• Lakers come from behind to secure second successive title • Kobe Bryant named finals MVP The Los Angeles Lakers won their 16th NBA championship last night, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA finals. A Game 7 classic and this time it went the Lakers way. Bryant, the finals MVP, scored 23 points despite 6-of-24 shooting. It was earned his fifth title with the Lakers, who repeated as NBA champions for the first time since winning three straight from 2000. Coach Phil Jackson added his 11th, possibly putting a cap on his remarkable career if he decides to leave the Lakers. “This one is by far the sweetest, because it’s them,” Bryant said after the Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game 7. “This was the hardest one by far. I wanted it so bad, and sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My guys picked me up.” Ron Artest added 20 points for the Lakers, who didn’t exactly show a champion’s poise while making just 21 shots in the first three quarters, even hovering around 505 at the free throw line. Yet with Bryant driving the lane to earn eight free throws and Pau Gasol finally coming alive with nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles reclaimed the lead midway through and hung on with a few more big shots from Gasol, who had 18 rebounds, and a remarkable clutch performance by Artest, a first-time champion as the only newcomer to last season’s roster. “I had 20 points, and I still think we did this as a team,” Artest said. “We fought together. This was one of the best games in … I don’t even know, man. I don’t want to be in a game like this, where the game can go either way. I’m just like, OK, what did I get myself into?” He might be into a budding dynasty, with most of the Lakers’ core locked into long-term contracts. With their fifth title in 11 seasons, the Lakers moved one championship behind Boston’s 17 titles for the overall NBA lead. After downplaying the NBA’s best rivalry for two weeks, Bryant acknowledged this banner will loom just a little larger than the rest in those Staples Center rafters, given the opponent, the Game 7 stakes and the history they just made. The teams have met in 12 NBA finals, but the Lakers won for just the third time. Jackson won his fifth ring in Los Angeles to go with his half-dozen from Chicago. And it might be the last: Weary of the regular-season grind and facing a likely pay cut with the Lakers, Jackson hasn’t determined his future, though he previously said another title would make him more likely to chase an unprecedented fourth “threepeat” next season, when he’ll be 65. “I’ve got to take a deep breath. I’ve got to take some time to think about this,” Jackson said, wearing a satisfied grin underneath his championship hat. “This was great. I’ll wait to make that decision in a week.” Bryant has already told Jackson what he believes his coach should do. “He knows how bad I want him back,” Bryant said. “I’ve been openly blunt about how much I want him back.” Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who just couldn’t finish the final quarter of a remarkable playoff run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett added 17 points, but Boston flopped in two chances to clinch the series in Los Angeles after winning Game 5 back home. “Listen, give the Lakers credit,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They were terrific.” Rivers knows changes are coming, even saying afterward that the ’10-11 Celtics will be different than the ’09-10 team. “We were the tightest, most emotional, crazy group I’ve ever been around in my life,” Rivers said, adding that he’ll wait a while before deciding on his oft-speculated future. He called this team “crazy close” and throughout the playoffs, the Celtics only got closer. Down by 14 in their first playoff game against Miami, they won that night and rode that instant burst of confidence not only past the Heat, but through Cleveland and Orlando in the next two rounds. “We were scratching and clawing, trying to do everything we could to try to pull this out,” said Ray Allen, who had 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting. “We had an opportunity to win, but it just didn’t go our way down the stretch. I don’t think we ran out of steam. Lady Luck just didn’t bounce in our corner … There were a lot of tears, a lot of tears.” The Celtics had never lost a seventh game in the finals. Despite nursing a lead through most of the night while holding the Lakers to ridiculously low shooting percentages until the final minutes, Boston couldn’t close it out on the coast, becoming just the seventh team to blow a 3-2 finals lead after winning Game 5, while the Lakers are the first team to recover from a 3-2 deficit to win a finals since Houston did it in 1994. Exactly two years to the day after Boston beat the Lakers by 39 points to clinch the 2008 title, Los Angeles got revenge for perhaps the most embarrassing loss of Bryant’s career – even if he did little more than grab 15 rebounds for most of the night. At least nine people were arrested as rowdy revelers poured out of Staples Center after the game, rocking cars, setting bonfires and throwing rocks and bottles and police. The LA Fire Department said several people were treated for injuries outside the arena. NBA guardian.co.uk
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LA Lakers seal 16th NBA championship with victory over Boston Celtics
