A fired-up Glen Davis helped the Boston Celtics reclaim their inside presence and hold off the Los Angeles Lakers 96-89 on Thursday to tie the best-of-seven NBA finals at 2-2.
The burly forward, nicknamed “Big Baby,” scored 18 points on seven-of-10 shooting in just 22 minutes off the bench to spark Boston’s resurgent game under the basket.
“I felt like a beast,” Davis told reporters after Boston’s back-up players had put away the Lakers. “I’m going to be honest with you — I just felt like I couldn’t be denied. There’s not too many times you get a chance to be in the finals and be a part of something so great that you can never really imagine yourself even being here.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Davis scored five points and Ray Allen four during a key 9-0 run in the final period as the Celtics turned a two-point deficit into a 71-64 lead with eight minutes remaining.
The raucous Boston Garden crowd of 19,000 chanted “Beat LA” all evening and many danced during time-outs while waving white towels to incite the home team.
“They’re pretty emotional,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of the Celtics. “They had their backs against the wall tonight, and they played desperate and they got away with it. Their animation and their activity level affected us.”
Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and Pau Gasol added 21 and 10 rebounds to lead defending champions the Lakers, who were out-rebounded 41-34 and outscored in the paint 54-34.
“They got all the energy points, the hustle points, second chance points, points in the paint, beat us to the loose balls,” Bryant said. “That’s how the game turned around.”
Bryant hit 10-of-22 shots, including six-of-11 from beyond the arc, but committed seven turnovers and failed to rally his teammates.
Forward Lamar Odom had 10 points, one of only three Lakers in double figures.
Faced with the prospect of going down 3-1, Boston out-hustled the Lakers, holding a 15-2 edge on fast-break points and a 20-10 advantage on second-chance points.
The Celtics were out-rebounded 43-35 in Tuesday’s 91-84 home loss, but had several players crashing the boards with each shot on Thursday.
Jackson tipped his hat to the Celtics for their tenacity in coming up with so many loose balls.
“We shot better than they did, but that didn’t make the difference in the game,” he said. “The difference in the game was chances. They had more chances than we did.”
Celtics forward Paul Pierce broke out of his scoring slump with a team-high 19 points, although he had only nine after the first period.
Boston reserve guard Nate Robinson had 12 points, including six in the final period, as the Celtics’ bench outscored the Lakers 36-18.
“The story was all about our bench, man,” Pierce said. “I’m not going to take nothing away from them. They came out and got the job done. The starters were solid, we couldn’t pull away, but the bench came in and got it done.”
Game 5 takes place tomorrow at the Boston Garden, before the series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7.
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