+7
Pau Gasol swatted a Ray Allen putback attempt at the buzzer in overtime and the Los Angeles Lakers hung on for an 88-87 win over the Boston Celtics in overtime.
Sure, why not. This just seemed like a giffable moment, for whatever reason.
#Coaching!
After trailing for most of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers have clawed back to take a three-point lead over the Boston Celtics entering the fourth quarter of tonight's game at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Down 64-59 with 2:40 to play in the quarter, Pau Gasol hit a 14-foot jumper and added a free throw to cut to the Celtic's lead to two points. Kobe Bryant tied the score on the next possession and after a Ray Allen miss, Bryant gave the Lakers a two-point lead with 1:34 to play in the quarter. Center Andrew Bynum added a free throw to extend the lead to three points.
Bryant has a game-high 23 points and Gasol has added 21 points to go along with eight rebounds. Bynum has 10 points and a game-high 12 boards. For the Celtics, Allen has 19 points and Rajon Rondo has added 12 points.
For more on the Celtics, visit SB Nation Boston and CelticsBlog. For more on the Lakers, visit SB Nation L.A. and Silver Screen And Roll.
This was one way to begin a game. Rajon Rondo, being goofy Rajon Rondo, paid tribute to the Super Bowl runner up New England Patriots, it appears, immediately after the opening tip. It was just about the most Rondo thing possible.
This was actually a team effort, but I'm not sure why Rondo served up a second snap. Kevin Garnett collected the tip, bent over and long-snapped the ball to Rondo. The wily point guard then snapped the ball to himself and dribbled up the court to actually begin the game.
Ray Allen has 12 points on five-of-11 shooting as the Boston Celtics cling to a 47-45 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers at halftime of tonight's game at the TD Garden in Boston.
Forward Kevin Garnett has eight points and Paul Pierce has seven points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Celtics, who have also gotten six points each from point guard Rajon Rondo and reserve forwards Mickael Pietrus and Brandon Bass.
Boston led by four points after the first quarter, but the Lakers stormed back, briefly taking the lead with 3:35 to play in the half. The Celtics would answer quickly with buckets from Pierce and Bass.
Pau Gasol leads the Lakers with 12 points on six-of-11 shooting, while Kobe Bryant has 11 points to go along with his team-high three assists. Center Andrew Bynum is working towards a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds at the half. Three of Bynum's rebounds have come on the offensive glass, including one that resulted in a three-point play with one second remaining in the half.
Video of Bynum's awkward buzzer-beater:
For more on the Celtics, visit SB Nation Boston and CelticsBlog. For more on the Lakers, visit SB Nation L.A. and Silver Screen And Roll.
Paul Pierce has five points, a team-high four rebounds and a pair of assists as the Boston Celtics have opened up a four-point lead over the Los Angeles Lakers after the first quarter of tonight's game at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Celtics have also gotten five points from guard Ray Allen and forwards Mickael Pietrus and Brandon Bass have combined for 10 points off the bench, including six from Pietrus on two-of-three shooting from beyond the arc.
A one-point game midway through the first quarter, the Celtics opened up a nine-point lead on three free throws by Pierce, a three-pointer by Pietrus and a layup by Rajon Rondo. The Lakers responded with an 8-3 run in the final 1:31 of the quarter.
Kobe Bryant has a game-high seven points, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum chipping in with six points apiece.
For more on the C's, visit SB Nation Boston and CelticsBlog. For more on the Lakers, visit SB Nation L.A. and Silver Screen And Roll.
The L.A. Lakers continue their annual Grammy Awards-invoked road trip with a stop in familiar Boston to take on the Celtics. The teams that matched up in the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010 remain in tact, and that's part of the problem. Age is wearing on a few of the key actors, and the lack of manueverability that comes with having a high-dollar roster is doing the rest of the damage. Neither team was able to make a serious upgrade in the offseason after being blasted out in the second round of last year's playoffs. As a result, both teams are in the bottom half of their conferences' playoff brackets.
Because of that, every win is crucial. Boston is looking to surpass the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic in the standings in order to avoid a first-round series against the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat or Philadelphia 76ers. (The current No. 4 seed is the Indiana Pacers, no pushover itself.) The Lakers are locked in an amazingly tight race for seeds out West, where two games separate the teams that sit from No. 4 (Denver) and No. 11 (Memphis). L.A. is smack in there at No. 7.
For the record, on the crack in the headline: neither the Lakers or Celtics are the league's oldest team. That honor goes to the Dallas Mavericks, with an average age of 31.3 years old. But the Lakers are the second oldest at 30.2, and the Celtics are No. 3 at 29.
The game is slated for just after 8 p.m. ET on TNT, following an All-Star announcement special on NBA TV.
For more on the C's, visit SB Nation Boston and CelticsBlog. For more on the Lakers, visit SB Nation L.A. and Silver Screen And Roll.
Lakers Vs. Celtics Final Score: Los Angeles Prevails In Overtime, 88-87
The Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry got one of its more defense-heavy chapters on Thursday night at the TD Garden in Boston. It was fitting, then, that a defensive play gave Los Angeles the victory in overtime: after a Paul Pierce miss, Pau Gasol blocked a Ray Allen attempt at a buzzer-beater to preserve the Lakers' 88-87 win.
Gasol gave the Lakers a great night, with 25 points and 14 rebounds, and combined with Kobe Bryant (27 points, leading all scorers) and Andrew Bynum (16 points, 15 rebounds) to score 68 of Los Angeles' 88 points on the night. Bynum tipped in a Bryant miss for the game-winning basket with 1:29 left in overtime.
The Celtics were similarly reliant on their "Big Four": Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen combined for 66 of Boston's 67 points on the night.
Neither team topped 23 points in a quarter after Boston opened with 26 in the first period.
For more on the Celtics, visit SB Nation Boston and CelticsBlog. For more on the Lakers, visit SB Nation L.A. and Silver Screen And Roll.
Feb 09 10:50p by Andy Hutchins - 0 comments