LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A night of shooting 6-of-24, just 25 percent from the floor, many times spells disaster for Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers but not in last night’s NBA Finals Game 7 against their hated rival Boston Celtics.

Despite sloppy play and the hideous night of shooting from the floor, when the final second ticked off the clock, Kobe and the Lakers celebrated an 83-79 win under a purple and gold confetti shower and hoisted their back-to-back NBA Championship trophy.

The win earned the Lakers their 16th NBA title overall and is Coach Phil Jackson and Kobe’s fifth with the team. Jackson has another 6-pack of rings from his days with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

The Celtics battled hard on the Staples Center floor, running up a 13-point lead in the second half and clinging onto a 3-point lead late in the final quarter, but the Lakers battled back in an exciting final few minutes and squeaked out the win on their home court.

This 16th NBA title for the Lakers moves them to within one of Boston’s NBA record 17 and Bryant didn’t pull any punches commenting on the rivalry:

“This one is by far the sweetest, because it’s them.”

Bryant, who was off his game and attempted several off balance ill-advised shots throughout the night, got much needed support and a chunk of it came from Pau Gasol who chipped in 19 points, including 9 in the final quarter, and 18 boards. Ron Artest, who earned his first ring, netted 20 points including a clutch 3-pointer late in the game.

Overall the Lakers shot about as bad as a team can shoot, nailing just 21 from the floor over the first three quarters while looking like they had attended a Ben Wallace free-throw clinic, barely hitting over 50 percent at the line.

Stats from the losing bench included Paul Pierce (18 points, 10 rebounds), Kevin Garnett (17 points) and Rasheed Wallace (11 point).

‘Sheed, the NBA’s guru of technical fouls, fouled out late in the game and attempted to get into the official’s locker room after the game but was not allowed access by arena security.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. – The Oklahoma City Thunder came to play on Saturday, out-rebounding the L.A. Lakers and their 7-foot duo, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and thrashing the Lakers 110-89 to even the NBA Playoff series 2-2.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points and Russell Westbrook netted 18 and added 8 boards for the Thunder who are suddenly making believers out of their fans and opposition around the league.

After the game Durant was composed and seemed all business during a courtside interview saying, “It’s a seven game series.”

“We knew what we were capable of and how hard we play every day and how hard we practice every day,” said Durant. “With those attributes, I think that we can go far as a team. It’s all on us. We control our own destiny at this point.”

“A lot of people didn’t expect us to be here and once we got here, people were saying we were going to get swept.”

Kobe Bryant was held to 12 points and his decision to not take a shot for the first 15 minutes of the game, got his team in a 15-point deficit hole they could never dig out of.

The Thunder responded with a vengeance and the Lakers never got within double-digits after the first quarter.

“This is as big as a game can possibly be,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “You’re playing against one of the best teams in the playoffs on your home floor. Like I told the guys after the game, the Lakers did a good job the first two games. They took care of their home court. We did the same thing.”

Bynum and Gasol led the Lakers in scoring with 13 and Kobe took his 12 points to the bench, spending the entire 4th quarter there with 3 other Lakers starters.

“Our expectation is we wanted to win both of these games and be done with it. I think that’s every team’s mindset coming on the road being up 2-0,” Bryant said during post-game. “We’ve got a tough fight.”

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

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