The Boston Celtics (36–11) came away with a 109–96 win against the Los Angeles Lakers (33–15) in a hotly-contested rematch of last year’s NBA Finals on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Both teams were coming off tough losses on Friday in their first meeting since last year’s Game 7; Boston lost to the Phoenix Suns 88–71 in their worst shooting performance of the season and the Lakers lost to the lowly Sacramento Kings 100–95.
But you wouldn’t know it on Sunday as both the Celtics and Lakers brought their A-games.
Kobe Bryant had the hot hand for the Lakers and led all players in scoring with 41 points while Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 32 points.
“It’s another game, but it was definitely an emotional game, especially because we lost Game 7 here,” Pierce said in his postgame news conference. “It feels good to come back in this building and get a win.”
The Celtics took the lead early on in the first quarter, until the Lakers went on a 11–4 run aided by some sloppy Boston turnovers, to finish down by one point 22–21.
Pierce had traded some difficult fade-away jumpers with Bryant early on in the first quarter and Andrew Bynum took care of the ball down low for the Lakers.
Kevin Garnett exited the game briefly in the second quarter with cut on his head from an inadvertent elbow from Pau Gasol.
“I got elbowed in the head, and it didn’t change anything,” Garnett said. “If anything, it woke me up to be a lot more aggressive to the basket.”
The Lakers rallied again late in the second quarter on a 13–2 run to take the lead 44–42 off a 3-pointer by Bryant after some excellent defense down low by Gasol and Bynum.
The first half ended with the Lakers up 54–50 and Bryant carried the team with an impressive 22 points while no other Laker reached double-digit scoring. Pierce carried the Celtics with 16 points.
The third quarter went back-and-forth until Pierce took the Celtics to a small lead. Pierce had a stellar quarter with 14 points.
“For some reason Ron [Artest] is not into him tonight; he’s not up and at him and he’s playing rather passive so we need to get aggressive with Pierce,” Phil Jackson told ABC at the end of the third quarter.
Bryant reached a career milestone late in the third quarter by surpassing the 27,000 point mark off a 3-pointer. He is the youngest player to pass that mark and currently sits eighth in all-time scoring.
The Celtics extended their lead back up to nine points early in the fourth quarter and then took an 11-point lead with four minutes to go in the game off and alley-oop pass from assist leader Rajon Rondo.
It was all downhill for the Lakers after that and the Celtics charged ahead to a 13-point lead to seal the win.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnet had picked up in scoring in the fourth quarter as Pierce played a support role, and Glen Davis and Nate Robinson made good contributions from the bench.
Allen scored 21 points and Garnett had a double-double with 18 point and 13 rebounds. Davis and Robinson finished with 13 points and 11 points, respectively, and Rondo ended the night with a double-double with 10 points and 16 assists.
Gasol had a mediocre game with 12 points, and Bynum scored 11 points while Lamar Odom contributed 15 points from the bench in what was really a Bryant show on offense.
The Celtics and Lakers will have another opportunity to face off next week in Boston.
The New York Knicks (25–22) came away with a commanding 124–106 win against the Detroit Pistons (17–31) at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night with Timofey Mozgov having a career night with 23 points and 14 rebounds from the bench.
The Russian center rarely gets playing time with the team, but had an opportunity on Sunday night with the Knicks suffering from a short roster with Shawn Williams and Wilson Chandler out.
Mozgov missed his first four shots, but then began getting some great looks down low for easy layups and dunks, and he also hit some mid-range jumpers in close to 40 minutes of playing time. The crowd chanted his name during the closing seconds of the game.
“He practices tough every day, and that’s why he’s good. He showed us tonight and he did a great job,” Danillo Gallinari said of Mozgov to MSG after the game.
The game was close throughout until the Knicks pulled away in the second half of the fourth quarter with the help of some sharp-shooting from Gallinari, who drained four 3-pointers for the night and went 11–11 in foul shooting.
Gallinari finished the night with 29 points, and Amar’e Stoudemire was his usual self with 33 points.
Ben Gordon led the Pistons with 35 points in a terrific shooting display, sinking seven 3-pointers.
Both teams were coming off tough losses on Friday in their first meeting since last year’s Game 7; Boston lost to the Phoenix Suns 88–71 in their worst shooting performance of the season and the Lakers lost to the lowly Sacramento Kings 100–95.
But you wouldn’t know it on Sunday as both the Celtics and Lakers brought their A-games.
Kobe Bryant had the hot hand for the Lakers and led all players in scoring with 41 points while Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 32 points.
“It’s another game, but it was definitely an emotional game, especially because we lost Game 7 here,” Pierce said in his postgame news conference. “It feels good to come back in this building and get a win.”
The Celtics took the lead early on in the first quarter, until the Lakers went on a 11–4 run aided by some sloppy Boston turnovers, to finish down by one point 22–21.
Pierce had traded some difficult fade-away jumpers with Bryant early on in the first quarter and Andrew Bynum took care of the ball down low for the Lakers.
Kevin Garnett exited the game briefly in the second quarter with cut on his head from an inadvertent elbow from Pau Gasol.
“I got elbowed in the head, and it didn’t change anything,” Garnett said. “If anything, it woke me up to be a lot more aggressive to the basket.”
The Lakers rallied again late in the second quarter on a 13–2 run to take the lead 44–42 off a 3-pointer by Bryant after some excellent defense down low by Gasol and Bynum.
The first half ended with the Lakers up 54–50 and Bryant carried the team with an impressive 22 points while no other Laker reached double-digit scoring. Pierce carried the Celtics with 16 points.
Second Half
The third quarter went back-and-forth until Pierce took the Celtics to a small lead. Pierce had a stellar quarter with 14 points.
“For some reason Ron [Artest] is not into him tonight; he’s not up and at him and he’s playing rather passive so we need to get aggressive with Pierce,” Phil Jackson told ABC at the end of the third quarter.
Bryant reached a career milestone late in the third quarter by surpassing the 27,000 point mark off a 3-pointer. He is the youngest player to pass that mark and currently sits eighth in all-time scoring.
The Celtics extended their lead back up to nine points early in the fourth quarter and then took an 11-point lead with four minutes to go in the game off and alley-oop pass from assist leader Rajon Rondo.
It was all downhill for the Lakers after that and the Celtics charged ahead to a 13-point lead to seal the win.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnet had picked up in scoring in the fourth quarter as Pierce played a support role, and Glen Davis and Nate Robinson made good contributions from the bench.
Allen scored 21 points and Garnett had a double-double with 18 point and 13 rebounds. Davis and Robinson finished with 13 points and 11 points, respectively, and Rondo ended the night with a double-double with 10 points and 16 assists.
Gasol had a mediocre game with 12 points, and Bynum scored 11 points while Lamar Odom contributed 15 points from the bench in what was really a Bryant show on offense.
The Celtics and Lakers will have another opportunity to face off next week in Boston.
Knicks Pound Pistons
The New York Knicks (25–22) came away with a commanding 124–106 win against the Detroit Pistons (17–31) at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night with Timofey Mozgov having a career night with 23 points and 14 rebounds from the bench.
The Russian center rarely gets playing time with the team, but had an opportunity on Sunday night with the Knicks suffering from a short roster with Shawn Williams and Wilson Chandler out.
Mozgov missed his first four shots, but then began getting some great looks down low for easy layups and dunks, and he also hit some mid-range jumpers in close to 40 minutes of playing time. The crowd chanted his name during the closing seconds of the game.
“He practices tough every day, and that’s why he’s good. He showed us tonight and he did a great job,” Danillo Gallinari said of Mozgov to MSG after the game.
The game was close throughout until the Knicks pulled away in the second half of the fourth quarter with the help of some sharp-shooting from Gallinari, who drained four 3-pointers for the night and went 11–11 in foul shooting.
Gallinari finished the night with 29 points, and Amar’e Stoudemire was his usual self with 33 points.
Ben Gordon led the Pistons with 35 points in a terrific shooting display, sinking seven 3-pointers.
