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From : theANSWER4MVP
Added: Feb 6, 2009
Ray Allen was still on the floor, knocked on his back, when the Los Angeles Lakers began hugging and chest-bumping under the 2008 NBA Championship banner that was earned at their expense. "I wish we would have come here last year with this kind of attitude,'' said Pau Gasol, who scored 24 points with 14 rebounds Thursday night to lead the Lakers to a 110-109 overtime victory over Boston. "Nobody backed down,'' he added. "We were as physical as anybody.'' In a rematch of an NBA finals in which the Celtics outmuscled the Lakers to the title, Lamar Odom made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left in overtime and Los Angeles held on with physical defense against Paul Pierce and Allen that prevented either All-Star from getting off a clean shot. The loss snapped the Celtics' 12-game winning streak and dropped them to 0-2 against the best in the West. Boston trails the Lakers by percentage points for the best overall record in the NBA, and would lose a tiebreaker for home court advantage in the finals - if they both make it back. "It would be great,'' Pierce said. Kevin Garnett banged his fist on the table in agreement, and then interjected a reminder that seemed to be intended for the locker room across the hall: "We're the champs, man.'' Kobe Bryant scored 26 points with 10 rebounds to help the Lakers take a five-game winning streak into Sunday's game against Cleveland. L.A. also snapped Boston's 19-game winning streak on Christmas Day and sent the Celtics into a 2-7 skid that is the worst stretch of the New Big Three era. "These games are tough, and they're emotional games and then you play the next night,'' said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, whose team plays the New York Knicks on Friday night. "We'll try to muster it up and see what we have.'' Pierce scored 21, and Allen had 22, but they both missed off-balance shots in the final seconds. Allen was knocked to the court at the buzzer while Boston fans clamored for a foul call, but none came. Rajon Rondo scored 16 with 12 assists.
Category : Sports

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