LOS ANGELES -- Kendrick Perkins went down hard. Kobe Bryant's shots went down just a little too easily. And -- with a chance to win the franchise's 18th NBA title -- the Celtics barely showed up.
In a game Boston fans undoubtedly had a difficult time stomaching, the Celtics put up little resistance in an 89-67 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center Tuesday night, sending the 2010 NBA Finals to a decisive seventh game Thursday. The Celtics' lead in the series is gone. Their starting center might be gone as well. And Bryant -- the league's best clutch player -- has one game to win championship on his team's home floor.
From the big picture to the loss of their best big man, the first signs of trouble for the Celtics came after Perkins left the game with a knee injury. With 5:30 remaining in the first quarter, the Celtics' starting center came down with a rebound and crumpled to the floor, his right knee buckling underneath him. Lakers fans mockingly chanted "wheelchair" at Perkins, but for the Celtics, the injury was no joking matter. Perkins was helped off the court, unable to put any weight at all on the knee. He did not return to the game. Perkins was taken for X-rays and diagnosed with a sprained right knee, his status for Game 7 uncertain.
With Perkins out of the game, things unraveled quickly for the Celtics. Already up six when Perkins went down, the Lakers increased their lead to 10 points at the end of the first quarter. Los Angeles shot 60-percent in the first without a defensive presence in the middle of the paint, a far cry from a 33-percent first quarter in Game 5.
It got worse for the Celtics in the second. Perkins's replacement, Rasheed Wallace, picked up his third foul at the 9:01 mark of the quarter, necessitating the early use of Kevin Garnett. With both centers lost to injury and foul trouble, the Celtics found themselves lost on defense. Pau Gasol's offensive rebound and put-back at the 7:00 mark in the second highlighted the Celtics' problems, as not even Glen Davis could put a body on Gasol and prevent the easy basket. The Lakers out-rebounded the Celtics 30-13 in the first half and took a 51-31 lead at the break.
The second half offered very little pomp, but for the Celtics the circumstances became clear: Facing a 20-point deficit for most of the half, the Celtics weren't going to win Game 6. The focus, instead, shifted to Game 7, where the Celtics will have all they can handle against the Lakers, with or without Perkins. Doc Rivers lifted his starters with 4:14 remaining in the game.
The Lakers were once again led by Bryant, who didn't seem to work very hard for his 26 points. But unlike in Game 5, Bryant got help from both Gasol (17 points) and Ron Artest (15 points), whose three three-pointers were an unwelcome surprise. Ray Allen paced the Celtics with 19 ponts, hitting his first two three-pointer since he made eight of them here in Game 2.
After playing 105 games this season, the fate of the Celtics' season -- and perhaps even the reputations of the Big Three -- will come down to one game Thursday night. The Celtics as a franchise are 34-1 in a best-of-seven playoff series when it going up 3-2, the exception being last season's loss to the Orlando Magic in seven games. Going back more than a half century, the Celtics are 20-6 in Game 7's.
Final: Lakers 89, Celtics 67: Everyone in the crowd wins tacos. There will be a Game 7 here Thursday night.
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