NBA: Pierce, Celtics on verge of title

BOSTON - It's looking a lot like 2008 again, with Paul Pierce carrying the Boston Celtics to a victory in the NBA Finals, and leading them to the brink of yet another title.

Pierce scored 27 points - his best performance of this year's Finals - and the Celtics withstood 38 points from Kobe Bryant to beat the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, 92-86, on Sunday night and take a three-games-to-two lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 6 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles, and a victory then or in Game 7 in L.A. on Thursday would give the Celtics a record 18th NBA title.

The Celtics have never blown a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.

"You don't want to go out to L.A. down, 3-2. It was our biggest game of the year," Pierce said. "We're in a good spot. We have two games in L.A.; now we have to get one."

Pierce was the MVP of the '08 Finals, when the new Big Three beat the Lakers to raise an NBA-record 17th banner to the rafters at Boston's TD Garden. Bryant was the Finals MVP last year, when the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win their 15th championship.

"I wasn't in a personal duel," Pierce said. "I didn't notice that we were going back-and-forth scoring at the time. He's a tough player. He makes shots."

Bryant outscored Pierce this time, but the Lakers' guard got little help from his teammates. And the stretch where he was most dominant was also the time when the Celtics pulled away.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson defended Bryant's attempts to take over the offense.

"He's the kind of guy [where] you ride the hot hand, that's for sure," Jackson said. "We were waiting for him to do that. . . . He went out there and found a rhythm."

With the "Beat L.A!" chant reverberating at the Garden, Kevin Garnett scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 18 points, eight assists, and five rebounds to help Boston become the first team in the series to win two games in a row. If Los Angeles can't do the same at home, the Celtics will improve to 10-2 against them in the Finals dating back to a 4-0 sweep over the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959.

"It's basically home court," Jackson said. "That's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?"

Bryant did everything he could to send the Lakers home with the edge.

He scored 23 straight Lakers points between the 4:23 mark of the second quarter until there was 2:16 left in the third. But over that span, the Celtics expanded the lead from one point to 13.

"I just tried to keep telling them, it's only two points each time he scores. It's not 10," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "It's just like if someone else was scoring. . . . Our guys for the most part, they understood what he was doing. But we defended everyone else. And I thought it was big."

And Pierce was having his best game of the series, too. The Celtics' captain scored seven points in the last 31/2 minutes of the second quarter and added nine more in the first five minutes of the third. Ray Allen, who hasn't hit a three-pointer since making an NBA-record eight in Game 2, made a pair of baskets that gave Boston a 71-58 lead with 3:08 left in the third.

Jackson, wearing a microphone for the TV broadcast, told his players during a late time-out, "This team loses more games in the fourth quarter than any team in the league. They know how to lose games, and they're showing us that now."

The Lakers got within six points several times, but never within five until Bryant made three free throws to make it 87-82 with 90 seconds left.

Bryant missed a series of desperation three-pointers down the stretch. When Allen made two free throws with 19 seconds left and Garnett one with 8.9 to play, it was over.

Celtics lead series, 3-2.

Game 6: Tuesday at Lakers, 9 p.m.