Lakers Win Championship, Desert Fans Celebrate

The grudge match is over.

The Lakers are NBA champions!

The Los Angeles Lakers are champions for a second consecutive season and the 16th time in their history today, thanks to a surge in the final quarter and a half of an 83-79 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Staples Center.

The party hit full throttle outside the center, where there were reports of people setting fires and looting.

A police car also hit a bicyclist.

News Channel 3 was at Lamppost Pizza and Backstreet, where they were showing the game to a roomfull of fans.

All of them said they were rooting for the Lakers.

Back in Los Angeles, the coach had nothing but praise.

“Well, it’s done,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after he won his 11th title as a coach, increasing the record he set last season. “It wasn’t well done, but it was done. And we did it with perseverance.

“I thought our defense was terrific. We were able to step in and play the kind of defense that we’ve established as kind of a calling for this team and we found a way to generate some points.”

After trailing from three minutes, 15 seconds before halftime, the Lakers pulled into a 61-61 tie on Ron Artest’s 3-point play with 7:29 to play. Ray Allen then made three of four free throws to put Boston ahead, 64-61.

The Lakers responded by scoring nine unanswered points to take the lead for good.

Derek Fisher began the run by making his second 3-point basket of the game, tying the score, 64-64, with 6:12 left. Kobe Bryant’s two free throws with 5:56 remaining gave the Lakers a 66-64 lead, their first since 7:38 left in the second quarter.

A 17-foot jump shot by Bryant and Pau Gasol’s two free throws gave the Lakers a 70-64 lead with 4:38 to play.

Boston got 3-point baskets from Rasheed Wallace, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo in a span of 1:07 to pull within two, 81-79, with 16.2 seconds left.

However, the Celtics never scored again and the Lakers clinched the victory as reserve Sasha Vujacic made two throws with 11.7 seconds left, for his only points, to close the scoring.

Bryant scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and was named as the Bill Russell Finals Most Valuable Player Award for the second consecutive season.

“I just wanted it so bad,” Bryant said during the postgame news conference, accompanied by daughters Natalia and Gianna. “I wanted it so, so bad. On top of that I was on E. Man, I was really, really tired. And the more I tried to push, the more it kept getting away from me.

“I’m just glad that my teammates really got us back in the game. I was thankful that I was able to make one damn shot at the end of the game and made some free throws. It was a tough one.”

In the second-lowest scoring of the 14 finals Game 7s since the adoption of the 24-second clock in 1954, the Lakers trailed 23-14 at the end of the first quarter, making six of 27 shots, 22.2 percent. They were down, 40-34, at halftime, making 13 of 49 shots, 26.5 percent.

Bryant made six of 24 shots. As a team, the Lakers made 27 of 83 shots, 32.5 percent, while Boston made 29 of 71, 40.8 percent.

The Lakers also struggled from the free throw line, making 25 of 37, 67.6 percent, while the Celtics made 15 of 17, 88.2 percent.

When asked how his team could win with its low field goal and free throw shooting, Jackson responded, “We had 23 offensive rebounds. That’s how you do it. We had 11 turnovers. That’s another way to do it.

“It’s just about being persistent and aggressive and getting extra shots because shorts aren’t going to go in and that’s what we did tonight.”

Bryant had 15 rebounds, his most in a finals game and one off his career playoff high. Gasol had 18 rebounds as the Lakers out-rebounded the Celtics, 53-40, continuing the trend of the series of team with most rebounds winning every game.

Artest added 20 points, his high for the series, and Gasol 19. Paul Pierce led five Celtics in double figures with 18 in Boston’s first Game 7 finals loss after seven victories.

“It was a hell of series and you know it was just a tough, tough game for either team to lose,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

“I thought the lack of size at the end of the day was the difference in the game. I thought our guys battled down there, but 23-8 on offensive rebounds and then the 37-17 discrepancy in free throws, that makes it almost impossible to overcome.”

Teams coached by Jackson are now 48-0 when they win the first game of a series and 55-1 holding any lead in a series. The only loss came in the Lakers’ first-round series against the Phoenix Suns in 2006, where they led three games to one, but lost the final three games.

The 64-year-old Jackson said before the game he wouldn’t know until after the game if the result would have a bearing on whether he would return as coach, but would not disclose the impact. His contract expires June 30.