Celtics-Lakers, Game Six, Fourth Quarter: How To Be Small

Pierce starts the fourth with a drawn foul on Odom, and pick and roll is terrible for the home team. The likely series MVP hits both. Farmer gets to the cup and erases that. Walton on Pierce and he did a good job; miss. Odom hits a three, which really isn't his game, and that's a 12-point Laker lead and a good Rivers timeout. Odom's got 18, and if you are looking for Laker goats, look to the MVP more than him...

Pierce owns Bryant on a drive; he has 30, many of them effortless. Farmer drives and scores, looking like a point than can help, and Lord knows there's an opportunity for that in this series. House misses. KG tips, and Gasol blocks Allen, then gets the loose ball call. Huge play by the Spaniard. On the other end, Vujacic hammers Posey for no reason after a miss. Telling.

Walton scores on a pull up, rather than feed Bryant, and then gets a weak loose ball call, his fourth. Casell posts Farmer and scores, and Farmer is bent with the refs on the other end. Vujacic misses the 3, gets the o-board, and gets thrown by Cassel with a nice no-call flop. If Sam Cassel can throw you down at his age, you're not an athlete. Lakers get the tap, and Vujacic's 3 doesn't settle, but they keep it. Big sequence here, and Vujacic is 3 for his last 19 in the last two games. Farmer doesn't get a roll, and Cassel owns him for an old-school 3 with the bank shot. Who knew Sam could still make basketball plays?

With 8 minutes left, it's a 9 point game. Bryant finally gets one to go, and he's got 20 now. Cassel shoots, misses, then gets fed by Garnett and scores. He's having Rockets flashbacks. Gasol misses on good Garnett defense. Walton guards Garnett well on the other end, and the refs swallow the whistle until Walton takes a bad on in transition. With 6:22 left, the Lakers are in the penalty. That won't help, and Jeff Van Gundy is offended by the Lakers' defense. So is everyone else, really... Odom and Fisher return for the Lakers.

Pierce makes both, and it's a 7 point game after a 9-2 Green run. Ugly Lakers possession ends in a Kobe turnover. Pierce drives, falls, flips to Posey for a 3 pointer. Good grief. Fisher misses and Posey outfights Odom for the board; we have Yet Another Timeout For Even More Ads, and the game is at four. If you believe in conspiracies, this is when the refs ensure a Game Six. If you are just watching the game and the freaky bad play by Bryant, this is when the Celtics end a Finals that have completely failed to live up to the hype, mostly because the Lakers had no heart, and no answers for Paul Pierce.

Pierce goes 1 on 4, and goes to the line easily. He's now 12 of 15 from the line, with 34 points, and it's a two point game with 5:15 left. In five games, the Lakers have not pressured the point guard. A miss, and the Celtics almost answer, but Fisher can't stay in bounds. Pierce drives, finds Garnett, who hits. The 14 point second half lead is gone.

Gasol owns Garnett down low, and he's got 19 and 10 now. Allen finds Garnett underneath, who is fouled by Farmer, rather than give up the lay up. With 3:54 left, the Celtics are getting easy looks, but KG misses the first and hits the second, so it's 92-91 Lakers. Garnett picks up his fifth away from the ball, and it's Bavetta Time! Pierce fouls Bryant on an entry pass, and that's his fifth as well, with 3:31 left. Jackson calls time to give the referees some cover from making more conspiracy calls, and because we weren't yet on pace for a midnight finish. Thanks, Phil!

It's a 17-4 Green run. Bryant, enjoying the move of Pierce with his fifth foul away to Ray Allen, feeds Odom, who can't finish but does get to the line. Odom's free throw problems don't surface on the first, and he also gets the second for the 3-point lead. Bryant on Pierce, and he gets a steal that Fisher takes to the rack; he can't finish, but does go to the line. Posey with the hustle foul, and it pays off as Fisher misses the first. With 3:07 left, Lakers by four after a make.

Pierce goes all the way to the rack, yet again, as Bryant gets crushed on the screen. Van Gundy calls out Farmer for not taking a charge on that; he might have a point. Pierce makes both, and it's 2 again with 2:56 left. Gasol misses and Garnett falls after the board. He'll go to the line, and we're going to see a lot of that at the end of this game. Garnett misses both -- what a choke! -- and that's an opportunity. Bryant draws a foul, then Posey hits Odom after the whistle. Classy. Bryant makes both, and it's a 4 point game.

Pierce to the rack, misses, Garnett gets board but also misses, and Odom collects. Bryant runs clock, misses, but Gasol collects. Bryant runs clock, but then misses a 3, and Odom fouls on the board. Bryant is now 7 for 20 for the game, 2 for 12 after the first, and has absolutely ended any idea that he's like Michael Jordan in any way, really. Pierce to the line and his both; it's a 2 point game with 74 seconds left.

Bryant brings it up. Fisher misses a 3, and Pierce boards... but Bryant turns around his entire game, if not the series, with a steal on Pierce. Odom feeds him for the slam, and it's a 4 point game with 37.9 left. If you're a Green Fan, you don't know how Pierce can't get a call here, and if you aren't, you remember that Paul Pierce's tendency for turnovers is what has kept him from being a consistent first team All-NBA pick. Just a huge, huge play.

House back in. Ray Allen drives and misses; KG tips and also misses. Odom gets the board and almost turns it, and also doesn't get fouled, which seems like a mistake to me, given his shakiness at the line. 26.8 left, and it's the Lakers' game to lose...

Odom inbounds to Fisher -- wise choice -- who gets the intentional foul. He's an 85% shooter for his career, but he misses the first. Oy. He's now just 5 of 8 for the game; two makes wouldn't have iced it, but it would have come close. The second takes forever, but he hits it. Whoopie! Another timeout! 100-95, Lakers. House's quick 3 is a miss, and Gasol gets the board. No foul is called as he gets it to Bryant, who is allowed to dribble off more time until Ray Allen gives up his sixth foul with 16.7 left. Kobe's finishing mojo has taken a lot of hits in this series, and missing the second free throw won't help matters, either. If Fisher and Bryant hadn't left two points on the throws in the last two possessions, this game is already over.

House hits a miracle 3, and the Lakers nearly turn it on the inbounds -- just inexcusable, that a team coached by a guy with Phil Jackson's resume can't finish. Fisher hits both, and it's back to five... and Fisher steals to clinch it. Lakers 103, Celtics 98, and if you're a Laker fan, you can't really have much hope for two more wins like that one.

Goats? Well, Garnett's missed free throws were huge, and he didn't do much at all in the fourth. All of the Celtics bigs got owned tonight. Rajon Rondo was terrible. And if anyone remembers that in the long term, I'll be stunned. Game Six is on Tuesday -- really? that's kind of amazing, given the cross-county travel. There's no reason to think the Celtics can lose that game, let alone a Game Seven... but if they do, I think this ranks even higher than Eighteen And One Very Big One. Hope springs eternal...