8:48- The Lakers find a little rhythm, as Kobe drives left baseline for a layup, followed by a Vlad Rad three.  On the other end, the Celtics throw the ball away for the second time.  They're out of sorts a little. 

4:59- It hasn't been pretty by any stretch, but the Lakers have the Celtics in the penalty with six minutes left in the quarter, as Kobe draws Allen's second foul, on the perimeter.  15-9 LAL.  The Lakers have done a better job attacking the rim and have limited the Celtics on the other end, but after

3:25- that Posey three- second chance points- the Lakers are only up by three.

2:29- 17-14 LAL.  Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar in out of the timeout.  On the one hand, the Lakers should feel reasonably good about where they are right now.  The Celtics have been forced to pay closer attention to Kobe on the dribble, and now he's drawing the sort of crowd that should make it easier for all the Lakers to play.  The Celtics have turned the ball over four times and have missed some early looks, but the Lakers haven't been able to open much of a lead.  So there's some good and some bad. 

1:29- Pierce picks up his second personal, a 1 plus 1 on Sasha.  He's got two, Allen has two.  Early foul issues for the visitors.

END OF THE FIRST: 

All tied up at 20.  Ugly offensive quarter for both teams.  Kobe had some good luck at the top of the game, but overall, the Lakers are shooting very poorly, at 28%.  Fortunately, the Celtics aren't any better, barely over 30.  Both teams could probably look at this and say they should be winning. 

LO picks up his third foul only 23 ticks into the quarter, and he'll have to sit down.  Loose ball foul against Powe.  That seems to be how he's picked up a lot of his fouls in the series- trying to contest balls on the glass. 

9:28- Lakers up 26-22 after a nice feed from Walton (in for Odom) to Farmar for the reverse layup.  Excellent ball movement on the next trip down, as the Lakers penetrate, then kick out and swing the ball until it reaches Sasha at the top of the three-point line.  Lakers get five quick points, and they now lead 29-22. 

Into the timeout, PJ Brown and Farmar get into a little tussle over the rebound.  Farmar holds his own and fights the ball away. Personal on PJ Brown, double T's called.  Good work by Farmar to get all scrappy. 

Bad possession coming out of the timeout for the Lakers.  Kobe spent a little too long trying to find a hole in the Celtics D on  a couple screen attempts before kicking it out, nearly forcing a TO.  Then Luke had a decent look, which he passed up and eventually was left with a terrible one.  Bad play by him.

Allen hits a three on the other end, and the Lakers are up 29-25.  Pau back in. 

6:48- Offensive foul on PJ Brown, his second personal.  Ball goes the other way with L.A. up 31-25.

5:49- Lakers up 34-27, Turiaf in coming out of the timeout, giving Kobe a breather.  Sasha upfakes Rondo, puts the ball on the floor, then sticks the jumper. Lakers back up by nine. 

Good defense by Turiaf on KG at the other end, forcing him into a tough fallaway jumper along the left baseline. 

4:50- Sasha goes one on one with Allen, and hits another jumper.

2:45- Lakers up 40-31 as the Celtics call timeout.  Bad reach by Pierce to pick up his third foul and send Gasol to the line.  Pau converts the first, but misses the second.  He's struggling from the line to say the least. It certainly looked, from way up here at least, that Posey made contact, but I couldn't really tell, and the replay was from the wrong side.  But Kobe sure looked ticked, and at least from my angle it looked like Posey drew contact.

1:40- Sasha hits the three in the right corner, Lakers back up by 10.

On the next trip, Kobe gets tangled off the dribble with Posey, and there's no call.  Kobe complains, and picks up the T.

6.3- Kobe drives and draws a foul on Perkins, but misses the first free throw, and the second.  The Lakers have been flat out terrible at the FT line.  12-22 to end the first half.   They certainly can't complain that the refs aren't giving them the opportunity to extend the lead. 

HALFTIME: Lakers 43-Celtics 37. 

Good on L.A. for the six-point lead, but it's hard not to feel like they've missed a huge opportunity to put themselves ahead in a big way.  Beyond the 10 bunnies from the line- free throws are by definition bunnies- the Lakers have missed a bunch of layups.  Pau is 0-4 from the floor, including a couple missed finishes, Luke Walton missed a layup, etc.  Kobe has 19 to lead L.A., and has been far more aggressive going at the hole, and he's getting the whistles, too.  The Lakers have also done a decent job sealing help defenders to help give Kobe space to operate on the wing.  Sasha has been huge in the first half as well, and five points from Farmar is a nice touch.

But overall, with Gasol and Odom continuing to struggle, its' a bit of a mixed bag for the Lakers.  If you had told me Kobe would have 19, they'd have shot 22 FTs, Boston would be shooting 32%, and Pierce would have three fouls and two points at the half, I'd have told you they'd be up by more than six.

THIRD QUARTER:

11:16- Early TO for Odom, and his struggles continue, but more importantly for Boston, Rondo goes down with what looks like an ankle injury, and has to be helped off the court, though by the time he gets halfway off he's walking- albeit with a limp- to the sideline.  No wheelchair required.  That would obviously be a major loss for the Celtics if he's out for any stretch of time. 

House replaces him.  Not the doctor.  Not surprisingly, he shoots the first time he gets the ball.

On the other end, Kobe makes a great feed to LO down low, but he blows the layup.  He's really fighting it. 

10:10- Kobe takes Allen left to the hoop for the layup, and again, the Lakers do a nice job sealing the potential help defender before he could make a move to try to get to Kobe.  45-39 LAL.

8:11- Kobe on the block draws the fourth foul on Perkins, and he'll have to sit.  Vlad is already on the bench with his fourth, and it was a pretty bad one, too, as he just sort of laid down on Perkins back as Kendrick went up for the layup.  Might not have been continuation on the play, but Radmanovic just gave up on it and assumed it wouldn't be.  If you're gonna hack, hack.  Prevent the shot. 

47-43, LAL.  Ariza in for Walton out of the TO.  Good time to use him, with the lead. 

4:43- Allen comes off a screen and drills a three.  The Celtics have gone on a 11-4 run, and now have a four-point lead, 54-50.  That's 4-4 for Allen.  Timeout Lakers, as the Celtics have turned things around, getting the stops, and causing the turnovers they need to make the run.  Meanwhile, offensively the Lakers are still Kobe and that's it. 

During the TO, they showed Eddie Murphy and Sylvester Stallone sitting next to each other in the crowd.  That's a lot of failed former Hollywood royalty in one spot.  Damn.  Nice hand for Hef, though.

Coming out of the timeout, the Lakers stick with the same group. 

4:20- LO goes up in the lane off a feed from Ariza, and gets a bucket.  Finally, a bucket.  Lord knows he needed that.

2:02- LO knifes to the basket and gets a great feed from Kobe for his second bucket of the last couple minutes, and the Lakers are down by only two.  Then on the next trip, Kobe fouls Allen while he's taking a three.  He makes all of them, and the Celtics are back up by five. 

1:07- Celtics get a break, as Garnett lifts his pivot foot, then switches it, then picks it back up and switches again, then gets rid of the ball.  The Celtics miss the shot, but get the offensive rebound, and it eventually results in a foul on the interior with Gasol on Brown.  He misses the first, a gift to the Lakers, then makes the second.  Celtics by four.

Sasha back in.

And immediately makes an impact!  On Boston's last possession of the half, Sasha pressures the ball on the screen, then gets knocked over/flops (hard to say), gets up, sprints over to House, gets in his grill, says something, then decides to pick up his man.  No whistle or break or anything like that. 

Very odd.

END OF THE THIRD: Boston up 62-60, and it's fair to say that L.A.'s season comes down to these 12 minutes.  Lose 'em, and for all practical purposes they can call it a season.  Win 'em, and they have a shot.  The Lakers became too much a jump-shooting team in that quarter, and got sloppy with the ball.  Boston has only 62 points, so the D has held up its end of the bargain, but the supporting cast (save Sasha), hasn't. 

FOURTH QUARTER:

Sasha starts things off strong with a three, but Allen sticks one on the other end, and Boston is still up by two.

8:56- Huge play for L.A., as Pierce picks up his fifth.  Doc has a decision to make, though really his impact on the game has been so minimal, they don't lose much (it seems) by him not playing.  Still, if you're the Lakers, wouldn't you want Paul Pierce on the bench for as long as possible?   Lakers still down 2, 66-64. 

KG back in for Boston, as is Allen.  Lakers have Sasha, Ronny, Kobe, Walton, and Farmar.       

8:00- Sasha hits a triple, and the Lakers are tied.  Huge shot from Sasha, who has been huge all day.  On the other end, Posey penetrates, and Walton hits him hard at the basket.  At least it was a solid foul.  Posey hits 'em both, and the Lakers are back down by two. 

Gasol and Fish back in for L.A.  Pierce checks back in, which will bring LO off the bench as well.  Likely for Walton.  BTW, Rondo is back in the game for Boston. 

6:27- Following a Kobe three off a near turnover-turned assist from Walton, Fish drives on Rondo, draws the foul, and goes to the line to make two. Lakers by three, 71-68.  And a steal.  They're making a push on both ends.  Kobe turns it into a drive, gets hacked, and he'll have free throws.

4:25- Good timeout from PJ, as the Lakers have opened up a five-point lead (75-70), but play was starting to get raggedy.  LO lost the ball on the drive, the Celtics are running around, the Lakers had given up a couple good looks to Allen.  Not a bad time to settle things down.  Lakers have about four and a half minutes to hold on here, and then it's a series again.  No question it's been a grind, the Celtics have taken Gasol and Odom out of the game, haven't had much from Pierce, and all that, but still, if the Lakers can win - can finally get over the hump against the Celtics - maybe it gives them the confidence despite the shaky effort. 

On the other hand, as he did against SA when he was struggling, if Gasol can come up with a couple big shots, that could redeem him a little.  Same with Odom.

Out of the TO, Odom takes the ball aggressively to the hole against Garnett and misses the dunk, but Gasol is right there to clean it up.  Good things happen when the ball is taken hard to the hole.

3:56- As the Celtics just found as Pierce (sprung by a moving screen from Garnett) gets to the rack for the and-one on Kobe.  He misses the FT, though, and the Lakers maintain a five-point lead. 

3:37- Excellent ball movement from the Lakers, as Doc sends two Celtics to Kobe to force the ball from his hands.  He gets it out to Odom, who swings it, and it gets to Fish.  He misses the jumper, but corralls the rebound, passes to the post for Gasol, who is fouled.  Pau makes one of two. The Lakers continue to hurt themselves at the line.  78-72 LAL.

3:32- Tough call against Kobe.   From the TV angle, it didn't look like he had much contact on the play, but it's possible he got into Pierce's body.  There was way more contact a few seconds earlier on the play, but no whistle there.  PP for the one plus one after the TO.  It looks like Doc is going to spend the rest of the game trying to get the ball out of Kobe's hands with a hard double.  Over the course of the season, when other teams have tried it, the Lakers have made them pay.  We'll see how it goes here, but as fast as the Celtics are in help D, if they trap that high on the floor, the Lakers should benefit.

Pierce makes the first.  Lakers by five.

Pierce makes the second.  Lakers by four.   

1:50- That's what I'm talking about.  The Celtics double Kobe just over half court.  Lamar flashes to the top of the arc, gets the ball, one dribble to a wide open Sasha in the corner, who makes up for an ill-advised, too early in the clock three by drilling one from the corner.  Lakers go back up by five.

Next trip down, Fish drives, gets fouled, makes two, and the Lakers are up by seven.  Timeout, Boston.  Honestly, I don't know why Doc made the decision to start doubling Kobe so hard when the Lakers offense had been stymied by just playing it straight.  That plays into L.A.'s strengths.  Ball movement, giving guys space to operate and pass and cut without having to face a lot of body contact. 

Terrible decision, but a benefit to the Lakers for sure.   

Lakers trade buckets with the Celtics - a pullup jumper from Kobe over Allen, followed by a House triple from the right corner on a great feed from Pierce.  But Kobe responds with an up and under against Allen, hitting the little leaner.  Lakers back up by six.  Boston calls the 20-second TO.

PJ gets Ariza back in the lineup for Gasol.

Another break for the Lakers, as for some reason the Celtics don't foul.  LO gets called for the offensive foul, but it doesn't matter.  Game over.  Lakers win 87-81. 

Series 2-1. 

More to come. 

BK