Picture Gallery (LAT)

June 13 - Boston. The Lakers needed to win this game to prove they are not the same that lost against the Celtics two years ago, but in fact it looked too much like the 2008 NBA Finals with Kobe Bryant trying to do everything while his teammates were being outrunned, outscored, outrebounded and pushed around by Boston who won 92-86 to take a 3-2 command of the series.

Paul Pierce, the 2008 Finals MVP, scored at will and Ron Artest could do nothing about it. He got 27 points in 12-for-21 shooting for a Celtic team that shot 56.3 percent against a 39.7 by the Lakers. The Celtics also dominated the paint 46-32 and had 14 fast break points against 3 by L.A.

Despite an horrendous shooting first half the Lakers went to the halftime rest trailing just 45-39. The Celtics scored the first 5 points of the third period before Kobe got completely on fire to score the Lakers next 19 points in a lapse of 7 minutes. But every one of his shots, most of them well defended by Boston, got a response, mainly by Pierce and when Kobe's incredible scoring streak ended with with 4:52 left in the period the Lakers were still down by nine, 67-58, like a proof that nothing would be enough against a Celtics team that had more will to win the game.

Kobe ended with 39 points but he had almost no help. Pau Gasol was the only other Laker to reach double figures in scoring with 12 points (to go with his 12 rebounds) and he did it with a free throw with 2:25 left in the game. One minute later Kobe was fouled by Ray Allen while attempting a 3-pointer and made the 3 free throws to get the Lakers within 5 points, but later Ron Artest missed two free throws to complete and awful defensive and offensive performance and the Celtics turned a bad inbound pass by Garnett into a fantastic play that closed the deal for Boston. Pierce managed to grab the ball and before falling to the floor turned around and assisted a running Rajon Rondo for the layup.

The only category in which the Lakers defeated the Celtics was on the offensive rebounds, 17-6, 7 of them by Gasol and that was maybe what helped them stay in the game. Andrew Bynum could play with his injured knee but his ineffective performance hurt the Lakers. He scored all his 6 points in the first 7 minutes before disappearing. He played 32 minutes and grabbed just 1 rebound.

Now the Celtics need just one win to get their 18th NBA Championship but the Lakers are far from over. They were supposed to get one game at Boston and they did it. The fact that it was the first one raised everybody's expectations that they could win more than one. But with this absurd disposition of games (2-3-2), despite being down 3-2 they still have the home-court advantage with the final two game being played at L.A.