Lakers-Celtics Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Feb 07 2013 1:05AM

If the Los Angeles Lakers are looking for some inspiration to remain positive after losing another key player, all they'll need to do is look across the TD Garden court Thursday night.

Pau Gasol is out indefinitely and Dwight Howard likely will miss a fourth straight game as the Lakers seek a seventh victory in eight tries when they face the surging Boston Celtics, who have won five straight since Rajon Rondo's season-ending injury.

Howard's sore right shoulder resulting from a partially torn labrum has kept him on the sidelines for the team's current three-game winning streak as Los Angeles (23-26) attempts to get into the Western Conference playoff picture.

The Lakers suffered another injury setback, though, as Gasol felt a pop in his right foot during Tuesday's 92-83 win at Brooklyn and was diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia after an MRI in Boston on Wednesday.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 21 points versus the Nets, has been more of a distributor during the team's surge, though he may need to look for his shot more with both big men out. He's averaging 17.4 points and 9.3 assists over the last seven games, compared to 29.2 points and 4.7 assists prior.

Los Angeles is 3-1 on its seven-game road trip that ends at East-leading Miami on Sunday.

"Now reality kind of sets in," Bryant said. "If Pau can't go and Dwight can't go, we have to figure some things out."

Coach Mike D'Antoni insists the Lakers can keep their momentum despite the injuries. The Lakers, who will have Metta World Peace back after he served a one-game suspension versus Brooklyn, are three games behind Houston for the final playoff spot.

"Hopefully we'll get Dwight back pretty soon and then hopefully Pau's not too bad," D'Antoni said. "If not, we'll play."

Los Angeles has won three straight regular-season meetings with the Celtics and five of the last six overall, including games 6 and 7 in the 2010 NBA finals.

Boston (25-23), though, has been on a roll since Rondo suffered a torn ACL in a double-overtime defeat at Atlanta on Jan. 25. That was the last time the Celtics lost, as they overcame a 10-point deficit to win on the road for the first time since Rondo went down, 99-95 at Toronto on Wednesday.

Kevin Garnett scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Boston had at least five players in double figures for the fourth straight game.

"We're fighters," Garnett said. "We're a team that's going to compete for 48 minutes. It's not always pretty. We're not perfect, we're human beings. But we play hard, we do our best to go out and try to perfect the game plan."

Garnett, who shot 10 of 36 from the field in his last two home games against the Lakers, has four double-doubles in his last six games after recording eight in his first 42 contests.

"He's been phenomenal in this stretch and he's carried us offensively," Paul Pierce, who missed 9 of 11 shots Wednesday but had 11 rebounds and six assists, said of Garnett.

Wednesday also marked coach Doc Rivers' 400th victory with the Celtics, as he joined Red Auerbach and Tom Heinsohn as the only others to accomplish the feat.

"That's cool," Rivers said. "To be behind those two guys is pretty special for me."

Los Angeles has won four straight regular-season meetings in Boston, three of which were decided by one point.

Celtics rout Lakers 116-95 for 6th straight win

By HOWARD ULMAN
Posted Feb 08 2013 12:18AM

BOSTON (AP) The rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers keeps rolling even if they no longer dominate the NBA.

And that brought some extra satisfaction to Boston's Paul Pierce after he led a 116-95 rout of Los Angeles with 24 points on Thursday night.

"It always feels good when you can give them a little old-fashioned beatdown in your house, no matter what direction these teams are going," he said. "It'll always be a rivalry. Everybody's always going to watch."

It was even more special, and perhaps surprising, that the win gave the Celtics a 6-0 record since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a torn knee ligament.

"We're in a rhythm. We're moving the ball," said Kevin Garnett, who had 15 points and became the 16th player in NBA history to reach the 25,000-point mark. "Some day when I'm rocking in a rocking chair having a cigar and thinking what I've done I'm sure it'll make some sense to me, (but) the first priority was the Lakers."

The teams have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, the last in 2010 when the Lakers won in seven games. Only four players on those teams were active Thursday - Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace for Los Angeles and Pierce and Garnett for Boston. Pau Gasol and Rondo also played in that series but missed Thursday's game.

In 2008, the Celtics beat the Lakers in six games for the championship.

"You can feel the energy every time the Lakers come into the building," Pierce said. "There's always a little extra mustard you're going to try to put out there when this type of setting is set up for you."

The Lakers played with Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder but without Gasol, who is out indefinitely with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot.

Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who had won their previous three games but suffered their worst loss of the season. Howard had nine points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes before fouling out with 5:07 left.

"There were a couple times where I felt (the shoulder pain)," he said, "but I just tried not to think about it. "

World Peace also was back after a one-game suspension for grabbing Detroit's Brandon Knight around the neck and striking him in the jaw with the knuckles of his mostly open hand in the Lakers' 98-97 win Sunday.

The Lakers cut a 58-44 halftime deficit to 72-61 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Then the Celtics went on a 23-8 run and led 95-69 going into the fourth. Pierce started the surge with a three-point play and ended it with a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving him 12 points in the period.

"The first half was just as bad as the second," said Lakers point guard Steve Nash, who had just nine points and five assists. "Disappointing performance, start to finish."

The win was the Celtics' biggest of the season and broke a tie with Milwaukee for seventh place in the East. They moved within 1 1/2 games of sixth.

"The roof just kind of caved in on us," Bryant said. "It always just seems like whenever their backs are against the wall you know that's when you really see the best from them."

The Lakers had won six of their previous seven games and had moved three games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

But they trailed by at least 11 points throughout the second half.

Previously, the Celtics' biggest win was 94-75 at Indiana on Jan. 4, and the Lakers' worst loss was 113-97 at Sacramento on Nov. 21.

Garnett reached 25,000 points with an 11-foot turnaround jumper that gave him six for the game and put the Celtics ahead 39-29 with 8:08 left in the half. Jeff Green had 19 points and Jason Terry added 15.

Besides Rondo, rookie forward Jared Sullinger also is out for the season after having back surgery and sat out his fourth game.

"Our guys just think they're good," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "We're playing selfless and free."

The Celtics led by 14 at halftime after hitting 51.1 percent of their shots while the Lakers kept missing open jumpers and sank just 37.8 percent of theirs, including just 2 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Los Angeles' last lead, 11-10, came on a 12-foot turnaround fadeaway by Bryant with 6:38 left in the first quarter.

Boston led 27-23 going into the second and built it to 55-40 when Garnett drew two defenders to him under the basket and passed to Chris Wilcox for a dunk with 2:35 left.

Boston took its biggest lead of the half, 58-42 on two free throws by Pierce with 37 seconds to go.

Notes: The Celtics play at home Sunday for the sixth time in seven games when they meet the Denver Nuggets. ... The Lakers are 3-2 on their seven-game road trip, which continues Friday night in Charlotte and ends Sunday in Miami. ... Six Celtics scored in double figures, the fifth straight game in which they had at least five.

Notebook: Celtics 116, Lakers 95

Brian Robb, for NBA.com
Posted Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:59 PM - Updated Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:59 PM

THE FACTS: Paul Pierce scored 12 of his 24 points in the third quarter, as the Boston Celtics pulled away from the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers in the second half to cruise to a 116-95 victory. It was Boston's sixth straight win overall, as the hosts ruined Dwight Howard's return to the Lakers' starting lineup with an offensive onslaught that could not be contained, posting a new regulation season high with 116 points. Jeff Green (19 points) and Jason Terry (15 points) provided additional firepower off the bench for the C's new-look spread offense, which featured six players scoring in double figures. Kobe Bryant had a game high 27 points off the bench for the Lakers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

QUOTABLE: "Whenever you match up against the Lakers, it always feels good to give them the old fashioned beat down at your house. You know, it doesn't matter what direction this team is going, there will always be a rivalry. You know, everybody's always going to watch, and it feels good to win like that."
-- Paul Pierce

THE STAT: Kevin Garnett drilled a fadeaway turnaround jumper with 8:07 remaining in the second quarter, to become the 16th player in NBA history to score 25,000 points.

TURNING POINT: After the two teams traded baskets for much of the third period, the Celtics' offense erupted during the closing minutes of the quarter with a 14-3 run. The outburst stretched Boston's lead to 26 points at the end of the frame and put away any threat of a Lakers comeback.

QUOTABLE II: "I'm sure someday I'll fall back and rock in my rocking chair having a cigar, thinking about what I've done. I'm sure it will make some sense to me then."
-- Kevin Garnett on what it means to him scoring 25,000 points in his NBA career

HOT: Boston's offense in the 3rd quarter -- Behind 12 points from Pierce, the Celtics shot a sensational 76.2 percent from the field during the period, as they tied a season high by posting 37 points in a quarter.

NOT: Metta World Peace -- The small forward looked extremely rusty in his return from a one-game suspension, missing 11 of his 13 shots from the field. World Peace finished with just five points over 30 minutes. Over his past five games, he's shooting just 26.5 percent from the field.

QUOTABLE III: "It's typical Celtics basketball. They all just put their hard hats on and they go out, go hard and figure things out. It always just seems like whenever their backs are against the wall, you know that's when you really see the best from them."
-- Kobe Bryant

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Pierce -- Boston's captain continues to give a little bit of everything with their All-Star point guard sidelined. Thursday night was no different as Pierce filled up the box score with 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a block.

ROOKIE WATCH: Fab Melo -- The rookie center out of Syracuse scored the first two points of his NBA career on a layup late in the fourth quarter. Melo finished with two points, an assist, a rebound and a steal in five minutes of action.

NOTABLE: The Celtics were whistled for 10 personal fouls in the first quarter. ...Celtics rookie Jared Sullinger was back with the team for the first game since undergoing season-ending back surgery last week. ...Howard had missed the Lakers' prior three games with a sore shoulder. ...The Lakers announced before the game Pau Gasol would be out for the next 6-8 weeks due to a partial torn plantar fascia. Gasol suffered the injury during Tuesday's win over the Brooklyn Nets.

UP NEXT: For the L.A. Lakers, Friday @ Charlotte, Sunday @ Miami, Tuesday vs. Phoenix. For Boston, Sunday vs. Denver, Monday @ Charlotte, Wednesday vs. Chicago.

• Lakers: Gasol, Hill
• Celtics: Sullinger

• Lakers: --
• Celtics: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Officials: #13 Monty McCutchen, #14 Ed Malloy, #54 Nick Buchert
• Attendance: 18624
• Duration: 2:24