12 Jan 11 Celtics-Lakers: Black Mamba Hits Another Big Shot

Jim Rogash/Getty ImagesThe Lakers came out of the gates executing. They were taking good shots, playing good defense, and wouldn't allow the Celtics to get in any sort of rhythm.They held Ray Allen to a field goal percentage of 20 percent.Kevin Garnett got the Celtics going and at the end of the first quarterthe Lakers were up 30 to 19.In the second quarter Rondo provided a spark. The game started to heat up with Rasheed and Pau getting into it. The Celtics flipped the script and made a twenty three point turnaround led by Rondo and Pierce.Rondo was the leading scorer for the game with 21 points and 12 assists.In the fourth quarter, the Lakers were trailing by seven with seven minutes to go. Led by Bynum and a wounded Kobe, the Lakers slowly rallied back.Pau was on the bench towards the Carolina Panthers jersey
end of the game which didn't surprise me because he wasn't playing aggressively.With 50 seconds in the game Artest drove left and made an unorthodox shot, which cut the lead to one. On the Celtics' second to last play, Artest played great defense on Paul Pierce, which led to a charge.The Lakers were down one with a three second difference on the shot clock. With 11 seconds to go,Artest passed to Kobe from the corner.Kobe drove left to the top of the free throw line, Ray Allen stayed on his feet, then Kobe faded away and sank it with seven second to go.Out of time-outs, Pierce got the inbound pass and Ray Allen set a screen for him. Pierce went right and Allen popped, Pierce dished it out to Allen for the three and Allen missed.Lakers win. Hopefully this will give them a boost.