By MARC BERMAN
June 10, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Hugh Hefner will be in the house tonight with his three blond "Girls Next Door." Jack Nicholson will sit in his usual courtside seat. A ton of other celeb
rities are expected as the NBA finals moves from Beantown to La-La land for Game 3.
But the Lakers need none of the glitz now. The desperate Lakers need grit at Staples Center. They need the desperation showed in the final seven minutes in Boston Sunday night when they chopped a 24-point deficit to two points in the final minute of a near-historic comeback.
Trailing 0-2, the Deep Purple are in deep trouble and only a gritty Staples Center victory can save their season and prevent Boston from hanging banner No. 17.
"We played with a sense of desperation and more aggression, and that's something for us to take home and learn from," said Kobe Bryant, shooting a disappointing 41 percent in the series.
Since the finals went to a 2-3-2 format in the mid '80s, 17 of the 19 road clubs have won at least one of the three. For LA to return to Boston down 2-3 will be an enormous challenge, with the Celtics 12-1 in the playoffs at home and Paul Pierce's knee no longer a big issue after his 40-minute, 28-point Game 2 gem.
Pierce, a native of nearby Inglewood, is moving himself in line for the finals' MVP award.
"They took care of business at home," said Bryant, bottled up by the Celtics' Tom Thibodeau-schemed defense. "We've got to go home and try to do the same thing. It's not the end of the world. We're going to go home and handle our business. We noticed some things in the fourth quarter that we can do and see if we can use them in Staples Center."
The Lakers' bench, which figured to be an edge, has been outplayed. While Boston rugged power forward Leon Powe dunked on LA for 21 points in 14 minutes, the Laker reserves have been mediocre.
Phil Jackson isn't counting on using the late fourth-quarter momentum to carry over tonight, saying "it's 2,500 miles away, too far to carry it."
But Jackson does expect to see the club whose ball-moving ways made it the league's best offense.
"I'm not worried about which Celtics team shows up," said Jackson, whose club has lost six straight finals games, dating to 2005 against Detroit, and four straight this season to Boston. "I'm worried about which Lakers team shows up. That's the one that moves the ball and we do things well on the offensive end."
The Lakers' went on a tizzy late Sunday during their 31-9 explosion, and hit seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
"I think they learned a lot because we're a young team and I think that shows you're never really out of a game," Bryant said. "Being down 24, if you find yourself down 8 or 10, that's not something that should discourage you."
The Celtics, meanwhile, just have to be the Celtics. Kendrick Perkins' ankle injury - he played just 13:41 - is not alarming now with P.J. Brown and Powe coming off the pine.
"Even with 'It's nice to be up 2-0,' we've done what we should do," said Boston coach Doc Rivers. "Now we have to go on the road and keep attacking."
