NBA: Celtics one game away from NBA finals win

BOSTON - Paul Pierce scored 27 points - his best performance of this year's finals - as the Boston Celtics withstood 38 points from Kobe Bryant to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 92-86 on Sunday and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 6 is Tuesday in Los Angeles, and a victory then or in Game 7 in L.A. on Thursday would give the Celtics a record 18th NBA championship.

"We've got to get one. We're too close to our goal," Pierce said. "We've got to get one."

Pierce was the most valuable player in the 2008 finals, when the new Big Three beat the Lakers to raise an NBA-record 17th banner to the rafters at Boston's TD Garden. Bryant was the finals MVP last year, when the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win their 15th championship.

Bryant outscored Pierce this time, but the Lakers' guard got little help from his teammates. And the stretch where he was most dominant was also the time when the Celtics pulled away.

"He's the kind of guy (where) you ride the hot hand, that's for sure," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We were waiting for him to do that. ... He went out there and found a rhythm."

With the "Beat L.A!" chant returning to the Garden, Kevin Garnett scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds to help Boston become the first team in the series to win two games in a row. If Los Angeles can't do the same at home, the Celtics will improve to 10-2 against them in the finals, from a 4-0 sweep over the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959 through the Bird-and-Magic era of the `80s and Boston's win in 2008.

Bryant said neither the rivalry nor revenge that should be motivating his teammates when they try to stave off elimination at home.

"Just man up and play. What the hell is the big deal?" he said. "If I have to say something to them, then we don't deserve to be champions. We're down 3-2: Go home, win one game, go into the next one. Simple as that."

Bryant scored 23 straight Lakers points between the 4:23 mark of the second quarter until there was 2:16 left in the third. But that's also the time when the Celtics built their biggest lead: Over that span, they expanded the lead from one point to 13.

Celtics captain Pierce scored seven points in the last 3.5 minutes of the second quarter and added nine more in the first 5 minutes of the third. Ray Allen, who hasn't hit a 3-pointer since making an NBA-record eight in Game 2, made a pair of baskets that gave Boston a 71-58 lead with 3:08 left in the third.

The Lakers got within six points several times, but never within five until Bryant made three free throws to make it 87-82 with 90 seconds left.

The Celtics got a break from a review when replays showed Allen's 3-pointer barely nicked the rim, giving them the ball with a fresh 24 seconds and 1:05 left. Rasheed Wallace missed a 3-pointer, but the rebound wound up tied up between Garnett and Derek Fisher.

Fisher won, tipping the ball ahead to Ron Artest for a breakaway; he was fouled, and he missed both free throws. This time Bryant grabbed the rebound, but Pierce ripped it out of his arms and dribbled off to the side to call timeout.

A desperate inbounds pass went to Pierce, who fed Rondo under the basket before falling out of bounds, and Rondo made an over-the-head layup to make it 89-82 with 36 seconds left.

Bryant missed a series of desperation 3-pointers down the stretch, and when Allen made two free throws with 19 seconds left and Garnett one of two with 8.9 to play, it was over.

Pau Gasol scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and Fisher, the Game 3 star, scored all nine of his points in the first quarter as no other Laker reached double figures in scoring until Gasol hit a free throw with 2:25 left. Andrew Bynum played on his sore right knee for 31 minutes, but he scored all six of his points and his only rebound in the first quarter.

-AP