Lakers hold off Celtics to stay alive

LOS ANGELES: Kobe Bryant scored 25 points but made his biggest moves defensively on Sunday to sustain the championship dreams of the Los Angeles Lakers and deny the Boston Celtics their first title since 1986.

The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player made a critical steal off Boston's Paul Pierce and finished he play with a slam dunk in the final seconds to help seal a 103-98 victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

"We needed that because we needed to get an easy hoop," Bryant said. "As soon as I noticed the ball was exposed a little bit it was important for me to go after it."

Lamar Odom added 20 points and 11 rebounds while Pau Gasol had 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Lakers pulled within three games to two in the best-of-seven series to force a sixth game Tuesday in Boston. Game 7 would be Thursday.

"We're two wins away from winning a championship," Gasol said. "But we know that without the first one, we're not going to get to the second, so we focus tremendously on Game 6 because it's going to be super-hard to get that one."

No team has recovered from a 3-1 defecit to win the NBA Finals, but the Lakers have confidence they can force a seventh game Thursday and win it.

"We're young enough and dumb enough to be able to do this," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

A superb Pierce scored 38 points but was undone after grabbing a rebound and dribbling upcourt with Boston trailing 97-95 in the closing seconds.

Bryant tapped the ball to teammate Derek Fisher, who flipped it back to Bryant for a breakaway slam dunk.

"He made a great defensive play," Pierce said. "He reached around to take the ball from behind. Kobe is a great player. He made two big steals in the fourth quarter I shouldn't have allowed. It hurts - a tough one to swallow."

Bryant scored 15 points in the first quarter but had only gone 2-for-12 from the field until his slam dunk with 37 seconds remaining. Bryant and Fisher hit free throws in the final seconds to clinch the triumph.

"The important thing is for me to push the buttons at the right time," said Bryant. "The key is setting the tone if we're going through a drought, make the correct play and generate energy for our ballclub.

"That has really become my role now moreso than in the past where it was 35 or 40 points."

After Pierce shut down Bryant late in Game 4, Bryant returned the favor in a do-or-die game for the Lakers.

"He came out and set the tone, had a lot of energy out there, got a rhythm going, got confidence built, just played an overall stellar game," Jackson said. "Defensively in the fourth quarter he said let me take Pierce."

Ray Allen added 16 points but rushed from the arena due to a health issue with one of his children while Kevin Garnett added 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who missed a chance to claim their first title since 1986.

"We still had a chance to win this game. We let it slip right through our fingers," Garnett said.

"My play? It was trash. I played like garbage. I can do better than that and I will."

The Celtics played without center Kendrick Perkins, who was sidelined by a strained left shoulder but said he expects to be ready for Game 6, and guard Rajon Rondo struggled.

"Rondo is just not playing well right now," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We still believe in him. What we are trying to get him to do is be aggressive to the basket. He's got to look to get more plays.

"We've still got Game 6 at home. That's not a bad place to be."

The Celtics erased a 24-point lead in winning Game 4 and bounced back from a 19-point hole in Sunday's second quarter to briefly lead in the third.

"We do feel like we're the better team. We just have to get off to better starts," Pierce said. "It's tough when you are always fighting back. We don't thrive on that, letting teams get ahead and expecting to get back in the game."

AFP

(China Daily 06/17/2008 page24)