Celtics defeat the Lakers in Game 5 to move within one win of NBA title

BOSTON -- Isn’t this the way it’s supposed to happen? The defending NBA champions with their superstar guard heading home for two elimination games.

Or, the underdog team looking to pull off the ultimate trifecta of upsetting two teams seeded No. 1 and another seeded No. 2 to bring the championship banner to their parquet home for the second time in three years.

Such are the things that make for big TV ratings.

Sunday, the Boston Celtics wove those storylines to reality with a 92-86 win over the Lakers to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 (and 7 if necessary) will be back in Los Angeles on Tuesday (and Thursday).

It was the first time in this series that a team has won two consectutive games and the first time in these playoffs that the Lakers have trailed in a series.

“This was huge for us,” Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. “Let’s be honest, for us, we had to win this game. For them, they still have two home games. They understand that. Let’s hope not two (games).”

The Celtics did it behind Paul Pierce, who played his best game since he scored 31 points in the clinching game against Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals. Pierce had been quiet getting only 10, 15 and 19 points in the last three games.

But in this pivotal Game 5, he scored 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting.

“Paul is a very deliberate player and when he’s comfortable out there he can be difficult to guard,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “There are a lot of things he had as weapons out there. I think Ron (Artest) finally got a defensive game in the fourth quarter … and Paul missed a few shots.”

The Celtics also got strong contributions from Kevin Garnett (18 points), Rajon Rondo (18) and Ray Allen (12).

The game was never really in doubt after the Celtics took control of the tempo in the third quarter. The Celtics’ largest lead was 13. The Lakers were never able to close their deficit to less than five points.

But that didn’t keep Kobe Bryant from almost single-handedly keeping the Lakers in the game. After a very lackluster first half (four-of-12 shooting) he made his seven shots in a row open the third quarter when trying to erase an 13-point deficit. At one point, beginning in the second quarter, Bryant scored 24 points in a row for the Lakers. An impressive personal stat but a disasterous indictment of the rest of the team.

“Kobe struggled in the first half but in the second half he was his dynamic self and got us back in the game,” Jackson said. “He was brimming with confidence. . . . He felt there were some things he was comfortable doing. In the first half he didn’t look like he was elevating. He got his ankle retaped (at halftime) and played well.”

Bryant finished the game with 38 points on 13-of-26 shooting, including four of nine from three-point range.

“He’s the best shot maker in the game,” Rivers said of Bryant. “There’s probably better athletes but there is no better shot maker than Kobe Bryant. I kept saying to (my assistants) those are tough shots.”

Outside of Bryant, only Pau Gasol scored in double figures (12) for the Lakers.

Now, all the attention goes to the first close-out game in the series.

Rivers, as expected, wants to paint a picture that it is the Lakers who have the big advantage.

“Bottom line is when they won Game 3 we felt every next game was a must game,” Rivers said. “Each game was a Game 7. We said it in Game 4 and we said it tonight. . . . We lost our wiggle room when we lost that home game.

“It’s like this. The Lakers played better than us to get home-court advantage. But we’ve played the best on the road. Our team will be ready. It’ll be a hell of a challenge because [the Lakers] are going to be great there.”

And Jackson, taking the opposite approach, was showing confidence.

“I thought we had a spirited locker room at the end of the [game],” Jackson said. “We came away with a couple of things that fell into place for them. We felt good at our comeback at the end of the game. . . . We are upbeat about going into this game.”

So, you’ve got the team with three wins saying the other team has the advantage and the team with two wins feeling good about things.

You have to love a Celtics-Lakers series.

Lisa Dillman reported from Boston. John Cherwa reported from Los Angeles.