Lakers Avoid Another Collapse to Beat Celtics, Force NBA Game 6 in Boston
Jun 17
The Los Angeles Lakers avoided a second straight home collapse, beating the Celtics 103-98 to send the National Basketball Association Finals back to Boston. The Lakers, who surrendered a 24-point lead in Game 4 four days ago, twice blew double-digit leads last night at the Staples Center before pulling out the win to deny the Celtics a chance to celebrate their first championship in 22 years. Boston leads the best-of-seven playoff series 3-2 and hosts Game 6 tomorrow. A seventh game, if necessary, would also be played at TD Banknorth Garden, where the Celtics have a 12-1 record in the postseason.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 25 points, including 15 in the first quarter as Los Angeles opened a 39-22 lead last night. While Bryant hit only 3-of-16 shots the rest of the way, teammates Pau Gasol and Odom picked up the slack. Gasol had 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Odom added 20 points and 11 reboundsAs happened in Game 4, Boston recovered its early deficit. The Celtics cut the Lakers’ 19-point advantage to three at halftime and took a 58-57 lead 2:01 into the third quarter on a free throw by Pierce. The foul shot capped a 34-14 run for Boston.
The Lakers regained a 79-70 lead after three quarters and were up by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter. Boston again responded, with a 16-2 run to tie the score at 90-90, yet wasn’t able to go ahead. With the Lakers nursing a 97-95 lead in the final minute, Bryant stripped the ball from Pierce and scored on a two-handed dunk with 37.4 seconds left. The Lakers added four free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win. While Pierce had 8 assists, 6 rebounds and hit 16 of 19 free throw attempts for the Celtics, teammates Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen combined for 29 points and took only 9 foul shots. The Celtics now head back home, where they’ll look to claim a record 17th NBA championship. No NBA team has blown a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Game six of the NBA finals between Lakers and Celtics will be telecast as a same day delay on ESPN at 14.00 IST on the 18th of June. Those of you who want to catch the game live, you can log on to NBA.com and catch the game live.
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