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LOS ANGELES: An aggressive 36-point performance
from National Basket ball Association (NBA) Most
Valuable Player Kobe Bryant powered the Los Angeles Lakers past
Boston 87-81
Tuesday in the NBA Finals.
The Lakers pulled within two
games to one in the best-of-7 series by winning their ninth home
playoff game in a row—one shy of the NBA one-season record—and
can level the best-of-7 series by winning Game 4 Thursday.
“Undoubtedly it was the
leadership of Kobe Bryant. He was aggressive right from the
start,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “We stayed aggressive
and Kobe was very instrumental in that.”
Bryant struggled in two losses at
Boston but drove confidently to the basket on his home court,
hitting 12-of-20 from the field and 11-of-18 free throws, and shut
down Boston scoring leader Paul Pierce with a solid defensive
effort.
“I just went. I took it too
them. I had the confidence that once I get in there I can make the
right play,” Bryant said. “I wanted to put their defense in
jeopardy a little bit more than we did in Boston.”
Slovenia’s Sasha Vujacic added
20 points on 7-of-10 shooting for the Lakers, connecting on 3-of-5
from 3-point range including a crucial shot from the left corner
after the Celtics missed a chance to equalize late in the game.
“We played with heart,”
Vujacic said. “We didn’t play a great game. We didn’t play not
even good. We were just fighting and that was the key.”
No team has ever recovered from a
3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, a hole the Lakers avoided
by winning, and only three have come back from losing the first two
games to win the finals, a feat the Lakers hope to match.
“They are going to take
something away,” Bryant said. “The important thing for us is to
figure out how to win despite that. That’s the key if you want to
win a championship.”
Ray Allen led Boston with 25
points while Kevin Garnett added 13 points and 12 rebounds, but the
Celtics shot a woeful 34.9 percent. Pierce hitting only 2-of-14 in
his hometown return and Garnett only 6-of-21.
“Myself and Paul didn’t have
the best night. Shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game,” Garnett
said. “We have some more games to play. I’m sure I’ll get
better.”
Even with their stars stagnant,
the Celtics still almost won.
“We had a chance to steal a
game here when our guys were off,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
“Our defense was pretty good. Our offense was not.”
A Garnett bank shot pulled the
Celtics within 78-76 with 2:39 to play but Boston reserve Eddie
House missed an equalizer attempt. Vujacic followed with a 3-pointer
from the left corner and Derek Fisher added two Lakers free throws.
“That was a big swing,” Allen
said. “Bad as we played, we had opportunities. That’s a positive
we can look at. We can see so much room for improvement.”
Bryant answered two Boston
baskets with jumpers of his own, keeping the Lakers on top 87-81
with 38 seconds to play.
“Kobe picked us up at the
end,” Laker center Pau Gasol said. “What we found out was we
didn’t play well at all but we got it done. It was a big
positive.”
An offensive foul on Garnett
doomed Boston’s last meaningful possession.
“I think Kevin kind of ran our
of gas. It looked like he was gassed in the fourth quarter,”
Jackson said. “Our defense stepped up. Putting Kobe on Pierce was
the difference. It was more difficult for him to work to get
free.”
Pierce missed 10 of his first 11
shots in the game and the Celtics missed nine of their first 11
shots in the fourth quarter.
“It’s frustrating,” Pierce
said. “By no means does it break my confidence. Some shots I took
were good for me. They just didn’t fall. Then I took myself out of
rhythm by getting in foul trouble. I expect to be better in Game
4.”
--AFP
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