BOSTON — Ray Allen was still on the floor, knocked on his back, when the Lakers began hugging and chest-bumping under the 2008 NBA championship banner that was earned at their expense.
“I wish we would have come here last year with this kind of attitude,” said Pau Gasol, who scored 24 points with 14 rebounds Thursday night to lead the Lakers to a 110-109 overtime victory over Boston.
“Nobody backed down,” Gasol added. “We were as physical as anybody.”
In a rematch of an NBA Finals in which the Celtics outmuscled the Lakers to the title, Lamar Odom made two free throws with 16 seconds left in overtime and Los Angeles held on with physical defense against Paul Pierce and Allen that prevented either all-star from getting off a clean shot.
The loss snapped the Celtics’ 12-game winning streak and dropped them to 0-2 against the best in the West. Boston trails the Lakers by percentage points for the best overall record in the NBA, and would lose a tiebreaker for home- court advantage in the Finals.
Kobe Bryant scored 26 points with 10 rebounds.
Paul Pierce scored 21, and Allen had 22, but they both missed off-balance shots in the final seconds. Allen was knocked to the court at the buzzer while Boston fans clamored for a foul call, but none came.
“I was up last night thinking about the game — wondering how my teammates would respond. It all came back,” Bryant said. “Enough is enough. We were able to match their physical play.”
