Lakers beat Celtics to win 16th championship

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – The Los Angles Lakers  rallied from a big early deficit to win their second successive  NBA championship with a cliff-hanging 83-79 Game Seven victory  over the Boston Celtics yesterday.
The triumph gave the Lakers a 16th championship and a  record 11th for coach Phil Jackson as they also became the  first team to repeat as NBA champions since winning three in a  row from 2000.
As the final horn sounded, Lakers’ purple and gold confetti  fell from the rafters and Los Angeles players charged the court  to celebrate victory over their greatest rivals.
“This one is by far the sweetest because it’s against them  and because it’s the hardest one by far,” Kobe Bryant said  after he was presented with the NBA Finals MVP award.
“Tonight I wanted it so bad … and sometimes you want  something so bad it slips away from you,” added the Lakers  guard, who made just six of 24 shots in Game Seven. “My guys  picked me up.”
Boston coach Doc Rivers said his players were devastated by  the loss.   “There’s a lot of crying in that locker room, don’t think  there is a dry eye,” Rivers told reporters. “A lot of people  feel awful. I think that’s a good thing, it shows how much we  care.”
After dropping two of three games in Boston, the Lakers  returned to Staples Center facing a series defeat for the first  time this post-season.
The resilient Lakers dominated the Celtics in an 89-67 Game  Six victory to set up the decisive seventh game.
A hungry Celtics team jumped out to a 23-14 lead by the end  of the first quarter to stun a capacity crowd including  Hollywood stars such as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and  Leonardo DiCaprio.
But the visitors could not build on the momentum and were  held scoreless for almost five minutes at the start of the  second quarter as Los Angeles briefly grabbed the lead.
The Celtics regrouped to control the tempo of the game and  reclaim a lead that they would not relinquish until late in the  final quarter.
The Lakers, who trailed by as many as 13 points, picked up  their game in the closing minutes and seized the lead at 65-64  on a pair of Bryant free throws.
Bryant finished with a game-high 23 points despite his  shooting woes, while Ron Artest, playing in his first season  with the Lakers, added 20 in a superb all-round performance.
“I never thought I would get a chance to be in this  situation,” said Artest, who knocked down a key three-pointer  down the stretch to help hold off Boston. “I’m blessed.”
Spanish forward Pau Gasol also chipped in with 19 points  for the Lakers, nine of them coming in the fourth quarter.
“I can’t say enough about the Spaniard,” said Bryant, who  also missed all six of his three-point attempts but contributed  15 rebounds. “He’s a hell of a player.”
Trailing by six with 60 seconds remaining, Boston’s Ray  Allen drained a three-pointer to cut the Lakers lead in half.
After Bryant sank a pair of free throws to put the Lakers  up by five, Rajon Rondo followed with a clutch three to cut the  lead to two with 16 seconds remaining.
However, the Lakers held on to deny the Celtics their first  championship since beating Los Angeles in six games in 2008.