Celtics win Game 4 with big comeback
LOS ANGELES (AP) - June 12, 2008 Boston rallied from a 24-point deficit and beat the Los Angeles
Lakers 97-91 on Thursday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in
this history-rich series and move within one victory of a 17th
championship that seemed impossible a year ago.
A rivalry between the league's two most storied franchises -
with some of the game's biggest names and biggest moments - now has
its biggest rally.
No team had ever overcome more than a 15-point deficit after the
first quarter, and Elias Sports Bureau said it was the biggest
comeback in the finals since 1971. One thing's for sure, it will
forever be remembered in the annals of Celtics-Lakers lore.
When the final horn sounded, Paul Pierce, an L.A. kid playing in
front of family and friends, doubled over in exhaustion and
exuberance. The Celtics, the team he stuck with through 10 years,
including a 24-win season in 2006-07, had done the impossible.
"We sucked it up," Pierce said. "We said we weren't going to
back down.
"At the end of the third quarter I looked up at the scoreboard
and told the fellas, 'We just have to go out there and compete and
let the chips fall where they may."'
Pierce scored 20 points, Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 11
rebounds and Ray Allen had 19 points as Boston's Big Three, thrown
together last summer by general manager Danny Ainge to revive a
franchise accustomed to hanging banners from the rafters, put the
Lakers on the brink of a summer vacation.
It took an epic comeback to do it, and now the Celtics can
reclaim their place atop pro basketball with a win in Game 5 on
Sunday night in Los Angeles.
No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.
"It can always happen. We aren't counting on that statistic,"
Pierce said. "We want to take care of this on Father's Day."
Kobe Bryant scored 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting but the
league's MVP couldn't rescue the Lakers when they needed him most.
Lamar Odom had 19 points - 15 in the first half - and Pau Gasol,
whose addition in a midseason trade was supposed to give the Lakers
their final piece to complement Bryant, had 17 points and 10
rebounds.
Trailing by 18 points at halftime and seemingly done when they
fell behind by 20 with 6:04 left in the third quarter, the Celtics
outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter to pull within
73-71 going into the fourth.
The remarkable rally was reminiscent of what Los Angeles did in
Game 2, when the Lakers trimmed a 24-point deficit to two in the
fourth quarter before the Celtics regrouped to open a 2-0 lead. But
Boston had another 12 minutes to finish off theirs, and the
green-and-white did.
Boston's comeback included a 21-3 run over the final five
minutes, fueled by two 3-pointers from Eddie House, who was getting
more playing time because of Rajon Rondo's tender left ankle. The
Celtics were still down by double digits with 2 minutes left in the
third but closed the quarter with a 10-1 run, capped by P.J.
Brown's dunk - a slam that could be felt all the way back to
Boston's North End.
The Celtics finally caught the Lakers at 73-all on Leon Powe's
jumper in the lane with 9:05 remaining, tying the score for the
first time since it was 2-2 in the first minute.
At that point, the Lakers looked lost, confused, you name it.
And when House hit an 18-foot jumper with 4:07 remaining, the
Celtics had their first lead, 84-83. Boston's bench erupted, Lakers
fans gasped and it was just a matter of time before they were
heading out of Staples Center wondering what went wrong.
Bryant, who except for a 36-point performance in Game 3 has been
an ordinary superstar in his try for a fourth championship ring,
tried to rally the Lakers and got them within 89-87 with one of his
patented twisting layups. But James Posey drilled a 3-pointer for
Boston to make it 92-87 with 1:13 left. Derek Fisher's long jumper
got the Lakers within three.
But Pierce was fouled and made two free throws, forcing Los
Angeles coach Phil Jackson to call a timeout with 47 seconds to go.
As the Lakers headed toward their bench, Pierce pumped his fists,
flexed his muscles and let out a yell.
Surrounded by Hollywood stars on their own back lot sound stage,
the Lakers were seeking their 10th straight win at home in the
postseason and were about to drop the "if necessary" tag from
Game 6. Now, they have to hope they can force the series back to
Boston.
For the third time in this series, commissioner David Stern met
with the media before the game. It was an unusual step for the
league's long-tenured leader, who went on the offensive to defend
the integrity of NBA officials under fire in the Tim Donaghy
scandal.
Maybe the next investigation should focus on what happened to
the Celtics in the first quarter.
L.A's crowd, notorious for arriving late, leaving early and
spending more time text messaging and talking on cell phones than
clapping, was much more involved than in Game 3. They roared when
Lakers Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar presented the game
ball to officials and were on their feet when Los Angeles blasted
to a 16-6 lead.
By then, Odom had scored eight points, doubling his total from
Game 3 and the enigmatic forward finished the first quarter having
made all six field goal attempts and scoring 13 points. Moments
later, Garnett went out with his second personal, and with the
NBA's best defender on the bench, the Lakers ran wild.
Odom made consecutive jumpers from the top of the key to put Los
Angeles ahead 26-7. The Lakers eventually pushed their lead to
45-21 when Sasha Vujacic, whose 20 points sparked his team in Game
3, nailed a 3-pointer and it was the Boston Massacre, West Coast
style.
But the Celtics wouldn't quit.
"Once we got the lead, obviously, we were thrilled to death,"
Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "As far as we were down, nothing
was going right for us, and we just hung in there."
Notes: Some of Hollywood's brightest stars glimmered, including
the usuals: Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington and Dyan Cannon. They
were joined by former NFL star Jerry Rice, actress Jennifer Garner
with husband Ben Affleck, singer Justin Timberlake, Flea of the Red
Hot Chili Peppers and Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart. ... The
Celtics and Lakers finished with the best records in their
respective conferences. It's the first time teams with the top
marks have met in the finals since Indiana and Los Angeles in 2000.
The last team to have the league's top record and win the title was
San Antonio in 2003. ... Two hours before tipoff, two seats in the
lower bowl were going for $3,500 apiece through an on-line ticket
brokerage.