in a seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series that Garnett missed with a knee injury. The previous year, the Celtics won their 17th title in a six-game series with the Lakers.

“This starting five has never lost a series, ever,” Rivers said. “We believed that coming into the season, and we just kept believing.”

The finals will begin Thursday in Los Angeles or Phoenix. The Lakers lead the Western Conference finals 3-2, and a victory over the Suns in Game 6 on Saturday would set up the cross-coast rivals for a rematch of the 2008 finals— and 10 other championship series from 1959-87.

“We never take these moments for granted, especially at this point in my career where it’s winding down,” Pierce said. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. To get back here is a great accomplishment, but even greater if we win another one. “

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press)  -  ot ready to go home just yet, the only place the Orlando Magic are headed is back to Boston.

Halfway to history.

Taking another step toward overcoming an improbable 3-0 series deficit, Dwight Howard had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Magic to a 113-92 victory over the Celtics on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

“I don’t know if you can say you have momentum when you’re down 3-2 going into their place,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I still look at it like we’re climbing a huge mountain here. But we are playing better.”

Much better.

A series that looked like a sweep a few days ago now has the Celtics taking a slim lead into a pressure-packed Game 6 in Boston on Friday night. The Celtics are facing the possibility of playing it without Kendrick Perkins after their starting center picked up his seventh technical foul of the playoffs, a mandatory suspension unless it is overturned.

A potential Game 7 would be in Orlando.

No NBA team has won a series after losing the first three games.

The Magic, seemingly lifeless after a blowout defeat in Game 3, suddenly have hope to be the first. They broke out of their series-long shooting slump, making 13-of-25 3-pointers.

“I just feel that if we keep believing in each other and trusting one another and playing as hard as we can, anything’s possible,” Howard said.

Jameer Nelson scored 24 points, and J.J. Redick had 14 to help the Magic to a frenetic pace that the Celtics couldn’t sustain. Howard added five blocks as Orlando built an early 14-point lead that was never seriously challenged.

Rasheed Wallace had 21 points, and Rajon Rondo scored 19 for a Boston team that once seemed on its way to another NBA finals.

Now? The Celtics are stunned and dazed—and Boston fans who just watched their NHL team blow a 3-0 lead are getting uneasy.

Howard’s elbow inadvertently came down on Glen “Big Baby” Davis’ face near the basket in the third quarter, giving the Celtics forward a concussion. Davis tried to get up as play continued on the other end, wobbling his way to midcourt, almost falling flat as referee Joey Crawford kept him from tumbling to the hardwood.

Davis did not return. Reserve Marquis Daniels also was hit with a similar inadvertent elbow from Howard, leaving him dizzy, and Wallace “tweaked” his back.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Davis “blacked out” on the court, and the training staff will examine the forward Thursday.

“I don’t know what kind of tests they’re going to do with Baby. He’s a little delirious anyway,” Rivers said, chuckling.

Give the Magic a little more than a puncher’s chance.

Redick provided a big boost off the bench, making a pair of 3-pointers to highlight a 20-8 run that put Orlando ahead 51-37 in the second quarter. His swishes and crisp passing kept the Celtics scrambling, and it filled a major hole with starter Vince Carter continuing to struggle.

Amid an amped-up Amway Arena, Wallace picked up his third foul during the spurt and taunted Orlando fans all the way to bench. Wallace shouted and screamed to the stands, pointing at his ring finger for the championship he already won with Detroit—a title that has long eluded Orlando.

Things got even worse for the Celtics when Perkins was ejected after he picked up his second technical of the game and seventh of the postseason for arguing with officials. Perkins and Marcin Gortat were whistled for double technicals a few minutes prior after they got tangled up.

That means Perkins, one of the best defenders in the league on Howard, will be suspended for Game 6 unless the NBA rescinds the technical. NBA spokesman Tim Frank said a final review of the technicals was expected to be announced by mid-to-late morning Thursday.

“I didn’t think he deserved either one. But he got them,” Rivers said.

The Celtics are two games from infamy, and the pressure is mounting.

Only four times in the history of North American major pro sports leagues has a team won a playoff series after losing the first three games. Such comebacks are something Boston fans know all too well.

It has happened three times in the NHL—most recently by the Philadelphia Flyers over the Boston Bruins earlier this month—and once in baseball, when the Boston Red Sox came back to beat the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL championship series.

In 93 tries, it has just never been done in the NBA.

Here’s the Magic’s chance at history.

“We just all believe,” Nelson said. “We all believe. We know we can do it.”

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - Put away the brooms. Hold off on those “Beat L.A!” chants. The Boston Celtics still have some work to do before they can play for their second NBA title in three years.

Dwight Howard had 32 points and 16 rebounds, and Jameer Nelson made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime to lead the Orlando Magic to a 96-92 victory over Boston on Monday night to avoid a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference finals.

Dressing in the same locker room where the Philadelphia Flyers celebrated their comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Boston Bruins in the NHL’s East semifinals, the Magic avoided elimination and sent the series back to Orlando for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

The Bruins also lost Game 4 in overtime.

“We know that we were down 3-0, and we didn’t want to go home (for the season),” Howard said. “It starts with me and Jameer. Me and Jameer showed our leadership by playing hard. We’ve got to be the leaders for this team. It’s not about points, but just showing everybody, ‘Hey, follow us and we’ll lead the way.”’

No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

“At some point, somebody is going to come from 3-0 down and win a series. The only thing I knew for sure was it would start by winning Game 4,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I figured that one out. You have to win Game 4. … This was a must-win.”

Paul Pierce had 32 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Garnett had 14 points and 12 boards for Boston. Ray Allen hit consecutive 3-pointers in overtime, but Pierce missed two tries in the final minute as the Celtics failed to complete the sweep.

“They don’t want to leave. We’re going to have to throw them out,” said Celtics forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis. “It’s just like somebody renting a house.”

Nelson finished with 23 points and nine assists for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who led by 10 in the second quarter and were up 85-78 with 2:24 left in regulation before Boston scored eight of the next nine points to force overtime at 86-all.

Neither team scored for the first 2:18 of the period before Nelson hit a 3-pointer and then added another 43 seconds later. Allen made a 3-pointer and, after Howard dunked and drew a foul—but missed a free throw—Allen hit another 3 to make it 94-92.

Howard followed up Nelson’s miss with 53 seconds left to make it 96-92, then Garnett sailed a pass over Pierce’s head and into the crowd. Pierce missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the closing seconds.

“There were a couple of plays down the stretch offensively that we botched, plain and simple. We’re kicking ourselves. We had a great opportunity,” Allen said. “There’s no need to panic. We like the position we’re in. But it’s a lesson: We have to take care of the small things and we’ll get to where we want to be.”

Orlando’s revival came just in time to avoid a Celtics walkover that had fans in the new Boston Garden chanting “Beat L.A!” early in the second half of Saturday night’s 23-point Boston victory. The Lakers lead the Suns 2-1 in the Western Conference finals, with Game 4 on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

But there was no more chanting about the Lakers on Monday night.

“I know they (the Celtics players) heard it. They had no choice but to hear it,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t know if they believed it. We didn’t play well, I know that. I hope that wasn’t the reason.”

Only four times in the history of the North American major pro sports leagues has a team come back to win a playoff series after losing the first three games. It’s been done three times in the NHL—most recently this month by the Flyers in this building—and once in baseball, when the Boston Red Sox came back to beat the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL championship series.

“You never know what can happen,” Magic guard J.J. Redick said. “We can be like the Red Sox, coming back from 0-3. You never know.”

The Magic’s biggest lead of the series had been a three-point edge in the first quarter of Game 2, but they opened with their highest-scoring quarter of the series on Monday to take a 31-26 lead. They made it 42-32 in the second before Boston cut the deficit to four points at the half.

Orlando led 85-78 on Howard’s three-point play, but Pierce sliced past Howard for a dunk that cut it to five, then Allen hit a 3-pointer to make it 85-83 with 1:41 left. Nelson made one of two free throws, and then Pierce went to the basket and drew a foul, completing the three-point play to make it 86-all with 1:16 left.

But Pierce missed a jumper with a chance to give Boston the lead, Nelson missed for Orlando and Pierce lost his handle on the ball in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - The Boston Celtics moved a win away from their second NBA finals trip in three years, and the defending Eastern Conference champions barely put up a fight.

Backup Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored 17 points and Rajon Rondo(notes) added 11 points and 12 assists on Saturday night to lead the Celtics to a 94-71 victory over the Orlando Magic and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven East finals.

No NBA team has lost a playoff series after winning the first three games.

The Magic have to win Game 4 on Monday night to avoid a sweep and force the series back to Orlando. They’ll need a better effort than in Game 3, when they fell behind early for the third straight game. This time, they didn’t even mount a late charge to make it close.

One game after scoring 30 points, Dwight Howard(notes) had just seven and seven rebounds. Rashard Lewis(notes) was also disappointing, scoring four points on 2-for-8 shooting, missing all four 3-point attempts. Vince Carter(notes) and Jameer Nelson(notes) had 15 points apiece.

Paul Pierce(notes)—the NBA finals MVP two years ago when the Celtics won their record 17th championship—had 15 points and nine rebounds. Ray Allen(notes) scored 14 points and Kevin Garnett(notes) added 10 in just 24 minutes. But this time it wasn’t the aging new Big Three that did the damage, it was the two youngest players on the roster.

Rondo and Davis gave the Celtics energy and defense that the Magic couldn’t match, diving to the floor for loose balls and getting the crowd going with spectacular plays.

Rondo outhustled Jason Williams(notes) down the court for a loose ball in the second quarter, diving to take it away and then getting up to beat him again for the layup. Davis celebrated one play underneath the basket with an ecstatic but odd session of running in place; the crowd went wild.

But the Celtics only need to look down the hall for a reminder that they’re not done yet: Just eight days ago in the same building, the Philadelphia Flyers completed their comeback after trailing the Boston Bruins 3-0 in the NHL’s Eastern Conference semifinals.

Celtics fans either don’t remember or don’t care: They started chanting “Beat L.A!” at the start of the third quarter, when Boston led 75-47. The archrival Lakers led the Phoenix Suns 2-0 heading into Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday.

Ten times the Celtics have opened a 3-0 lead in a playoff series. Four times, they’ve swept, and six times they won in five games.

The Celtics scored the first seven points of the game, then scored 14 in a row later in the first quarter to open a 21-6 lead. Howard missed his first four shots, along with a pair of free throws, before he made one of two foul shots in the final seconds of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 27-12.

It was the third straight time the Celtics opened a big lead in the series, but in each of the first two games Orlando eliminated most of the deficit to get within a single basket in the final minutes.

This one only got worse.

In the second quarter, with four substitutes joining Allen on the floor, the Celtics scored seven straight points to extend the lead to 24. It was a 28-point game at the end of three, and Boston led by as many as 32 in the fourth before coach Doc Rivers emptied his bench.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - Too slow? Too old?

Try two wins from the NBA finals.

Indeed, the Boston Celtics look like they saved their best this season for when it mattered most.

“I know,” Boston’s Paul Pierce said. “It’s starting to look that way.”

Pierce scored 28 points, Rajon Rondo had 25 and the revived Celtics again avoided a late collapse to take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 95-92 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Boston bullied and bruised its way to a 2-0 series lead on the road against a Magic team that had won 14 straight until this series.

After being hampered by injuries for much of the season, often showing their age, the Celtics are now just two wins away from their second finals appearance in three seasons.

“I think we are becoming the team that started the season,” Rivers said. “The team that started the season was pretty good.”

Maybe even good enough to take down the defending conference champion Magic.

Dwight Howard had 30 points, and Vince Carter and J.J. Redick scored 16 apiece for the Magic, who overcame an 11-point deficit to take a brief lead in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t hold it.

Jameer Nelson’s desperation 3-point attempt airballed at the buzzer, sending fans to the exits in silence.

“I won’t stop believing,” Howard said. “And I won’t let my teammates stop believing.”

Game 3 is Saturday night in Boston.

“Our fans won’t let us relax,” Pierce said. “We’re going to try and close it out in four games.”

The Celtics buckled down just enough to hold in this one.

Ahead 11 points early in the fourth quarter, that almost wasn’t enough. The Magic, just as they did in Game 1, found their rhythm late.

They went on a 13-4 run to trim Boston’s lead to 85-83 with about six minutes left. Carter’s jumper gave Orlando a 90-89 lead with 3:35 remaining, and then the Celtics summoned their championship form again.

Kevin Garnett and Rondo made consecutive jumpers, and after Nelson made a layup, Pierce answered with two free throws that put Boston ahead by three.

Carter missed two free throws with 31.9 seconds left that cost Orlando dearly. It must have felt all too familiar to Magic fans who watched Howard’s damaging misses at the stripe in Game 4 of the NBA finals last year and Nick Anderson’s four bricks in Game 1 of the 1995 finals.

“I don’t take losses well,” said Carter, Orlando’s biggest offseason acquisition. “Especially when you’re on a team like this. They bring me in to make plays and deliver in crunch time. For me to step up there and miss two free throws, regardless, this doesn’t sit well with me.”

Only another footnote for Boston’s remarkable history.

Two years removed from their 17th NBA championship, the Celtics, once thought too old to contend for another title, have found their footing again. After ousting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team with the league’s best record, Boston is showing no signs of stopping.

“Just think our mindset was to be ready for the type of intensity they would bring after losing at home,” Pierce said. “We know the Magic are a talented team and we won’t take these two wins for granted.”

Before the final heave, Redick also made a crucial mistake by dribbling to half court before calling timeout. That wasted seconds and forced the Magic to take the ball out from beyond half court.

The result was a shot that didn’t reach the rim.

“It would have made a big difference,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We said in the thing to call a timeout. We didn’t make the right play there at the end.”

Redick took the blame.

“I made a mistake,” he said. “I didn’t hear the whistle initially. When I didn’t hear it initially, I just kind of went, then I realized we should have called a timeout. So that was my fault.

Boston again started fast.

The Celtics, who took a 20-point lead in Game 1, went ahead by 11 in the first quarter. It wasn’t until backup center Marcin Gortat and Howard—a rare combination this season—teamed together that Orlando showed any fight.

With the Magic feeling intense postseason pressure for the first time this year, Orlando went on a 16-2 run behind the two centers.

All the pushing and pulling would finally spill over.

Pierce was knocked in the head hard by Howard on a layup attempt in the second quarter, a punishing display of anger that the Magic center rarely shows. Pierce got up after a minute, clearly upset, his headband twisted to the side. Howard was called for a flagrant foul.

The Celtics would go ahead by five after Howard picked up his third foul moments later. Before they could deliver another big blow, Matt Barnes hit a 3-pointer as the shot-clock buzzer sounded in the final seconds for Orlando to trim Boston’s lead to 53-51 at the half.

The Celtics are feeling good, but not overconfident.

“The feeling of the team right now is just focus,” Pierce said. “Only thing we did was win two games.”

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - The hair is a little grayer. The ankles and knees no longer so sturdy. Even with a roster full of aging superstars, the Boston Celtics are still standing tall.

Too old to chase a title? Not these days.

Ray Allen scored 25 points, Paul Pierce had 22 and the Celtics used smothering defense to beat the Orlando Magic 92-88 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference finals opener.

Hampered by injuries, the Celtics literally limped their way through parts of the regular season. All that seems a distant memory now.

“I honestly say we lost ourselves,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I think we’ve found ourselves again.”

Rasheed Wallace added 13 points as the Celtics built a 20-point lead, then held on late to snap Orlando’s 14-game winning streak. They held the Magic to 41 percent shooting—22 percent from 3-point range—in displaying that rough and tough defense that was once their staple.

“There were stretches in the season, we know each other so well now, where we were becoming less patient with each other,” Allen said. “We were getting on each other a little too much. We can take it, but we respected each other.

“When we started the playoffs, we said teams are going to hit us, they’re going to attack us. But when somebody scores on us, which they will, we go get the ball out and come back.”

Vince Carter had 23 points and Jameer Nelson finished with 20 for Orlando, which cut the lead to two in the final seconds but simply ran out of time, looking rusty after a six-day layoff. Dwight Howard was limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds, nowhere near the dominant force the Magic need to win a title.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Orlando.

“I don’t think it was rusty. Just anxious,” Howard said. “We dug ourselves a hole, and it was tough to get back from.”

Two years removed from an NBA title, the revived Celtics might be a little slower than their paralyzing defense of old. But, healthy again, maybe not as much as some once thought.

The Celtics built a 15-point lead in the second quarter and watched it fizzle with Howard on the bench. Backup Marcin Gortat had two layups and a dunk to help the Magic end the half with Boston ahead 41-32.

Nelson had two quick 3-pointers and another jumper to start the third, moving the Magic within three points. Then it all unraveled.

The Celtics went on a 22-5 run later in the quarter to go ahead 65-45, and a crowd littered with blue and white T-shirts—deafening at times with noise clickers and claps—was silenced. But the Magic rallied late to cut the lead to three with 26 seconds remaining in the fourth on a dunk by Howard.

After Pierce made two free throws, Carter was fouled driving to the hoop. He made the first, then missed the second intentionally as Nelson swooped in for the tip to make it 90-88. But Allen followed with two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to seal the Celtics’ victory.

The Magic’s run simply ran out of time, even if the Celtics seem to be turning back the clock.

Showing no signs of age, the Celtics outhustled and outmuscled the Magic at every step defensively. They pushed and pulled their way around the paint, slowing Howard for most of the game.

That bruising Boston basketball frustrated the Magic and their Superman, emotions pouring out all over the court. Howard and Wallace got tangled up in the third—one of many times in this one—and were whistled for double technicals after swinging their arms away.

The Magic lost for the first time since April 2 at San Antonio.

“Our guys aren’t going to like fall apart,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Hell, they got down 20 in this game and they didn’t collapse. That’s not our team. This is all about winning. Our team doesn’t have to prove they can bounce back from adversity and all of that. They’ve done all that.”

The sweat pouring from their faces, Kevin Garnett and Co. stifled the Magic as well as anyone in these playoffs, holding them to 32 points in the opening half. A Celtics team that downed LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the last round seems as rejuvenated as ever, ready to give the Magic—who swept through the first two rounds—their toughest test yet.

“I think it was a wake-up call that we really needed,” Carter said. “Now it’s what are we going to do about it? How do we respond?”

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James(notes) and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments and ponder their future.

It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Boston will play the Orlando Magic, who are undefeated in the playoffs.

“Winning is gratifying,” Garnett said. “You’re playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don’t have to dress it up. One thing we don’t lack is confidence. We’re a veteran team and we understand when it’s time to lock in as a group. I think we did just that. I think the experience is taking over.”

Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another early offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use.

“The fact that it’s over right now is definitely a surprise to me,” James said. “A friend of mine told me, ‘I guess you’ve got to go through a lot of nightmares before you realize your dream.’ That’s what’s going on for me individually right now.”

This offseason is destined to define the future of the franchise—and the rest of the NBA, too.

The LeBron watch began at 10:53 p.m., when Rondo dribbled out the last 14 seconds and the Celtics began celebrating their 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven series. James is eligible to opt out of his contract this summer, a move that would make the two-time MVP—and zero-time NBA champion—a free agent and set off a scramble for his services from New York to Miami to Los Angeles and, of course, back in Cleveland.

“I want to win. That’s my only thing, my only concern,” James said. “I’ve always prided myself—it’s all about winning for me and I think the Cavs are committed to doing that. But at the same time, I’ve given myself options to this point. Me and my team, we have a game plan that we’ll execute and we’ll see where we’re at.”

James scored 27 points with 10 assists, and his 19 rebounds matched a career-high and were the most he’s ever had in a playoff game. But he also had nine turnovers, and he may have been hobbled by an elbow injury that limited him to dunks and short jumpers, going 8 for 21 from the floor overall.

“I just told him, ‘Keep your head up, man. I’ve been there,”’ said Garnett, who was a star without a title in Minnesota for more than a decade before joining the Celtics and leading them to their NBA-record 17th championship in 2008. “‘You have a very, very, very bright future. Continue to work and make decisions based on you and your family.”’

Mo Williams scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half for the Cavaliers.

Boston’s Paul Pierce scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half after playing just nine minutes—and shooting 1-for-5—in the first with foul trouble. The Celtics had missed their first eight 3-point attempts when Pierce hit a 3 that gave them a 65-58 lead with 4:06 left in the third.

It was 67-61 when Rasheed Wallace hit a 3-pointer, and then Ray Allen stole James’ pass and got the ball to Pierce for another 3 that completed a 16-4 run.

James hadn’t made an outside shot before hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to four points, 78-74, early in the fourth quarter and force the Celtics to call a timeout. But Rondo drove for a layup, then set Pierce up for another 3. Pierce found Wallace for a 3-pointer and then Tony Allen’s steal led to a Garnett dunk at the other end that sent the Cavaliers into a timeout to regroup, down 88-74 with 5:53 left in their season.

“You knew it was coming at some point with LeBron,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who reminded his players that they weren’t good enough to take over the game. “That’s what that timeout was about: to remind them that we can’t do that, what LeBron was doing.”

It was the second straight year Cleveland has finished the regular-season with the No. 1 overall seed, and the second in a row that they have failed to get out of the East. Last year, they lost to Orlando in the conference finals, an exit that left James so shaken he skulked off the court without shaking hands.

This year, he might not stop until he finds himself in a new city.

James seemed like he couldn’t wait to slip off his Cavaliers jersey, pulling it off as soon as he reached the tunnel to the locker room. He casually flipped it to an attendant moments after he walked into the dressing room.

Brown said he wasn’t ready to think about the future yet.

“Obviously, he’s a heck of a talent and a great guy,” he said. “But right now we just lost the series. I’m not thinking of that. It wouldn’t be fair to everyone in that locker room to think beyond tonight.”

Brown’s future with the Cavs, too, appears uncertain. After a second straight postseason flameout, there’s no guarantee management will bring him back for a sixth season.

Same goes for the hired guns brought in to help James. Shaquille O’Neal finished his first—and maybe last—season with the Cavaliers with 11 points against the Celtics. Antawn Jamison, acquired at the trade deadline from Washington, had just five points.

The sold-out Boston crowd taunted James’ every free throw with a chant of “New York Knicks!” and fans wore Knicks jerseys with his name on them. The only “M-V-P!” cheers were not for James, who was the league’s best player in the regular season, but for Rondo, who was the best player in this series.

NBA Playoffs

vs(From the Associated Press) - His team down by 27 points and a promising season suddenly in peril, LeBron James walked off the floor to a smattering of boos and rows of empty seats.

If this was goodbye Cleveland, it wasn’t the send-off he imagined.

The Boston Celtics have pushed the two-time MVP and the Cavaliers dangerously close to an early start to the Summer of LeBron.

Ray Allen scored 25 points, Rajon Rondo scored all of his 16 in the second half and the Celtics, once thought too old to challenge for another title, beat James and the Cavs 120-88 in Game 5 on Tuesday night to move within one win of knocking the league’s top team from the playoffs.

Paul Pierce added 21 and Kevin Garnett 18 for the Celtics, who handed the Cavs their worst home playoff loss in history and can end Cleveland’s season with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night.

“We cannot come back here,” Garnett said. “We have to think this is our Game 7 coming up and we cannot afford to have the best team in the league have a Game 7 on their floor. Just not possible.”

James, on the verge of an expected trip into free agency on July 1, had an atrocious game. He scored 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, a startling outing for the 25-year-old who has been playing with a sprained elbow. He refused to use his injury as an excuse.

“I missed a lot of open shots that I normally make,” he said with little emotion. “You don’t see that out of me a lot so when it happens, it’s a big surprise.”

Because of James’ uncertain future, Game 5 may have been his last at home for Cleveland and it has set up Game 6 as the most important in franchise history: Win and force Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland; lose and maybe watch James, the local kid trying to deliver this city its first pro championship since 1964, leave for good.

“Our backs are against the wall,” James said. “We’ve won on that floor before and we’ve got to get it done.”

As for this potentially being his last game in Cleveland, James added: “I didn’t even think about that. Me sitting up here and saying this is potentially our last game here this season, that wouldn’t be me and that wouldn’t be our team.”

Rondo, coming off a 29-point, 18-rebound, 13-assist performance in Game 4, was held without a point in the first half as the Cavs concentrated their defense on stopping the point guard from penetrating into the paint. He finally got loose in the third, scoring 12 as the Celtics opened a 21-point lead.

Boston went up by 24 in the fourth, sending battered Cleveland fans toward the exits.

James finally checked out with 3:58 left and the Celtics leading by 27. He shrugged his shoulders and slapped hands with Cleveland’s coaches and teammate Shaquille O’Neal, who had 21 points and afterward stated the obvious.

“It’s plain and simple,” said O’Neal, who came to Cleveland determined “to win a ring for the King.” “We’ve got to win two in a row. We’ve got to man up. I’ve been in this situation before.”

Before the game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said his team would not change its strategy.

“We are who we are,” Rivers said. “We don’t need anyone to play hero basketball. We have to be a team. We’re good when we’re a team.”

And through five games, the Celtics have been the better one. Because of injuries, Boston, two years removed from its 17th NBA championship, never found its groove in the regular season.

The Celtics got it now.

They’ve outperformed the top-seeded Cavs in almost every aspect of the game, outrunning and outhustling a younger team that with the addition of O’Neal, Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker, was built for the postseason but has yet to show it’s serious about winning a title.

“We’ve done nothing,” Rivers said. “We’ve won three games but we’ve got to win four.”

Allen opened the second half with back-to-back 3s, pushing Boston’s six-point halftime lead to 12 and deflating already nervous Cleveland fans, who have seen so many of their teams choke in pressure situations before.

In the first half, the Cavs did a brilliant job on Rondo, who didn’t score his first points until the 9:47 mark of the third quarter. But by then, the Celtics had opened their double-digit lead and with James misfiring from the outside, Cleveland was in big trouble.

James missed his first seven shots before he got loose on a leak-out dunk with 6:15 left in the third.

The Cavs led 29-21 when, with Rondo on the bench, Boston’s Big Three of Allen, Garnett and Pierce did all the scoring in a 16-0 run that put the Celtics ahead by eight.