Celtics, Lakers take hold with Game 5 victories

BOSTON: The Boston Celtics rallied to a 96-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

Boston's top-seeded counterpart in the Western Conference also surged 3-2 ahead as the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 111-104 in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant, struggling with a sore back, led Los Angeles with 26 points, Lamar Odom added 22 and Pau Gasol 21, including two key hoops after Utah closed to 103-102. Deron Williams paced the Jazz with 27 points.

"Make a couple of darn shots, that's it, that's what we have to do," Bryant said of what it will take to win in Utah.

"At home, teams play with more energy on the defensive end," he added. "We certainly did tonight. We just have to carry that over. We will. We're a pretty good road team. Utah's an excellent home team, but we've played pretty well in Utah."

"It was a great team effort. My teammates really picked me up tonight," Bryant said.

"The important thing is it can't get any worse," he said of his back. "I should be fine by Game 6."

"He's got a great heart," Gasol said of Bryant, "and a great hunger for winning."

The Cavaliers, led by 23 first-half points from LeBron James, stormed to a 14-point lead in the second quarter before Boston went on a 14-3 run to reach the intermission trailing only 46-43.

The Celtics outscored Cleveland 29-17 in the third quarter for a 72-63 lead and held on as the Cavs made it close in the final seconds.

Trailing 95-89 with 11.6 seconds left, guard Delonte West failed to inbound the ball within the allotted five seconds for a costly violation that ended Cleveland's hopes.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points and Kevin Garnett added 26 points and 16 rebounds. James paced the Cavaliers with 35 points.

The series moves to Cleveland on Friday with the top-seeded Celtics looking for their first road win of the playoffs to clinch the conference semifinal.

The winner will meet the Detroit Pistons for a place in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers head to Utah to play the Jazz in Game 6 on Friday.

Cleveland coach Mike Brown said Boston's defensive pressure in the third quarter was the turning point.

"In the third quarter they turned up their aggression and I think that was the difference in the ball game," Brown told reporters.

"In our first three or four possessions in the third quarter we had turnovers and that set the tone for the Celtics, set the tone for the crowd. It was a rough go from there."

Besides saluting Garnett and Pierce, the Cavs coach praised Boston point guard Rajon Rondo, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the Celtics' run to end the first half.

Garnett and James agreed about the role played by Rondo, who had 20 points and dealt out 13 assists, two more than the Cavs as a team.

"Rondo hit some big shots for us, got us into a flow and we carried it into the third quarter," Garnett said.

James, who had shot only 26 percent from the floor over the first four games, was 12-of-25 but had only three rebounds. He also singled out the Boston point guard's contribution.

"Rondo tonight was definitely the player of the game," James said.

The Cavaliers coach was not dispirited.

"The series is not over until somebody has won four games," Brown said. "We just head back to Cleveland, lace them up for the next game and get ready to rock and roll for 48 minutes."

Agencies

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page23)