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Celtics Celebrate!
By Paul Wertheim June 17, 2008 |
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BOSTON–The Boston Celtics humiliated the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, giving the storied franchise a 17th championship and its first in 22 years. The Celtics stretched their lead by as many as 43 points in the fourth quarter, and the capacity crowd began celebrating with deafening victory chants by the five-minute mark in the second half. Celtics’ forward Paul Pierce took championship MVP honors. Pierce averaged 22.8 points and 5.6 assists in the series, scoring 17 points in Game 6 with 10 assists. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett led the Celtics at the TD Banknorth Garden, each scoring 26 points. Allen tied a finals three-point record by going 7 for 9 from beyond the arc. Garnett had 14 rebounds and clearly dominated the Lakers in the paint the whole game. The victory completed the greatest single season team turnaround in NBA history. After finishing with the worst team record (24-58) in the 2006-2007 regular season, the Celtics acquired Allen and Garnett in the offseason and created a powerful championship trio with Pierce by winning Boston’s first NBA title since 1986 and having a 66-16 record in 2007-2008 season. Rajon Rondo scored 21 points and had six steals, as the Celtics set team championship single-game record with 18 total steals. Rondo bewildered the Lakers with quick hands and aggressive defense, as the Lakers stumbled with 19 turnovers. League MVP Kobe Bryant had the hot hand early in the game, going 3-for-4 from the three-point line and scoring 11 points in the first seven minutes. But the Lakers did little else after that. Bryant went 7-for-22 from the field and mustered only 22 points. The Celtics defense proved too much for the Lakers, who looked fatigued and uninspired before a raucous Boston crowd. Celtics guard Eddie House and forward James Posey came off the bench and together combined for an 11-0 run that pushed the team on 26-6 run into the locker room at halftime with 23-point advantage. The Lakers shot 29 percent from the field in the second quarter against the Celtics’ 59 percent shooting. The Lakers hopes of becoming the first team to overcome a 3-1 game deficit in the finals were quickly squashed by sloppy passing and a determined Celtics’ offense. Boston’s 39-point victory was the largest margin in a clincher since the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in the 1965 NBA Finals. Boston is 9-2 all time against the Lakers in the Finals. Allen, Garnett and Pierce each won the title for the first time in their All-Star careers. Paul Wertheim is a contributing writer for Sport Radio Service. |
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