Lakers edge Celtics in Game Seven to lift title

LOS ANGELES (AP):

The Los Angeles Lakers won their 16th NBA championship, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game Seven of the NBA finals.

Bryant, the finals MVP, scored 23 points despite 6-of-24 shooting and the Lakers won their 16th NBA championship.

Bryant earned his fifth title with the Lakers, who repeated as NBA champions for the first time since winning three straight from 2000-02. Coach Phil Jackson added his 11th, matching Bill Russell's total and possibly putting a cap on his remarkable career if he decides to leave the Lakers.

"This one is by far the sweetest, because it's them," Bryant said after the Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game Seven. "This was the hardest one by far. I wanted it so bad and sometimes when you want it so bad it slips away from you. My guys picked me up."

21 shots

Ron Artest added 20 points for the Lakers, who did not exactly show a champion's poise while making just 21 shots in the first three quarters, even hovering around 50 per cent at the free throw line.

Yet with Bryant driving the lane to earn eight free throws and Pau Gasol finally coming alive with nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles reclaimed the lead midway through and hung on with a few more big shots from Gasol, who had 18 rebounds, and a remarkable clutch performance by Artest, a first-time champion as the only newcomer to last season's roster.

With their fifth title in 11 seasons, the Lakers moved one championship behind Boston's 17 for the overall NBA lead.

Jackson won his fifth ring in Los Angeles to go with his half-dozen from Chicago. And it might be the last.

Remarkable run

Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who just could not finish the final quarter of a remarkable play-off run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Garnett added 17 points, but Boston flopped in two chances to clinch the series in Los Angeles after winning Game Five back home.

"Listen, give the Lakers credit," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They were terrific."

Rivers knows changes are coming, even saying afterwards that the 2010-11 Celtics will be different than the 2009-10 team.

"We were scratching and clawing, trying to do everything we could to try to pull this out," said Ray Allen, who had 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting. "We had an opportunity to win, but it just didn't go our way down the stretch. I don't think we ran out of steam. Lady Luck just didn't bounce in our corner. ... There were a lot of tears, a lot of tears."

The Celtics had never lost a seventh game in the finals.