Playoff road turns bumpy for Lakers

BOSTON -- Got Jinx?

It was only two visits ago for the Lakers when some fans in gold jerseys chanted “MVP!” for Kobe Bryant. But if things had changed, they just changed back.

The Celtics, coming into the Finals as underdogs after a torturous postseason, looked like their mid-season selves with their big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, combining to score 65 points.

Meanwhile, the Lakers struggled, from Bryant (nine for 26 from the field) on down in a 98-88 loss. And now the Lakers aren’t as big a favorite as they used to be.

This was one of those nights Celtics fans will talk about forever, as Paul Pierce made a dramatic return after being carried off in the third quarter with a knee injury, coming back to make consecutive three-pointers en route to 22 points.

Now there’s not only a question of whether Pierce will be OK for Game 2 but what number he’ll wear, since they may retire his No. 34 by then.

Or not.

“Guys can break a shoelace and go out,” said the Lakers’ Phil Jackson, less than impressed by the dire nature of the situation.

“The pants break down. Drawstrings fall apart. You don’t know what happens to guys. Pierce was back out in three minutes so he wasn’t that long out of the game.”

Actually, the Celtics, who trailed 62-58 when Pierce went out, started the comeback without him, going on a 6-0 run before his return.

For the Lakers, the real problem is the Celtics looked like their old selves and they didn’t.

Pierce and especially Allen had struggled all postseason when their combined regular-season average of 54 points dropped to 43.

The Lakers, 34-8 with Pau Gasol in the lineup, are a great offensive team when Gasol is a legitimate No. 2 option, as opposed to what he was in the Western Conference finals when Tim Duncan held him to 13 points a game.

Gasol had 15 points Thursday night. It still wasn’t good enough.

When Gasol is just another option like Derek Fisher or Lamar Odom, the Lakers are just another decent offensive team, which is a problem since they’re not a great defensive team.

Before the series started, all the questions were about the Celtics.

What did they have left with their big three all 30 and over after going seven games with Atlanta and Cleveland and six against Detroit?

Would the Lakers have to guard 22-year-old point guard Rajon Rondo?

Who would Allen be this series?

“Whether they pick you or don’t, you still have to play basketball,” said Coach Doc Rivers of their underdog status before the game.

“But you can actually use it. Guys take it personal. They do. They understand that eight out of 10, nine out of 10 people have picked the Lakers, whatever.

“Like I told them at the start of the year, the questions will never stop.

“They’ll never stop about Rondo, they’ve never stop about me, they’ll never stop about Kevin, they’ll never stop about Paul, they’ll never stop about our team, and you can’t take it personally. It’s part of it. Just go out and just keep playing, and that’s all you can do.”

It turned out the Celtics had enough left to punish the Lakers, 46-33 on the backboards.

The Lakers didn’t bother guarding Rondo who did make them pay -- a little -- scoring 15 points, although he passed up half of his open looks as he has all postseason.

Worst of all for the Lakers, Allen was the Ray Allen of old, scoring 19 points, looking for his shots, giving the Celtics three options, or two more than the Lakers had Thursday night.

As Bryant put it, it was a “nice little kick” in the butt. Now to see what the young Lakers, who hadn’t been behind in a series this postseason, have.

--

mark.heisler@latimes.com