The veteran guard Derek Fisher scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Lakers ahead.
Derek Fisher clapped his hands. So did everyone else at TD Garden. The Boston Celtics, who had trailed by 17 points, had narrowed the deficit to one early in the fourth quarter as high anxiety stretched from bench to bench.
Fisher had just fouled Rajon Rondo, who was a blur racing down court, carrying Boston’s hopes for a comeback in Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals. Instead of pouting, Fisher pounded his hands together. After the foul, Fisher scored his second basket of the game, then another on a drive and two more jumpers.
Each basket nudged the Celtics further back. They twice closed to within one point, but never surpassed the Lakers. Fisher ensured the victory by scoring 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers held off the Celtics, 91-84, Tuesday night to take a two-games-to-one lead. Game 4 will be played here Thursday.
For Fisher, the playoffs — particularly the finals — is the time when his greatest moments perform on a loop. Each postseason, Fisher draws a younger, quicker more agile point guard. Each time, he is criticized as over the hill. Each time, Fisher is the steady force and the Lakers’ heartbeat.
“Derek had made a number of plays in the fourth quarter, contested shots and taking things to the basket,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “He just had the principle of if no one steps, you keep going and he just kept making plays.”
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said, “He won the game for them; Derek Fisher was the difference in the game.”
Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 29 points, but did so with heavy lifting under just as many shots. He made only 1 of his 7 3-point attempts, a sore point for both teams, who shot a combined 6 for 31 from beyond the arc.
Bryant’s 15-foot pull-up jumper with 1 minute 41 seconds left gave the Lakers an 84-80 lead.
After hitting a record eight 3-pointers in Game 2, Ray Allen had an improbable abysmal night, missing all 13 shots. After Allen’s final miss, Fisher secured the victory with a 3-point play that sent three Celtics crashing into the crowd sitting under the basket.
The Lakers’ big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum were not dominant, but contributed a combined 22 points and 20 rebounds.
Paul Pierce (5 of 12) again, was a nonfactor. He scored 15 points and received his fifth foul 40 seconds into the fourth quarter and never figured much into the game’s outcome after making only 2 of 11 shots on Sunday.
Allen and Pierce negated the return of a revitalized Kevin Garnett, who scored 25 points after a quiet start to the series and a strong performance from Glen Davis (12 points) off the bench.
Bryant kept the Celtics at stiff-armed distance for much of the third quarter. Bryant’s four field goals all came in response to Boston baskets. Rasheed Wallace and Tony Allen’s baskets at the end of the quarter dented into the Lakers’ lead, though, 67-61, entering the fourth.
The Garnett of old resurfaced. He had scored 6 points in Game 2 and prompted the Boston Herald to run his picture below a headline that read, “ “APB for KG.”
When a hard foul from Bynum sent Garnett sprawling to the court in the third quarter, Garnett lay on the floor and pounded his fist hard repeatedly against his chest.
Yes, he was alive.
Garnett scored, snarled and snared his way to 15 of his points and 5 rebounds in the first half, establishing a Boston tenor that they quickly wasted.
So far in the series, only one of Boston’s Big Three has broken though at a time. On Tuesday, it was Garnett. But Allen missed his first 11 shots. The clangs came from close and far and off of layup attempts and 3-point shots. It was an unusual sequence for Allen, whose preparation is renowned and form is pure.
Pierce packed his errant jumper back home, too. The net did not accept any of his shots until his seventh offering, a 3-pointer in the second quarter that Pierce leaned into, as if he was trying to will it into the basket.
The crowd exhaled with the shot, but they were not exalted.
Boston’s poor shooting allowed the Lakers to go up by as many as 17 points in the first half and swipe a 52-40 lead at halftime. The Lakers did not torch the rims themselves, but Lamar Odom, a non-factor in the first two games, offered a boost off the bench, while Bryant submitted 16 points.
The last time the Lakers played a final game in Boston, they were humiliated off the parquet during the Celtics’ championship-clinching 131-92 victory in Game 6 of the 2008 finals.
Pierce had hopes of a similar ending and ignited a minor brouhaha Sunday when a camera caught him yelling to the Los Angeles crowd, exalting “Ain’t coming back to L.A.”
“We’re going to have to make him a liar,” Jackson said at the team’s morning’s shoot-around, adding: “We could end it here. That’s right. He might be right with that.”
Both teams entered mindful of the foul troubles that dragged portions of the first two games. Garnett barely played in Game 2’s first half and Boston’s frontcourt dealt with foul issues. Ron Artest fouled out and officials tagged Bryant with five.
“I’m just miffed and amazed how the other team complained about the fouls since we’ve been the team that’s been in foul trouble for two games,” Rivers said, viewing the troubles from a green-hued prism. “Maybe they do different math over there or something. I don’t get that one.”
Source http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/sports/basketball/09celtics.html
Fisher had just fouled Rajon Rondo, who was a blur racing down court, carrying Boston’s hopes for a comeback in Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals. Instead of pouting, Fisher pounded his hands together. After the foul, Fisher scored his second basket of the game, then another on a drive and two more jumpers.
Each basket nudged the Celtics further back. They twice closed to within one point, but never surpassed the Lakers. Fisher ensured the victory by scoring 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers held off the Celtics, 91-84, Tuesday night to take a two-games-to-one lead. Game 4 will be played here Thursday.
For Fisher, the playoffs — particularly the finals — is the time when his greatest moments perform on a loop. Each postseason, Fisher draws a younger, quicker more agile point guard. Each time, he is criticized as over the hill. Each time, Fisher is the steady force and the Lakers’ heartbeat.
“Derek had made a number of plays in the fourth quarter, contested shots and taking things to the basket,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “He just had the principle of if no one steps, you keep going and he just kept making plays.”
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said, “He won the game for them; Derek Fisher was the difference in the game.”
Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 29 points, but did so with heavy lifting under just as many shots. He made only 1 of his 7 3-point attempts, a sore point for both teams, who shot a combined 6 for 31 from beyond the arc.
Bryant’s 15-foot pull-up jumper with 1 minute 41 seconds left gave the Lakers an 84-80 lead.
After hitting a record eight 3-pointers in Game 2, Ray Allen had an improbable abysmal night, missing all 13 shots. After Allen’s final miss, Fisher secured the victory with a 3-point play that sent three Celtics crashing into the crowd sitting under the basket.
The Lakers’ big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum were not dominant, but contributed a combined 22 points and 20 rebounds.
Paul Pierce (5 of 12) again, was a nonfactor. He scored 15 points and received his fifth foul 40 seconds into the fourth quarter and never figured much into the game’s outcome after making only 2 of 11 shots on Sunday.
Allen and Pierce negated the return of a revitalized Kevin Garnett, who scored 25 points after a quiet start to the series and a strong performance from Glen Davis (12 points) off the bench.
Bryant kept the Celtics at stiff-armed distance for much of the third quarter. Bryant’s four field goals all came in response to Boston baskets. Rasheed Wallace and Tony Allen’s baskets at the end of the quarter dented into the Lakers’ lead, though, 67-61, entering the fourth.
The Garnett of old resurfaced. He had scored 6 points in Game 2 and prompted the Boston Herald to run his picture below a headline that read, “ “APB for KG.”
When a hard foul from Bynum sent Garnett sprawling to the court in the third quarter, Garnett lay on the floor and pounded his fist hard repeatedly against his chest.
Yes, he was alive.
Garnett scored, snarled and snared his way to 15 of his points and 5 rebounds in the first half, establishing a Boston tenor that they quickly wasted.
So far in the series, only one of Boston’s Big Three has broken though at a time. On Tuesday, it was Garnett. But Allen missed his first 11 shots. The clangs came from close and far and off of layup attempts and 3-point shots. It was an unusual sequence for Allen, whose preparation is renowned and form is pure.
Pierce packed his errant jumper back home, too. The net did not accept any of his shots until his seventh offering, a 3-pointer in the second quarter that Pierce leaned into, as if he was trying to will it into the basket.
The crowd exhaled with the shot, but they were not exalted.
Boston’s poor shooting allowed the Lakers to go up by as many as 17 points in the first half and swipe a 52-40 lead at halftime. The Lakers did not torch the rims themselves, but Lamar Odom, a non-factor in the first two games, offered a boost off the bench, while Bryant submitted 16 points.
The last time the Lakers played a final game in Boston, they were humiliated off the parquet during the Celtics’ championship-clinching 131-92 victory in Game 6 of the 2008 finals.
Pierce had hopes of a similar ending and ignited a minor brouhaha Sunday when a camera caught him yelling to the Los Angeles crowd, exalting “Ain’t coming back to L.A.”
“We’re going to have to make him a liar,” Jackson said at the team’s morning’s shoot-around, adding: “We could end it here. That’s right. He might be right with that.”
Both teams entered mindful of the foul troubles that dragged portions of the first two games. Garnett barely played in Game 2’s first half and Boston’s frontcourt dealt with foul issues. Ron Artest fouled out and officials tagged Bryant with five.
“I’m just miffed and amazed how the other team complained about the fouls since we’ve been the team that’s been in foul trouble for two games,” Rivers said, viewing the troubles from a green-hued prism. “Maybe they do different math over there or something. I don’t get that one.”
Source http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/sports/basketball/09celtics.html
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