Pierce got off a wobbly attempt and Rondo was short on the final shot of the game. Allen, who led the Celtics with three made 3's, never got a decent look.
Fourth quarter, :15.5, Lakers 97-94: Bynum just got too deep in the post. From there, it was easy for him to score a short hook shot to give the Lakers a three-point edge.
The Celtics, like most of the civilized world, assumed Bryant was getting the ball.
Fourth quarter, :41.7, Lakers 95-94: "Hero ball" gets criticized when the Lakers struggle, but when Bryant delivers, few people complain.
Bryant's 20th field goal attempt used every inch of the rim and some of the backboard, but it dropped through the net to give the Lakers the lead. Bryant scored or assists the last three Lakers baskets to turn a five-point hole into a one-point lead.
Fourth quarter, 1:17, Celtics 94-93: Bass will not lead the Celtics in scoring and probably won't be the leading scorer, but the power forward has played admirably. If he stays in the game the rest of the way, which is a virtual certainty, he will log more than 43 minutes against much larger opponents Gasol and Bynum.
He could have been whistled for a foul on a tip-in by Bynum off a lob from Bryant, but the refs stayed consistent by letting both teams play on.
Bass entered the final minute with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Fourth quarter, 2:45, Celtics 91-89: The final minutes will be dicey for the Celtics, and not only because they will be locked in a close game. The foul disparity began to catch up with the Celtics, and all five starters held at least three fouls. Allen led the way with five personals, followed by Garnett with four.
That's troublesome for the C's because Bynum had yet to commit a foul and Bryant had only two. That should allow the Lakers to be far more aggressive on both ends of the floor in the final minutes.
In more than six minutes, neither team scored on consecutive possessions without the opponent scoring in between. Few back-and-forth games are truly as back-and-forth as this one.
Fourth quarter, 6:31, Celtics 81-78: More than five minutes into the final quarter and Bryant had yet to score a point in the frame. He can't be happy about that.
In the meantime, Allen knocked down a few shots and built up his confidence. He gave the Celtics a 76-74 lead on a short jumper, then gave the Celtics the lead again in this back-and-forth game with a 3-pointer on the break.
The Celtics aren't known for hurrying it up on teams, but the Lakers are one of the few teams who like to play even slower than the C's. Rondo is making that impossible by pusshing the tempo whenever the ball is in his hands. Fisher and Blake are helpless to stop Rondo with the ball in his hands.
Fourth quarter, 8:32, game tied 74-74: Pietrus made his return for the first time since the first quarter and quickly made an impression, throwing down a putback dunk to pull the Celtics within two points.
A fastbreak layup by Rondo 51 seconds later tied the game as both sides started complaining about non-called fouls. The Lakers had taken 22 free throws to the Celtics' eight, largely because the Lakers were more bullish in the post with Bynum and World Peace. There was also the Bryant factor, of course, and he naturally led everyone with seven free throw attempts.
End of third quarter, Lakers 72-70: Bryant, Pierce, Garnett and Allen have been in many games like this one over the years. They looked comfortable taking it over late in the third quarter. That future Hall of Fame quartet scored 10 of the 14 points scored in the final 2:51 of the third quarter.
A putback by Matt Barnes with 15.3 seconds left and a jumper by Rondo were the only exceptions.
Third quarter, 5:29, Lakers 60-57: If seeing Bass lead the Celtics' comeback looked odd to Lakers fans, seeing World Peace drive the Lakers back into the lead looked just as odd to Celtics fans.
Peace scored 10 points in a 3-minute, 5-second stretch in the third quarter to take back the lead for L.A. Peace's outburst included two 3-pointers, a fastbreak dunk after stealing the ball from Pierce, and forcing a double-technical with the Celtics captain.
The veteran defensive specialist was up to a team-high 13 points with two steals in just over 20 minutes of playing time.
Third quarter, 9:25, Celtics 50-47: The Celtics came out of the locker room ready to defend in the third quarter, and they quickly turned around the score.
A 3 by Fisher stretched the Lakers' lead to five points, but the Celtics scored the next eight points to pull into the lead for the first time all game. Bass opened the Celtics' second-half scoring with a jumper over Bynum's outstretched arm, and then Bass made a heads-up play to lurk in the backcourt while Bynum held the ball. Bass came up with a steal before feeding Rondo for the go-ahead layup at 48-47. That was Rondo's third straight basket, and forced a timeout by the Lakers.
Halftime, Lakers 44-42: The Lakers only registered one basket in the final 3 minutes, 15 seconds of the first half. In that time, Brandon Bass took over, scoring five points by outworking the much larger Bynum in the post.
Bass, who gives up four inches and 45 pounds to the Lakers big man, hit a jumper with 25.2 seconds to go, cutting the Celtics' deficit to three points at 42-39. That was the closest the Celtics had been since the 3:38 mark in the first quarter.
Bryant looked to wipe out most that hard work with a fadeaway jumper with 3.8 seconds on the clock before Rondo raced downcourt for a 3-pointer as the first half buzzer expired. Rondo went into the halftime locker room leading the Celtics in scoring with 10 points.
The Good: Rondo pushed the tempo as the Celtics put up 43 shots in the first half. He went 4-for-9 from the floor and also had three assists. … Kevin Garnett went 4-for-4 shooting to enter halftime with eight points and five rebounds. He did an admirable job defending Bynum, who was close to unstoppable. … Andrew Bynum needed less than 18 minutes of court time to record a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. He also did not pick up a foul.
The Bad: Paul Pierce struggled against Metta World Peace's physical defense. In 20 minutes, Pierce went just 2-for-11 from the field, although he handed out a team-high seven assists. … Derek Fisher has not looked good all season, which isn't very surprising considering all the time he spent negotiating the collective bargaining agreement. Fisher scored two points and committed two turnovers with zero assists in 12:46.
The So-so: Brandon Bass' halftime stat line was nothing special. Five points on 2-for-6 shooting with only two rebounds won't usually cut it for a power forward facing the Lakers, but the fact that all his damage was done in the final three minutes helped the Celtics come back from a double-digit deficit. … Kobe Bryant will forever be judged by what he does in the final two minutes of games. That's good for him, because he can make the first 46 minutes look unsightly. Bryant scored 10 points with three assists, but he was only 4-for-11 shooting and committed four turnovers.
Second quarter, 3:15, Lakers 41-32: Two technical fouls courtesy of Bryant gave the Celtics two free points via Allen free throws. Only one of the techs counted toward Bryant personally, though, due to the rules quirk that tallies a team technical for a defensive three-second violation.
Bryant began to get a little fired up about the lack of foul calls on his last two forays to the hoop, and Pierce appeared to share his frustration at the other end. Each team has attempted only six free throws and the physicality of the game could easily have generated at least twice that many by now. The officials let these rivals play.
Second quarter, 5:29, Lakers 37-22: Somehow, despite hitting his first four shots, Garnett did not look like he was having one of his best games. Having the guard 7-foot, 285 pound Bynum might have something to do with that.
Garnett had a strong stat line of eight points, three rebounds and two steals, but he looked bad trying to defend a pick and roll with Blake and Bynum. Blake tossed the ball to Bynum for an alley-oop dunk.
And the crowd went wild.
Second quarter, 9:58, Lakers 28-18: Pietrus departed for the locker room late in the first quarter and did not appear to return. He would be another painful loss for the Celtics.
Avery Bradley appeared to have Steve Blake tied up for at least a jump ball, but somehow the referees awarded Blake a timeout. It did not appear Blake had possession of the ball when he tried to request the timeout, and Celtics coach Doc Rivers vehemently argued the point for a moment before shaking his head and retreating to the huddle.
End of first quarter, Lakers 24-14: As two of the oldest rosters in the league, it is not surprising these teams play at two of the slowest paces. It was therefore surprising that they combined for 43 field goal attempts in the first 12 minutes.
The Celtics' attempts were mostly of low quality, though, and Rondo led the team with seven shots in the first quarter. As a result the Celtics shot just 6-for-24 from the field.
The Lakers were much more efficient, going 10-for-19, which helped them overcome seven turnovers. Without the help of turnovers to get easy shots, the Celtics' offense ground to a halt. After the Celtics briefly tied the score at 12, the Lakers scored 14 unanswered points before a Garnett layup halted a nearly four-minute scoring drought for Boston.
First quarter, 3:20, Lakers 16-12: A shooter doesn't get shy just because he's missed 10 of his last 12 3-pointers.
Pietrus, who is mired in a shooting slump, came off the bench to hit his first attempt from long range and momentarily tie the game 12-12.
The score did not last long, as Troy Murphy (yup, that Troy Murphy) hit a baseline jumper for the Lakers.
Bryant then tracked down a rebound Greg Stiemsma tipped, rather than grabbed, and scored a layup while drawing a foul on Stiemsma.
First quarter, 5:55, Lakers 11-9: The biggest criticism of the Lakers offense this season is that the ball stagnates when it's in Bryant's hands. That wasn't a problem in the early going Sunday, as the Lakers recorded assists on their first five field goals. Bryant was given the assist on two of the Lakers' first three baskets.
On defense, Bryant sagged way off Rondo, daring the Celtics point guard to shoot. Rondo hit one midrange jumper but bricked two others, supporting the Lakers' approach to defend him.
Some sloppiness by L.A. allowed the Celtics to get back in the game after falling behind 7-0. The Lakers committed four turnovers, helping the Celtics go on a 9-4 run.
3:10 p.m.: Mickael Pietrus may not be having the best week shooting-wise, but the Celtics will welcome back any able bodies at this point.
Pietrus is back in Sunday's lineup after missing Friday's game with a sore right knee. The Celtics will be lacking depth in the post, though, with Chris Wilcox out with a cardiac issue that isn't expected to be clarified at all for at least another week.
The starting lineups appear below.
Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Ray Allen
Rajon Rondo
Lakers
Andrew Bynum
Pau Gasol
Metta World Peace
Kobe Bryant
Derek Fisher
8:20 a.m. ET: Losses to pathetic, hopeless teams and 32-point defeats are not what the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are used to. Two of the NBA's proudest franchises have been knocked down a peg this season, whether in the Lakers' loss to the Wizards or the Celtics' whupping at the hands of the 76ers.
A Finals atmosphere will be in effect Sunday afternoon, though, just as it always is when the green meet the purple and gold.
Already missing center Jermaine O'Neal with a sprained left wrist, the Celtics will be further hampered by the absence of Chris Wilcox, who has what has only been described as a "cardiac issue" and is out indefinitely.
Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET.
