Lakers, 87-81 (final)
It’s going to take a better effort than this for the Celtics to win a game in Los Angeles.
Boston’s offense was dismal, the free throw disparity was as expected, and Kobe Bryant was Kobe Bryant as the Lakers beat the Celtics, 87-81, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center. Boston leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1.
Despite disastrous shooting (2 of 16) from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in the first half, the Celtics stayed within 6 at halftime. In the third quarter, Garnett regained his shooting form, and Ray Allen stepped up to give the Celtics the lead, 62-60, heading into the fourth quarter. Despite shooting 37 percent to that point, the Celtics were still very much in the game.
It was a minor miracle.
But the Celtics reverted back to their first-half ways in the fourth quarter. They scored 6 points in the first six-plus minutes of the fourth and found themselves trailing, 73-68, with 6:05 remaining in the fourth.
Garnett cut that lead to 2 on a hook shot with 2:41 remaining, but Sasha Vujacic answered with a 3-pointer to give LA some breathing room. The Lakers got a big contribution from Vujacic off the bench, as the energetic guard had 15 points in 17 minutes.
Then came the Kobe Bryant show. Sandwiched between a 3-pointer by Eddie House, Bryant drove the lane and pulled up for a jumper with 1:06 left, then did almost the same thing on LA’s next possession, putting the Lakers ahead, 87-81, with 38 seconds to play.
And that, as they say, was that.
Bryant finished with 36 points and 7 rebounds. He heard chants of “M-V-P” every time he stepped to the line.
On a night when the Celtics starters were shaky at best, the Boston bench provided little relief. James Posey was solid with 9 points, but Sam Cassell and Eddie House split 18 fairly unimpressive minutes at the point. The bigs were just as bad: P.J. Brown had just 3 points, while Leon Powe had 20 points fewer than he did in Game 2, when he shocked everyone by dropping 21.
As expected, the Lakers went to the line more often than the Celtics. Los Angeles took 34 free throws to Boston’s 22.
The Celtics and Lakers aren’t going anywhere. Game 4 will take place at the Staples Center Thursday night.
We’re headed off to the locker rooms. We’ll have plenty of postgame analysis, as well as video, shortly.
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