Jamison signs 4-yr, $50M deal to stay with Wizards

Antawn Jamison is back in the Washington Wizards fold. Now it's time to focus on Gilbert Arenas. The Wizards achieved a major free agency goal Monday when two-time All-Star forward Jamison signed a four-year, $50 million contract.

The deal does more than retain the team's co-captain and leading scorer from last season: It serves as an expensive piece of bait to lure Arenas, who had said he would not return unless the team also kept his longtime friend.

"He said he'd take less money if they got me, and they got me," Jamison told The Associated Press. "So I think everything will get worked out with Gilbert."

Two words describe Jamison above all others: steady and reliable. The 32-year-old strong locker room leader has averaged at least 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds each year since his arrival in Washington 2004. Last season was arguably the best in his 10-year NBA career — 21.4 points and a career-high 10.2 rebounds — as he and Caron Butler helped lead the Wizards to a fourth consecutive playoff berth while Arenas was injured.

"Signing Antawn to a contract extension was a top priority for us this summer," team president Ernie Grunfeld said. "He has been a leader for us both on and off the court over the last four seasons, and we're proud to reward his efforts by bringing him back."

Jamison previously played five seasons with Golden State and one with Dallas. His career averages are 19.6 points and 7.9 rebounds. Last year he was one of only five NBA players to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, and he also posted a career-high 44 double-doubles.

"There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I'd be back," he said.

The Wizards will hold a news conference for Jamison on Tuesday, which is also the first day the team can begin talks with Arenas. The team was able to negotiate with Jamison because he became an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, while Arenas had to wait until July 1 because he opted out of his contract.

"Once he heard that I had reached a deal, he congratulated me," said Jamison, repeating a text message conversation he had with Arenas. "And I said 'I can't wait to congratulate you tomorrow.'"

Arenas has said he took the opt-out so he could sign a more lucrative deal, which means talks will likely hover in the $100 range for a six-year contract.

But he is also acting as his own agent and is known for doing the unexpected — and negotiations could be complicated by the fact that he plans to leave for a sponsor-related trip to China on Tuesday.

Earlier Monday, Grunfeld joked about trying to negotiate with Arenas in a different hemisphere.

"What are you doing?" Grunfeld said, holding his hand to his face as if he were talking on the telephone. "Oh, you're at the Great Wall? Great phone reception."

Jamison, though, is confident his teammate will be back.

"Let me ask you: If somebody offered you, what is it, $100 million?" Jamison said. "I don't care if you're Gil or you're so-and-so, would you take the deal?"

Heat take Kansas State's Beasley with No. 2 pick

Michael Beasley left his workout with the Miami Heat last week, telling confidants that he wanted to begin his NBA career learning from Pat Riley.

He's in line to get that opportunity.

The star Kansas State forward went to the Heat with the No. 2 selection in the NBA draft Thursday night, moments after the Chicago Bulls, as expected, took Memphis point guard Derrick Rose with the top pick.

So barring a trade, Beasley will line up alongside Dwyane Wade when the Heat begin their rebuilding project next season.

"We're here now," the 19-year-old Beasley said. "I'm happy with the decision that has been made and I'm just ready to get to Miami."

Beasley was expected to arrive in South Florida on Friday, when he'll be formally introduced as the highest Heat draft pick in team history. Most of the estimated 4,000 fans at the team's draft party stood and cheered when Beasley's name was announced; one young boy even wore a Heat jersey with "Beasley" stitched over the name of a former Miami player — Shaquille O'Neal.

"I don't think there was any question on our part," said Riley, the Heat president who retired as head coach after this past season. "We love Michael. He's an incredible athlete. He's a great scorer. I don't even want to get into talking with you about the numbers we've analyzed. They're really off the charts."

Beasley averaged 26.2 points and a Division I-best 12.4 rebounds in his lone season at Kansas State. The Heat were largely silent in the weeks leading up to the draft and worked out several other prospects, prompting speculation they simply weren't enthralled with Beasley.

Not even close. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra even called the Miami-doesn't-want-Beasley talk in recent days "a little humorous."

"In the last couple days, we felt very comfortable that if he was available we were very excited to take the pick," Spoelstra said.

Riley said his top personnel staff — general manager Randy Pfund, player personnel VP Chet Kammerer and director of college scouting Adam Simon — "got me in a room and made sure that Mr. Beasley was going to be part of the Miami Heat."

Riley said several teams asked about making trades with Miami in an effort to get the chance to draft Beasley, and one of those deals would have included a point guard and a center — two areas of need for the Heat.

But Riley declined the overtures.

"They were good players," Riley said. "But I think this kid's going to be a great player."

Beasley, according to the people around him, would be thrilled to be on South Beach for years to come.

"He can't wait to get going," said Bruce Shingler, who left his job on Kansas State's basketball staff to be Beasley's mentor for his first pro season.

Spoelstra insisted that the Heat drafted Beasley with a plan to keep him.

"Michael is definitely picked to play for the Heat," Spoelstra said.

Added Riley, who saw Beasley play in person three times this past season and interviewed him at least twice in recent weeks: "He's not in play."

Many observers tabbed Beasley as the top talent in college basketball last season. Listed at 6-foot-10 — but standing closer to 6-foot-8 — Beasley has both the power to finish around the basket and the finesse to step outside, meaning he could play either forward position for the Heat.

And clearly, Miami could use the help.

"We needed a lot of holes filled," Riley said. "And we still do."

They addressed one of those holes in the second round, obtaining the rights to Kansas guard Mario Chalmers — the most outstanding player at this year's Final Four — from Minnesota for two future second-round picks and cash. Chalmers was the 34th overall selection.

The Heat added yet another player from the Sunflower State with their own second-round selection, the 52nd overall, taking forward Darnell Jackson, who was the leading rebounder for the national champion Jayhawks. But he didn't stay with Miami for long; the Heat traded him early Friday to Cleveland for a second-round pick next year.

The Heat finished 15-67 this past season, matching the worst record in franchise history. It was an injury-marred season — Wade missed 31 games and he, Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion, Alonzo Mourning and Dorell Wright all suffered season-ending maladies. Plus, when it became apparent that the postseason was out of Miami's reach, the team traded O'Neal to Phoenix, ushering in a new rebuilding era.

Beasley, apparently, now becomes the first step in Riley's master plan to turn the Heat around.

"He speaks so highly of Coach Riley," Shingler said. "And the reality of it is, like Coach Riley, Michael is a winner."

Bulls take Rose with No. 1 pick in NBA draft

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA.

The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city's South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.

With Beasley going second to Miami and Minnesota picking O.J. Mayo at No. 3, college freshmen made up the first three picks for the first time in draft history.

"We actually talked about this earlier," Beasley said. "We all grew up together and we all grew up playing against each other and we all made a pact together that we would all be here. Just to see it all fall into place and see it all happen is kind of crazy."

The Timberwolves dealt Mayo's rights to Memphis for the rights to Kevin Love, the No. 5 pick, in an eight-player deal after the draft ended. Minnesota also gets Mike Miller, Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal, and sent Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric and Greg Buckner to Memphis.

Five of the first seven players selected and 10 in the first round were freshmen, both NBA records. It was also a big night for the Pac-10 Conference, which had five of the first 11 picks.

Rose led the Tigers to the national championship game in his lone college season. The Bulls opted for the point guard's playmaking ability over the scoring and rebounding of Beasley, who ranked in the top three in the nation in both categories.

"We talked so much about it. We really did," Bulls general manager John Paxson said. "Very honestly, at the end when we made our decision, it was unanimous with my scouts and coaches and myself. This was the direction we wanted to go in the end, and it has nothing to do with the talent of Michael Beasley. This had everything to do with the direction we felt was right for us."

Rose is the Bulls' first No. 1 overall selection since they grabbed Elton Brand in 1999. He's the second straight freshman taken with the top pick, following Portland's Greg Oden last year.

The 6-foot-3 guard put on a red Bulls cap, hugged some supporters, including Memphis coach John Calipari, and shook hands with Beasley, seated at a nearby table, before walking onto the stage to meet NBA commissioner David Stern.

"I was a little nervous when they came back out, but I always had that in mind that I want to be No. 1," Rose said. "So it was great hearing my name and being the No. 1 pick."

Rose should be an upgrade over Kirk Hinrich, who now could be traded, and gives the Bulls another option if they don't re-sign guard Ben Gordon.

Expected to contend for a division title, the Bulls instead stumbled to a 33-49 record and eventually replaced two coaches. But with just a 1.7 percent chance, they won last month's draft lottery, giving them a chance to quickly return to the playoffs.

"It feels great to go in and compete," Rose said. "I'm just blessed to be in that position right now, because a lot of people aren't. And just knowing that we are a few pieces away from really contending as a team, it just makes me happy."

Miami settled for Beasley at No. 2, even though he wasn't sure if the Heat would go for Mayo instead. Beasley averaged 26.2 points, third in the nation, and topped Division I with 12.4 rebounds per game. But with questions about his size — he may be 2 inches shorter than the 6-foot-10 he's listed at — the Bulls may not have believed he could play the 4 spot in the NBA.

After Mayo's selection, UCLA guard Russell Westbrook was the first non-freshmen taken, going fourth to the Seattle SuperSonics — with new teammate and reigning Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant standing and applauding the pick from the back.

Love gave UCLA consecutive picks and the New York Knicks followed at No. 6 with Italian forward Danilo Gallinari, whose father played with new coach Mike D'Antoni overseas. Fans in Madison Square Garden weren't impressed, booing loudly.

"It's part of the game, all the players have got to hear this," Gallinari said. "Not every time can you hear good things. It's normal."

Indiana guard Eric Gordon became the fifth freshman taken, going to the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 7. West Virginia's Joe Alexander, whose stock began to rise after a strong run at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament, went to Milwaukee with the next pick.

Charlotte gave new coach Larry Brown a point guard, taking D.J. Augustin of Texas with the ninth pick. New Jersey took Stanford center Brook Lopez at No. 10, and Arizona's Jerryd Bayless joined fellow Pac-10 guards Mayo and Westbrook by going 11th to Indiana.

Bayless' rights were later traded to Portland along with Ike Diogu for the rights to Brandon Rush, the No. 13 pick from national champion Kansas, Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts. Rush's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told The Associated Press about the deal shortly after Rush was taken.

The Pacers also had a proposed trade with the Toronto Raptors. Indiana would send six-time All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto for T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick in the draft and a player to be determined.

Sacramento pulled a surprise at No. 12 with Rider forward Jason Thompson, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year and the first senior taken. Golden State grabbed LSU forward Anthony Randolph — yet another freshman — with the 14th and final lottery pick.

Robin Lopez joined twin brother Brook in the NBA when Phoenix chose him at No. 15. That started a run of big men in which Philadelphia took Florida's Marreese Speights, Toronto picked Roy Hibbert of Georgetown at No. 17, and Washington drafted Nevada 7-footer JaVale McGee with the 18th pick.

After taking guards earlier, Seattle and Charlotte both went big with their second first-round picks. The Bobcats selected French center Alexis Aninca at No. 20 and the Sonics took Congo's Serge Ibaka four picks later.

Darrell Arthur of Kansas was the final player in the green room, lasting until the 27th spot, where New Orleans grabbed him — and dealt his rights to Portland for cash in a previously arranged deal. The Trail Blazers then traded his rights to the Houston Rockets, who shipped them to Memphis in another transaction.

NBA champion Boston chose J.R. Giddens of New Mexico with the 30th and final pick of the first round.

Mario Chalmers, Darnell Jackson (No. 52, Miami) and Sasha Kaun (No. 56, Seattle) were taken in the second round, giving the Jayhawks five players in the draft — and all had their rights traded. Chalmers was picked by Minnesota but his rights were later dealt to Miami. Cleveland later acquired the rights to both Jackson and Kaun.

Joey Dorsey (Portland, No. 33, rights traded to Houston) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (New Jersey, No. 40) of runner-up Memphis also were picked. Texas A&M center DeAndre Jordan, considered a possible lottery pick, tumbled to the Clippers at No. 35.

Other well-known names going late in the draft included: UCLA's Luc Mbah a Moute (No. 37, Milwaukee); Georgetown's Patrick Ewing Jr. (No. 43, Sacramento); Kansas State's Bill Walker (No. 47, Washington, rights traded to Boston); and Kentucky's Joe Crawford (No. 58, Lakers).

___

AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt in Indianapolis, Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis and Andrew Seligman in Chicago contributed to this report.

Will e-mails affect judge's view on Sonics' lease?

Turns out, Seattle leaders have some issues with e-mail, too.

After months of enduring bombshell releases of incriminating messages that seemed to doom their case, the SuperSonics have produced damning e-mail from Seattle power brokers in the trial that will determine whether the team will move to Oklahoma City or be forced to play the final two years of its lease at Seattle's KeyArena.

Federal judge Marsha Pechman will hear closing arguments Thursday to end this six-day trial.

The Sonics lawyers introduced evidence last week showing the former U.S. senator whom the city hired to lead its effort to keep the team was involved in a "poisoned well" plan to force Sonics owner Clay Bennett — the supposed villain in this civic drama — into losing so much money he would sell the team to local buyers.

But how much will that matter?

Pechman will be focused on the case's fundamental issue: exactly what does the Sonics' lease require? And what is the appropriate remedy for the final two seasons of it, which Bennett's Professional Basketball Club LLC wants to buyout so it can move the Sonics to the owners' hometown for the 2008-09 season?

Seattle's deputy mayor Tim Ceis, who may testify Thursday if Pechman grants the city a rebuttal witness, gushed after last week's testimony.

"We're very, very pleased with how the case has gone," Ceis said, "and we're looking forward to having a good conclusion."

Seattle's attorneys have presented the e-mail messages that got much fanfare before the trial, showing Sonics owners appearing eager to move the team to Oklahoma soon after they purchased it in 2006.

The city has emphasized Bennett and his partners knew the Sonics were losing $20 million per season before they bought the team, so owners' estimates that they will lose more than $60 million if forced to stay two more seasons in Seattle shouldn't matter.

In an attempt to show the Sonics have unique civic value that can't be equated with a lease buyout, the city has brought in sports economic experts plus award-winning author Sherman Alexie. Alexie, a season-ticket holder, provided the tedious trial with comic relief last week when he breathlessly testified "I want two more years of the great gods" of the NBA and "the great thing about basketball is they're barely wearing any clothes."

The rest of the city's week wasn't so funny.

Friday, the Sonics produced e-mail messages and a slide presentation discussed by a Seattle group, including former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, whom the city has retained to lead its efforts to keep the Sonics. The documents outline a plan of inflicting enough economic pain on Bennett that he may want to sell the team to local investors.

The Sonics maintain this is a garden-variety disagreement between tenant and landlord, so special performance should not apply and they should be able to fulfill the final two seasons of the lease with rent payments.

"Specific performance has been the city's weapon of choice to try to inflict undue economic hardship on PBC to force it to sell," Sonics attorney Brad Keller said in his opening argument.

Bennett testified he intended to remain in Seattle, with his team playing at a profitable new suburban arena in Seattle's dynamic economic market — but that city and state leaders rejected his effort. That left him with an economically obsolete KeyArena and forced him to apply for relocation, which the NBA overwhelmingly approved.

"I never envisioned me sitting here today, because I believed we'd build a building (or) we'd negotiate the lease — and we'd move on," Bennett said last week.

Many legal experts never expected this trial, either. They thought the case would be settled before the trial began June 16, amid a rally of thousands of fans chanting "Save our Sonics!" Others saw this three-day break before the trial resumes Thursday as fertile ground for a settlement.

But Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has already rejected Bennett's offer of $26.5 million to settle.

Fred Nance, a negotiator for the city of Cleveland when it reached a settlement with the NFL for a future team when it lost the original Browns, says the NBA must be part of any deal so Seattle can be assured of a replacement team.

Yet the league and city remain disconnected over what NBA commissioner David Stern has criticized as a "scorched-earth policy" by Seattle leaders.

Two cities, their fan bases and the NBA await Pechman's ruling. She will announce Thursday when she will issue it.

"It's a shot in the dark," Nance said when asked to predict the result in Seattle. "The stakes are so high."

Red Sox honor NBA champion Celtics

A fast-moving thunderstorm didn't dampen the Fenway Park fans' spirit for the NBA champion Boston Celtics on Friday night.

Honored during a brief pregame ceremony as heavy rain was falling, the NBA champs — atop three duck boats — entered from center-field and circled Fenway to a standing ovation, a shortened scene from their parade through downtown on Thursday.

With the Red Sox plays wearing green jerseys usually reserved for St. Patrick's Day during spring training in Florida, the Celtics brought the NBA championship trophies from four seasons to Fenway. The players wore their warmups, with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett leading their teammates with pumping fists and waves to a crowd as the rain was pouring and the grounds crew was putting the tarp on the field.

The Red Sox also had their grounds crew cut out a shamrock in the center-field grass prior to the game.

After about an hour delay due to the rain, the champions were reintroduced and came running in from center field, with Finals MVP Pierce sliding into the second.

Pierce then took the mound to chants of "MVP" before firing a high and hard first pitch that tipped off the glove of leaping catcher Jason Varitek.

Coach Doc Rivers then said "Play ball!" before the Red Sox took the field for their game against St. Louis, which began after a one-hour, 14-minute delay.

On the center-field scoreboard, a brief video tribute was played before they rode out with Queen's "We are the Champions" playing in the background. The team brought their trophies from this season, 1981, '84 and '86, four of the NBA-leading 17 the franchise has captured.

Former Celtics Jo Jo White and Cedrick Maxwell also were in attendance.

A few minutes after it was over, a large rainbow was shining in the distance.

Sonics owner back on stand, acknowledges mistakes

SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett testified Wednesday that he made mistakes in dealing with the city of Seattle after he bought the team in 2006.

"We bought this team with grand visions for success," he said. "Did we do everything right, and did we understand everything there was to understand? Certainly not."

Bennett began his second day on the witness stand in a federal trial over the Sonics' lease at KeyArena under friendly questioning from team attorney Brad Keller, and didn't specify his mistakes.

He finished shortly before noon and was replaced on the stand by Sonics president Danny Barth, who discussed the team's finances, charitable work and the difficulty of running the business when it's unclear where the Sonics will play next year. He said 23 of 125 employees have quit in the last six months.

Bennett suggested he misunderstood the region's political climate. But he also testified he simply wasn't willing to commit to the things his local advisers told him would be necessary to win government support for a new arena and keep the Sonics in town: make an out-of-pocket contribution toward the construction, and agree to cover cost overruns.

The 48-year-old Oklahoma tycoon, who received calls of "Liar!" when he entered federal court Monday, also said he's regretted his failure "to integrate more completely with the people" of Seattle — it's to the point "I can't go to games."

"I'm not real popular," he said.

Some fans seated in the rear of the courtroom chuckled.

He said that if U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman forces the team to honor the final two years of the KeyArena lease, it would cost the Sonics $60 million and make it tough to attract good players and coaches to improve from a franchise-worst record of 20-62 last season. The league's most talented players probably wouldn't be interested in moving to Seattle for just two years, he said.

He also extolled the virtues of Oklahoma City's Ford Center, where, he said, the team could make $17 million over the next two years. He cited the "wildly enthusiastic" support for the NBA there when the Hornets relocated temporarily from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

New courtside suites, exclusive lounge areas just off the court that Bennett said are becoming the trend in the newest NBA arenas, are expected to be installed in the Ford Center by the 2009-10 season. He said that is just the type of high-end amenity that KeyArena lacks.

Bennett is trying to move Seattle's oldest professional sports franchise to his hometown of Oklahoma City.

In the non-jury trial, the city is asking Pechman to force the Sonics to honor their lease, which includes a clause that either side may "specifically enforce" the terms. Seattle lawyers say Bennett's a sophisticated businessman who knew what he was getting into when he bought the team, can absorb the losses without difficulty, and should not now be allowed to plead hardship in breaking the lease.

Bennett has acknowledged that when he bought the team he was aware of all of the problems with KeyArena — including its size, lack of high-end suites, poor layout for concessions and a lease that requires sharing revenue with the city.

If Pechman allows the team to relocate, a separate trial would be held to determine how much the team must pay in damages.

In a post-court news conference Wednesday, Seattle lawyer Paul Lawrence disputed Bennett's insistence that the team would lose $60 million in Seattle over the next two years. He pointed to the Boston Celtics, who won the NBA title this week after having the worst record last season.

"If the team has a turnaround like the Boston Celtics ... I assure you they're going to make money," Lawrence said.

Bennett continued to insist he was a "man possessed" to keep the Sonics in Seattle — despite e-mails that show he and co-owners discussed relocating soon after buying the team. He cited his efforts to have a new arena built in the Seattle suburbs.

"I believed in the bottom of my heart that we would succeed. And I am personally disappointed that we did not," he testified.

As part of the purchase, Bennett agreed to make "good-faith best efforts" to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

The city argues that Bennett's demand for a new $500 million arena — presented late in the 2007 legislative session — was so unreasonable as to have been designed to fail. The team offered $100 million from future revenue, such as ticket surcharges and parking fees, but nothing out-of-pocket.

In e-mails to his lobbyists, advisers and others, Bennett said any Sonics' contribution would be "nominal" or "negligible," and suggested the amount could be offset by a credit for the team's ongoing financial losses.

Lawrence repeatedly asked Bennett about e-mails to and from his co-owners, seeking to establish that they were bent on relocating from the moment they bought the Sonics. In one memo to his ownership group, Bennett wrote: "In the context of our 'good faith best efforts' commitment and working with our lawyers and communications consultant ... We will consider a renovation of KeyArena."

"You never made that effort, did you?" Lawrence asked.

"I never considered a renovation of KeyArena," Bennett responded.

Celtics back in Boston with 2 chances at NBA title

The Boston Celtics are home, not home free. Unable to put the finishing touches on the Los Angeles Lakers and wrap up their first championship since 1986, the NBA's best team since November flew back across three time zones Monday for a Game 6 they were hoping they wouldn't have to play.

But injuries, another big first-half deficit and a sub-par performance by center Kevin Garnett cost the banged-up Celtics, who lost 103-98 on Sunday in Game 5 at Los Angeles and left Staples Center kicking themselves at the missed opportunity.

"Not what we wanted," coach Doc Rivers said of the team's stay in Southern California. "We wanted two more (wins). Obviously, the blanket was that we get to go home, but we really believed that we could win one of these games. We won one and we'll take it, but that's obviously not what we want."

The Celtics weren't at full strength for Game 5, missing center Kendrick Perkins with a shoulder injury. Whether he'll play in Game 6 will be a game-time decision, but Boston expects to have shooting guard Ray Allen available.

He left the arena immediately following Sunday's game because of a "health issue" with his toddler son, Walker, who underwent medical tests Sunday and Monday. Allen was still at the hospital when the rest of the Celtics arrived in Boston at about 10:30 p.m. EDT Monday, team spokesman Jeff Twiss told The Associated Press.

Allen planned to take an overnight flight so he could play Tuesday night, according to Twiss.

The Larry O'Brien Trophy, given each year to the league's top team, was nearly Boston's on Sunday night in Los Angeles. At one point, it appeared to be on its way to the floor for an awards ceremony now on hold. Instead of being hoisted by the Celtics, it was hauled off to LAX and loaded into a jet's cargo hold for the six-hour flight to New England.

Despite the loss, the tradition-drenched Celtics feel good about their chances of winning a 17th title — on the 17th.

"We're one up, with two games to go at home," said Paul Pierce, who scored 38 in Game 5. "It still feels like we have the advantage, and I do feel like we're the better team."

So the 11th installment of Celtics vs. Lakers, the league's signature rivalry and one of the best in pro sports, has at least one more 48-minute episode.

After a 21-year gap between finals meetings, these teams aren't quite ready to part company.

Why would they?

Now five games old, this series has had plenty of drama (Pierce's return from a Game 1 knee injury), history (Boston's finals record 24-point comeback in Game 4), surprises (Leon Powe's emergence as a Game 2 star) and even a little scandal as former referee Tim Donaghy's allegations of fixed playoff games has hung over the finals like a layer of L.A. smog.

The Lakers are trying to become the first team in finals history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a title, and they're one step closer. If they can win Game 6 on Tuesday night in TD Banknorth Garden, they'll force a decisive Game 7 to cap a season as trying as any in commissioner David Stern's career.

Kobe Bryant and his teammates staved off elimination Sunday by getting more physical with the Celtics, who Tuesday night will play their 26th game of this postseason — a record — and could be wearing down physically.

Los Angeles center Pau Gasol shed his "soft" label for a night and scored 19 points with 13 rebounds, banging his way inside against Garnett, the league's best defender who couldn't push back at the Spaniard while hampered with fouls.

"Pau was terrific," said Bryant, who set the tone early with 15 first-half points and finished with 25 on 8-of-21 shooting. "He was aggressive. At both ends of the floor he did a great job."

Garnett was disgusted by his game and Boston's big man vowed to make amends when the Celtics get back inside their rowdy house on Causeway Street, where Boston's fans arrive early, party late and treat visitors with little regard.

Lakers, you've been warned.

"It's going to be like coming into the Amazon, into the jungle," he said. "I look forward to coming home and playing."

Following the teams' first across-the-U.S.A. trek of the series, Game 3 was one of the sloppiest finals games in recent memory as the Lakers and Celtics battled jet lag and season-ending fatigue.

With just one day off in the highly debated 2-3-2 format, Boston coach Doc Rivers expects Game 6 to be a struggle.

"It's a terrible turnaround," he said. "It's as tough as you can have. I think going West to East is tougher. Sleep patterns are messed up. It's a tough one. There's no way around it. But both teams have the same issue, so it could come down to a game of mental toughness, who fights the fatigue mentally better than the other group."

But Boston is comforted by being at home, where they are 12-1 in the postseason, where the parquet-patterned floor soothes any nerves and where the 16 championship banners hanging overhead link the Celtics to their past and remind them of their goal.

"That," Rivers said, "'is not a bad place to be."

He's (still) got game: Allen playing for 1st title

Things had gotten so bad that Ray Allen was in danger of being downgraded from the Big Three to third wheel.

A career 20-point scorer who was the catalyst in bringing Boston from the draft lottery to the brink of a title, Allen was mired in the biggest slump of his postseason career before snapping out of it in the NBA finals against the Lakers.

With 19 points and nine rebounds in Game 4, Allen helped the Celtics beat Los Angeles 97-91 and open a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. While he was dangerous from outside, he also had a pair of backbreaking layups in the final minutes as Boston completed its unprecedented rally from a 24-point deficit.

"Ray's a scorer, not a shooter," Celtics guard Eddie House said, listing a variety of drives, catch-and-shoots, fallaways and plain old jumpers in his All-Star teammate's repertoire. "He gives you a smorgasbord of moves."

No matter what Allen did during the season — or does in whatever playoff games remain — his biggest contribution to the team probably came during the summer, when the Celtics acquired him for the No. 5 draft pick they were saddled with in the lottery.

It was only then, after Allen joined up with Paul Pierce, that Kevin Garnett agreed to the deal that put the final piece in the Big Three and propelled the Celtics to the biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history.

"When they got Ray Allen, I told (Garnett), 'You'd better get to Boston,'" said Sam Cassell, who played with Allen in Milwaukee and Garnett in Minnesota before joining them both with the Celtics midseason.

"I played with Ray five years in Milwaukee. Ray's still the same guy," Cassell said. "If you run into Ray, you wouldn't know if he had 20 points or five points. His demeanor doesn't change."

It's true.

Even as his scoring slumped early in the playoffs, Allen insisted that he wasn't concerned as long as the Celtics kept moving on.

"I've scored my whole career, and to not score — it didn't affect me at all," Allen said before practice on Saturday. "We're winning games, and I was just trying to figure out how to make plays for the team, to make this team better."

Sill, he admitted it was a learning experience.

"Yeah, I want to score to help this team out," he said. "But if they're taking that away from me, (I have to) figure something else out."

An eight-time All-Star well on his way to 20,000 career points, Allen understood that his scoring would decrease when he arrived in Boston. After averaging 26.4 points per game last year, he had just 17.4 this season as he got in line behind Pierce and Garnett.

"I got here, and the ball was going to Kevin and Paul most of the time," Allen said. "I just had to take a back seat and just be ready when my number was called."

But what happened in the playoffs wasn't about passing up shots; it was about missing them. In a nine-game span from the finale of the first round to the opener of the Eastern Conference finals, Allen averaged nine points on 31 percent shooting.

"I personally didn't think was struggling. I just think I wasn't scoring," he said. "I was still playing the game, how the game was dictating me to play. Whether I scored or I made shots, we still won games."

And through it all, he never wavered.

Like any star shooter — sorry, scorer — in a slump, Allen just kept firing them up there until they resumed falling. And, in the meantime, he kept playing defense, kept making passes, kept going after loose balls and rebounds.

"I've always considered myself a basketball player," he said. "I've scored a lot of points, and will continue to score points. But I also love passing, I love rebounding, I love doing things that make my teammates better.

"And that's going to be my ultimate objective: to try to make this team better so we can win a championship."

Thanks to Allen, they're almost there.

He is averaging 20 points and six rebounds in the finals, making 12-of-25 from 3-point range. On Thursday night, Allen made a baseline reverse layup that faked out half the Lakers on the court, then blew past Sasha Vujacic for an easy layup that gave Boston a 96-91 lead with 16 seconds left.

"He's allowed to drive because he has a great jump shot," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "He just lifted his head, looked at the rim. Defensively, you have to react to that because he's such a great shooter; when you're not, you can look at the rim all day and it's not going to make them come up and defend the guy any closer."

While Garnett's intensity is visible and Pierce is a slap-on-the-back kind of teammate, Allen is no less a leader.

"They're just all different in a lot of ways," Rivers said. "You can call him the mentor of the group with a lot of the young guys. He enjoys that role. He does it. And the young guys actually listen sometimes."

Celtics storm back, beat Lakers 97-91 in Game 4

In their comeback season, the Celtics saved the biggest one of all for the NBA finals. Boston rallied from a 24-point deficit and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 97-91 on Thursday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in this history-rich series and move within one victory of a 17th championship that seemed impossible a year ago.

A rivalry between the league's two most storied franchises — with some of the game's biggest names and biggest moments — now has its biggest rally.

No team had ever overcome more than a 15-point deficit after the first quarter, and Elias Sports Bureau said it was the biggest comeback in the finals since 1971. One thing's for sure, it will forever be remembered in the annals of Celtics-Lakers lore.

When the final horn sounded, Paul Pierce, an L.A. kid playing in front of family and friends, doubled over in exhaustion and exuberance. The Celtics, the team he stuck with through 10 years, including a 24-win season in 2006-07, had done the impossible.

"We sucked it up," Pierce said. "We said we weren't going to back down.

"At the end of the third quarter I looked up at the scoreboard and told the fellas, 'We just have to go out there and compete and let the chips fall where they may.'"

Pierce scored 20 points, Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ray Allen had 19 points as Boston's Big Three, thrown together last summer by general manager Danny Ainge to revive a franchise accustomed to hanging banners from the rafters, put the Lakers on the brink of a summer vacation.

It took an epic comeback to do it, and now the Celtics can reclaim their place atop pro basketball with a win in Game 5 on Sunday night in Los Angeles.

No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

"It can always happen. We aren't counting on that statistic," Pierce said. "We want to take care of this on Father's Day."

Kobe Bryant scored 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting but the league's MVP couldn't rescue the Lakers when they needed him most. Lamar Odom had 19 points — 15 in the first half — and Pau Gasol, whose addition in a midseason trade was supposed to give the Lakers their final piece to complement Bryant, had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Trailing by 18 points at halftime and seemingly done when they fell behind by 20 with 6:04 left in the third quarter, the Celtics outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter to pull within 73-71 going into the fourth.

The remarkable rally was reminiscent of what Los Angeles did in Game 2, when the Lakers trimmed a 24-point deficit to two in the fourth quarter before the Celtics regrouped to open a 2-0 lead. But Boston had another 12 minutes to finish off theirs, and the green-and-white did.

Boston's comeback included a 21-3 run over the final five minutes, fueled by two 3-pointers from Eddie House, who was getting more playing time because of Rajon Rondo's tender left ankle. The Celtics were still down by double digits with 2 minutes left in the third but closed the quarter with a 10-1 run, capped by P.J. Brown's dunk — a slam that could be felt all the way back to Boston's North End.

The Celtics finally caught the Lakers at 73-all on Leon Powe's jumper in the lane with 9:05 remaining, tying the score for the first time since it was 2-2 in the first minute.

At that point, the Lakers looked lost, confused, you name it. And when House hit an 18-foot jumper with 4:07 remaining, the Celtics had their first lead, 84-83. Boston's bench erupted, Lakers fans gasped and it was just a matter of time before they were heading out of Staples Center wondering what went wrong.

Bryant, who except for a 36-point performance in Game 3 has been an ordinary superstar in his try for a fourth championship ring, tried to rally the Lakers and got them within 89-87 with one of his patented twisting layups. But James Posey drilled a 3-pointer for Boston to make it 92-87 with 1:13 left. Derek Fisher's long jumper got the Lakers within three.

But Pierce was fouled and made two free throws, forcing Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson to call a timeout with 47 seconds to go. As the Lakers headed toward their bench, Pierce pumped his fists, flexed his muscles and let out a yell.

Surrounded by Hollywood stars on their own back lot sound stage, the Lakers were seeking their 10th straight win at home in the postseason and were about to drop the "if necessary" tag from Game 6. Now, they have to hope they can force the series back to Boston.

For the third time in this series, commissioner David Stern met with the media before the game. It was an unusual step for the league's long-tenured leader, who went on the offensive to defend the integrity of NBA officials under fire in the Tim Donaghy scandal.

Maybe the next investigation should focus on what happened to the Celtics in the first quarter.

L.A's crowd, notorious for arriving late, leaving early and spending more time text messaging and talking on cell phones than clapping, was much more involved than in Game 3. They roared when Lakers Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar presented the game ball to officials and were on their feet when Los Angeles blasted to a 16-6 lead.

By then, Odom had scored eight points, doubling his total from Game 3 and the enigmatic forward finished the first quarter having made all six field goal attempts and scoring 13 points. Moments later, Garnett went out with his second personal, and with the NBA's best defender on the bench, the Lakers ran wild.

Odom made consecutive jumpers from the top of the key to put Los Angeles ahead 26-7. The Lakers eventually pushed their lead to 45-21 when Sasha Vujacic, whose 20 points sparked his team in Game 3, nailed a 3-pointer and it was the Boston Massacre, West Coast style.

But the Celtics wouldn't quit.

"Once we got the lead, obviously, we were thrilled to death," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "As far as we were down, nothing was going right for us, and we just hung in there."

Notes:@ Some of Hollywood's brightest stars glimmered, including the usuals: Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington and Dyan Cannon. They were joined by former NFL star Jerry Rice, actress Jennifer Garner with husband Ben Affleck, singer Justin Timberlake, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart. ... The Celtics and Lakers finished with the best records in their respective conferences. It's the first time teams with the top marks have met in the finals since Indiana and Los Angeles in 2000. The last team to have the league's top record and win the title was San Antonio in 2003. ... Two hours before tipoff, two seats in the lower bowl were going for $3,500 apiece through an on-line ticket brokerage.

Attacking Bryant scores 36 to power Lakers past Celtics in NBA Finals

An aggressive 36-point performance from National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant powered the Los Angeles Lakers past Boston 87-81 here Tuesday in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers pulled within two games to one in the best-of-seven series by winning their ninth home playoff game in a row - one shy of the NBA one-season record - and can level the best-of-seven series by winning game four Thursday.

"Undoubtedly it was the leadership of Kobe Bryant. He was aggressive right from the start," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We stayed aggressive and Kobe was very instrumental in that."

Bryant struggled in two losses at Boston but drove confidently to the basket on his home court, hitting 12-of-20 from the field and 11-of-18 free throws, and shut down Boston scoring leader Paul Pierce with a solid defensive effort.

"I just went. I took it too them. I had the confidence that once I get in there I can make the right play," Bryant said. "I wanted to put their defense in jeopardy a little bit more than we did in Boston.

Slovenia's Sasha Vujacic added 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting for the Lakers, connecting on 3-of-5 from 3-point range including a crucial shot from the left corner after the Celtics missed a chance to equalize late in the game.

"We played with heart," Vujacic said. "We didn't play a great game. We didn't play not even good. We were just fighting and that was the key."

No team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, a hole the Lakers avoided by winning, and only three have come back from losing the first two games to win the finals, a feat the Lakers hope to match.

"They are going to take something away," Bryant said. "The important thing for us is to figure out how to win despite that. That's the key if you want to win a championship."

Ray Allen led Boston with 25 points while Kevin Garnett added 13 points and 12 rebounds, but the Celtics shot a woeful 34.9 percent. Pierce hitting only 2-of-14 in his hometown return and Garnett only 6-of-21.

"Myself and Paul didn't have the best night. Shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game," Garnett said. "We have some more games to play. I'm sure I'll get better."

Even with their stars stagnant, the Celtics still almost won.

"We had a chance to steal a game here when our guys were off," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Our defense was pretty good. Our offense was not."

A Garnett bank shot pulled the Celtics within 78-76 with 2:39 to play but Boston reserve Eddie House missed an equalizer attempt. Vujacic followed with a 3-pointer from the left corner and Derek Fisher added two Lakers free throws.

"That was a big swing," Allen said. "Bad as we played, we had opportunities. That's a positive we can look at. We can see so much room for improvement."

Bryant answered two Boston baskets with jumpers of his own, keeping the Lakers on top 87-81 with 38 seconds to play,

"Kobe picked us up at the end," Laker center Pau Gasol said. "What we found out was we didn't play well at all but we got it done. It was a big positive."

An offensive foul on Garnett doomed Boston's last meaningful possession.

"I think Kevin kind of ran our of gas. It looked like he was gassed in the fourth quarter," Jackson said. "Our defense stepped up. Putting Kobe on Pierce was the difference. It was more difficult for him to work to get free."

Pierce missed 10 of his first 11 shots in the game and the Celtics missed nine of their first 11 shots in the fourth quarter.

"It's frustrating," Pierce said. "By no means does it break my confidence. Some shots I took were good for me. They just didn't fall. Then I took myself out of rhythm by getting in foul trouble. I expect to be better in game four."

Bryant plans to match Pierce's moves with tough defense.

"I just try to stay with him. He's a tough guard. He's a bad boy," Bryant said. "He a tough cover, as tough as you are going to have in the league. I just tried to accept the challenge and make it as tough as I can for him."

The Lakers found their way to the free throw line more often after Jackson complained about referee calls in game two. But Bryant missed seven free throws, saying his form was off because he reached the line so seldomly.

"It felt like I wass in a foreign territory because I haven't been there in so long," Bryant said. "It was like somebody took me and dropped me in the middle of Shanghai with no translator and no dictionary. It was crazy.

"At least I got there. so that's a positive."

Celtics hold off Lakers to take 2-0 Finals lead

The Boston Celtics survived a furious fightback by the Los Angeles Lakers to hold on for a 108-102 win on Sunday, the victory giving the Eastern Conference champions a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals series.

The teams now head to the West Coast with the Lakers needing to win at least two of the three games at home or watch the Celtics return to Boston with a 17th NBA title.

Game Three is at the Staples Center on Tuesday.

The Lakers will feel aggrieved to be leaving Boston without the series level at 1-1 after staging a dramatic fourth quarter rally that fell just short.

With the Celtics leading by 24 points and eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Lakers sliced the Boston lead to 104-102 with 22 seconds left on the clock.

But with the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats, Paul Pierce nailed two clutch free throws to give Boston a 106-102 lead and the cushion needed to seal their victory.

"I wasn't happy about the way we ended the game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers told reporters.

"But we're up 2-0 and now we have to go on the road.

"We've got to play through 48 minutes and I didn't think we did that.

"I think we got cute when we got the lead. We started trying to make sensational plays instead of keeping it simple."

Pierce, who injured his knee in the third quarter of Game One and was taken from the court in a wheelchair only to make a dramatic return, showed no signs of the injury to lead the Celtics with 28 points.

Leon Powe, who averaged just eight points a game during the regular season, came off the bench to contribute 21 for the Celtics while Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen scored 17 each.

"I didn't really think about the injury because once I step on the court, it pretty much goes out the window," said Pierce. "I felt good, I just went out and played.

"We did our job, we held home court."

OPENING TIP-OFF

The crowd erupted when Pierce and centre Kendrick Perkins, who was also injured in Game One, took their place on the court for the tip-off.

The Lakers battled their way to a 22-20 first quarter lead but the Celtics responded with a 10-0 run to open the second and did not trail again, taking a 54-42 advantage into halftime.

The Celtics stepped up the pressure in the third quarter, opening up a 16-point cushion before the Lakers trimmed the deficit to nine.

Riding the energy of the crowd, Boston hit back with a 13-0 run to take control of the game, 81-59, in the final minute of the third quarter.

The Lakers, however, began to hit from long range, nailing seven three-pointers in the final quarter -- tying a NBA finals record -- and forcing the Celtics to dig deep for the win.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, the NBA's regular season most valuable player, struggled to find his range early on but finished with a game-high 30 points.

"It is what is, they took care of business at home and we've got to go home and try and do the same thing," Bryant said.

"It's not the end of the world.

"We've come too far to sweat being down 2-0."

(Editing by John O'Brien)

Pierce rests sore knee day after inspiring return

Paul Pierce's dramatic return was compelling theater in the round(ball), one of those defining, Willis Reed-type moments.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had front-row seats at both events, wasn't so impressed.

"If I'm not mistaken," a cynic and sarcastic Jackson said Friday, "I think Willis Reed missed a whole half and three quarters almost of a game and literally had to have a shot, a horse shot, three or four of them in his thigh to come back out and play. Paul got carried off and was back on his feet in a minute."

Pierce, who had to be hoisted in his teammates' arms and taken from the floor in excruciating pain, summoned his strength and returned to Game 1 of the NBA finals despite a sprained right knee and led the Boston Celtics to a 98-88 win in Game 1 of the NBA finals over Los Angeles.

Pierce's gutty comeback — to some — drew immediate comparisons to a more famous one made by Reed, the Knicks center who dragged himself onto Madison Square Garden's court for Game 7 of the 1970 finals against the Lakers despite a severe knee injury.

Jackson was there that night 38 years ago in New York. He was Reed's teammate. And as far as Jackson is concerned, Pierce is no Willis Reed.

"I don't know if the angels visited him in that timeout period that he had or not, but he didn't even limp when he came back out on the floor, Jackson said. "I don't know what was going on there. Was (well-known faith healer) Oral Roberts back there in their locker room?"

The NBA's well-spaced schedule turned the talk before Game 2 on Sunday to miracle cures, conspiracy theories and MRIs. It also brought out some skepticism about the severity of Pierce's injury, which initially looked as if it might trim Boston's Big Three by a third.

Jackson's doubts about Pierce's injury — he was out of the game for less than two minutes — were relayed to Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who dismissed them with a smile.

"Oh, I don't care," Rivers said. "Aren't we skeptics anyway now about everything? So what the heck; let it begin. Let it begin. Lee Harvey Oswald did it."

Boston center Kevin Garnett wasn't so amused by Jackson's take on the injury to his good friend, the Celtics' captain.

"It's not up to them to approve or disapprove or to judge," he said. "The man got carried off the court, that's pretty significant. He looked pretty hurt, came in and finished the game off. I know it don't look easy and he made it probably look a little easy, but at the same time, they wasn't over there seeing him grimacing, the massaging and on the bike and ice and that stuff.

"When you don't know what's going on the other side, you just make up stuff."

Pierce, who scored 22 points and made consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter from the same spot to give Boston the lead for good, reported his knee was stiff and swollen and that he would spend the next two days getting treatment.

If not for the off day, Pierce said he would not have been able to play on Friday,

"I can walk on it, I can bend it, but there's a little sharp pain on the inside of my knee," he said.

Pierce said there was a "great chance" he'll be able to play on Sunday when the Celtics attempt to take a 2-0 lead before the best-of-seven series shifts to Los Angeles. He has no plans to have further testing done on the knee, which he injured when he was bumped hard from behind by teammate Kendrick Perkins, who later forced out with a sprained left ankle.

Rivers often deflects questions about player's injuries by saying, "Doc is just a nickname." But he made a point of saying that Pierce had no structural damage.

The Celtics insist Pierce does not need an MRI, and the 10-year veteran said that even if he got one, it wouldn't matter.

"At this point, what is it really going to tell us? The extent of the injury, but at this point with two weeks left, six games to go, we can figure this out after the season," he said. "Either I can play or I can't, regardless of what the MRI says."

When he crumpled to the floor, Pierce said he immediately thought the worst: that his first visit to the NBA finals was over. He has been fortunate and never had a knee problem, but as the pain darted through his leg, the 30-year-old became frightened.

"Man, I was scared," he said. "I see it all the time in football, baseball, basketball, guys hurt their knees — it's not good. And it still could be worse than I'm really putting off."

Pierce felt slightly embarrassed once he saw the video of him being hauled off and transported down a narrow hallway to the locker room in a wheelchair with a phalanx of doctors, trainers and TV reporters in tow.

"It was crazy," he said. "I've never been carried off the court. I should have just laid there for five more minutes and then got up. Hopefully, it won't happen again. If I get carried off the next time, there's no way I'm going to come back."

While Pierce nurses his sore knee, Kobe Bryant's shooting touch could use a little tender loving care.

The Lakers' superstar made just 9-of-26 shots from the field in Game 1, his third straight "off" game against the Celtics, who have held him to 33 percent (24-of-72) shooting this season. Bryant missed fadeaways, short jumpers and drives that usually go down.

After the game, Mr. MVP lamented misfiring on "bunnies," but failed to mention that most of his attempts came with two, and sometimes three Celtics rushing at him or waving a hand in his face.

Bryant didn't make excuses. Now, he just needs to make shots.

"I've just got to put the ball in the damn hole," he said. "That sucker didn't want to stay down."

He meant his shot, not Pierce.

Lakers and Celtics set to rekindle Finals rivalry

They're like long, lost fraternity brothers who left college with bad haircuts and wearing those thigh-hugging short shorts that were fashionable during the Reagan years. They drifted to opposite coasts and barely kept in touch.

Well, they've reconnected and are getting back together.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are going to a reunion in a place they both know so well — the NBA finals.

It's about time, huh?

"I feel like a little kid," said Celtics forward Paul Pierce, who grew up in L.A. and used to sneak into the Lakers' home arena. "Now I understand that, hey, I'm going to be a part of history. This is something I grew up watching, the Laker-Celtics rivalries."

Following a 21-year separation, pro basketball's pillars of power will revive their bitter rivalry starting Thursday night at TD Banknorth Garden for Game 1 of a best-of-seven series drenched in nostalgia and stuffed with enough history to fill every playground hoop from Springfield to Southern California.

The famed franchises, who have combined to win 30 of 61 championships, are squaring off in the finals for the 11th time and first since 1987. These finals figure to deliver a needed jolt of excitement to the league, which began the 2007-08 season entangled in a gambling probe involving one of its referees and whose signature event has strained to recapture the sporting spotlight since the '80s, when Celtics vs. Lakers, Bird vs. Magic was a rite of spring.

Television ratings are expected to jump dramatically thanks to a finals loaded with juicy storylines: Kobe Bryant's run toward a fourth championship ring — and first without Shaquille O'Neal; Boston's Big Three of Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen shooting for their first ones; and Lakers coach Phil Jackson trying to win his record 10th title, one more than Red Auerbach, the Celtics' late legend whose presence hovers over the team like smoke from one of his victory cigars.

On the short list of celebrated rivalries — Hatfields-McCoys, Yankees-Red Sox, North Carolina-Duke, Ohio State-Michigan — Lakers-Celtics stands near the top.

"I think this is a great thing not just for the NBA, but just for sports in general," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "I think it's a great thing when the best gets a chance to compete against the best, and whoever comes out on top, they earned it. I think both teams should be proud to be here."

A year ago, it would have been impossible to imagine these hardwood Goliaths in the playoffs, never mind clashing for a title.

The Celtics won 24 games last season, and all the mystique and charm that makes them special had seemingly vanished. Last year, Boston's immediate future looked bleak after the club failed to win the NBA lottery, a devastating blow for a team in full rebuild mode.

But the green-and-white began its rebound on draft night last June, when general manager Danny Ainge traded first for Allen and later managed to land Garnett, a superstar stuck with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and a player, as it turns out, who almost became a Laker.

"We gave a great chase to Garnett last year," Jackson revealed Wednesday before his team practiced. "We put a lot of pressure on the Minnesota franchise and felt like we had the inside track on that, and that we could end up missing out on that opportunity and still be here in this challenge, the finals, is really kind of a great story in itself."

For the Lakers, though, nothing trumps what Bryant has done to get the franchise within four wins of a 15th championship. After the club was bounced in the first round of the playoffs last season, a frustrated Bryant challenged the team's front office to upgrade the roster.

By summer, he was demanding a trade while at the same time enhancing his reputation as a selfish, arrogant, egomaniacal player. In truth, Bryant just wanted to win — badly — and didn't want to be on a team that didn't share his drive.

However, in his 12th season, Bryant has matured on and off the floor. He has led by example, mentoring the Lakers' younger players and winning his first MVP award, an honor he probably deserved in the past but never received in part because of his perceived me-first, team-second image.

"He's the captain of this team, and we follow his lead," Lamar Odom said. "Kobe is the first one in the gym, the last one to leave. He's the first one in the weight room, the last one to leave. You try to compete against him and there's no competing against him. If we have a 10 o'clock practice, Kobe is there at 8:45 preparing to be the best.

"And some of that has rubbed off on me and my teammates, and that's the only reason why I'm sitting here talking today."

Beyond Bryant, Los Angeles' acquisition of center Pau Gasol in a midseason trade with Memphis changed the course of its season. The Lakers went 23-5 with the All-Star in their lineup and certainly could have used him in two regular-season losses to the Celtics, who won 107-94 in Boston on Nov. 23 and 110-91 in Los Angeles on Dec. 30.

Jackson isn't putting much stock in those matchups.

"We had Thanksgiving Thursday here, played on Friday. We were full of turkey," cracked Jackson, 9-1 in the finals. "The game in late December was much more reflective of the team. However, we wore those short shorts that night and lost our attitude early. I think the guys got a little tight."

Boston's lack of experience in the finals — none of its starters have played in one previously — could be a factor. But Garnett, who led the Celtics to 66 regular-season wins and an Eastern Conference title in his first season with them, isn't worried about his teammates becoming rattled in their first trip to the big stage.

"At the end of the day, it's just basketball," he said. "You play the way you know. You bring what you bring, play with your heart and soul and play together, play as a team."

The Celtics' Big Three have waited their entire careers for their first shot at history. Bryant knows that to keep them from raising a 17th banner to Boston's rafters, the Lakers will need to be the quicker team, the smarter team, the better team.

"From my experience, you have to execute," he said. "You can want it worse than anybody on the planet, but if you don't have a group of guys or a team that executes well enough to win, you're not going to win."

Celtics' turnaround didn't start on lottery day

This is not how the Boston Celtics planned to get back to the NBA finals. The league's luckiest franchise saw its luck run out — again — in the draft lottery last year, coming up with the worst possible pick and no shot at the megastars slotted 1-2. What the Celtics couldn't know at the time was that it was the best thing that could have happened.

"We hit rock bottom with the lottery — as bad as we could do — and then Danny (Ainge) went to work," co-owner Bob Epstein said Sunday. "Not everything is a master plan. A lot of skill in any endeavor is being able to be opportunistic as well."

The Celtics took advantage of their opportunities just fine after the lottery setback, landing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in trades that helped them reach the NBA finals for the first time since Ainge and the original Big Three made it there in 1987.

Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers is Thursday night.

In a series of interviews over the weekend, the owners who bought the team in 2002 explained the turnaround from 24-58 lottery loser to Eastern Conference champion. It didn't happen that night at the draft lottery, and it didn't even happen during the monthlong trading spree in which Ainge brought in Garnett and Allen to join with All-Star holdover Paul Pierce.

"Everybody wants to talk about the overnight success, but I think that this was five years in the making," co-owner Steve Pagliuca said. "The plan was: draft well, build up chips and build this into a championship team. We had the pieces, and we thought something good was going to happen — this year, next year. It came together very nicely."

The NBA's most decorated franchise, the Celtics were once synonymous with success — winning 16 championships from 1957 to '86. But twice since their last title they've dropped to the bottom of the standings in hopes of landing a big lottery prize, only to see the chances go against them.

With two potential franchise players at the top of last year's draft, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, the Celtics seemed in good position to pick up a key part of their turnaround. But three teams jumped over them in the lottery, and they wound up with the No. 5 selection.

"It was the worst possible pick we could have gotten, and it felt like the worst possible thing," said managing partner Wyc Grousbeck, who was in the sealed-off room where the lots were drawn and found out about an hour before the TV audience that the Celtics had dropped to the fifth spot.

"I spent 50-55 minutes going, 'This is really terrible. I feel really badly for all the Boston fans who were about to find out.' I just felt really unlucky," he said. "There was no joy in Mudville."

Then came Plan B. And C.

Ainge tried to trade the No. 5 pick and developing big man Al Jefferson for Garnett, but Garnett didn't want to come to a losing team and the Celtics didn't want him unless he'd agree to an extension. So Ainge sent the first-round pick — which, other than Paul Pierce, was his most valuable commodity — to Seattle in a package for Allen.

Suddenly, Garnett was interested. Ainge picked him up from the Timberwolves in an unprecedented 7-for-1 deal and the Celtics were on their way to 66 wins — the biggest turnaround in NBA history — and a return to the finals against their archrival.

Pagliuca was at the team's training facility in Waltham, Mass., watching the lottery on TV when the camera panned around the room and showed Grousbeck, who wore a green pinstriped suit he had made for the occasion as well as a frown he tailored himself.

"Wyc looked like he had been shot, so we knew we didn't have the first pick," Pagliuca said. "We spent a lot of time hoping for the first draft pick, but we knew there would be plenty of players available. Garnett was the No. 1 possibility."

The owners are effusive in their praise for Ainge — not just for making big trades, but also for drafting the "chips" that he cashed in for the All-Stars.

Without picks such as Al Jefferson (15th overall), Gerald Green (18th), Delonte West (24th) and Ryan Gomes (20th in the second round), they wouldn't have been able to acquire Garnett.

"Look at the players he's drafted, down the line, who are going to be fixtures in the league," said Irv Grousbeck, Wyc's father and another member of the ownership group.

Ainge also drafted Rajon Rondo (21st) and Kendrick Perkins (27th), non-lottery players who fill out the starting five of the Eastern Conference champions. Leon Powe and Glen "Big Baby" Davis were second-rounders who've contributed off the bench this season.

"Our strategy was to try to hit the longball, to win a championship, not to sign some midlevel players and get into the playoffs. We had to have the patience to build those chips up," Pagliuca said. "We recognized that time was an asset for us.

"We were younger. It would have taken a little longer, but I think we would have been a contender," Pagliuca said. "The second we got Garnett, we felt there was a legitimate possibility we could contend."

And so did other players in the league.

Once Allen and Garnett signed on, free agents came out of the woodwork hoping to join the team. Eddie House, James Posey, Scot Pollard, Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown all said they were eager to join a winner.

"I don't want to make it seem like this was our master plan. But our strategy was to build assets and remain opportunistic — be looking for what you can do and build, build, build," Irv Grousbeck said. "If you do nothing else over time, you'll build a good team.

"We got lucky in a sense, but we planned to be able to put together a good team," he said. "If we had kept building, it would have taken longer."