Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, and Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers emphatically extended the NBA finals to a decisive seventh game with a 89-67 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 on Tuesday.A champion will be crowned Thursday night at Staples Center.
Two years after the Celtics ended the finals with a 39-point blowout of the Lakers in Game 6, Los Angeles turned Game 6 into a long nightmare for Boston, which had the second lowest-scoring performance in NBA finals history. Only Utah's infamous 54-point performance against Chicago in 1998 was worse than this offensive disaster.
Bryant was a one-man band for much of the Lakers' three-game stay in Boston, but Los Angeles was a symphony in Game 6. Gasol was a constant low-post presence after disappearing for long stretches of the series, while Artest harnessed his wildly inconsistent jumper and hit three 3-pointers.
The Celtics lost starting center Kendrick Perkins in the first quarter to a sprained right knee when he landed awkwardly under the hoop, but his absence couldn't explain the Lakers' utter domination of the first half _ a 30-13 rebounding edge while holding Boston to 34 percent shooting and frustrating Rondo.
There hasn't been a winner-take-all finals game since San Antonio finished off Detroit five years ago, and Thursday's Game 7 will be just the 17th in NBA history. The Spurs' victory over the Pistons was the first Game 7 since 1994, when the Houston Rockets capped a comeback with two home victories over the New York Knicks and their point guard, Boston coach Doc Rivers.
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