Artest’s impact was felt from the jump: his presence shielding a banged up Bryant from tough perimeter defensive assignments (like ascendant superstar Kevin Durant, who Artest held to 35 percent shooting in round one). Not only by the fans, but his peers. “I think Phil Jackson called him the MVP. The following month, The Celtics survived a 13-0 fourth quarter run to escape LA with the victory.By April, Boston had sunk to the 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, while 57 wins were enough for the Lakers to secure top spot out West.The switch flipped, Boston surprised everyone by beating the three biggest superstars (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard) in the East in succession to advance to the Finals. Bryant collected a second consecutive Finals MVP trophy. “They had this great defense; they threw the gauntlet down at Kobe’s feet. I was like, ‘this is a completely different dude.’ It fascinated me.”Once again, the Green started out like a house afire, pushing their record to 23-5. Allen went 0-for-13 from the field, one attempt shy of an NBA playoff record for futility. Bill Simmons “a cross between a rugby match and a rockfight.”  The principals - Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ron (not yet Metta) Artest - cut their teeth in a different NBA: one with fewer threes, fewer analytics and fewer Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals remains second the lowest-scoring Finals game of the past decade. “There was a sense that they were going to be as good or better than anyone for as long as they could tolerate each other. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesKobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza of the Los Angeles Lakers embrace in the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals during the 2009 NBA Playoffs at... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesBoston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett warms up before an NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX Boston defeated Dallas 102-93 Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesCleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James looks on as his team looses to the Charlotte Bobcats during an NBA basketball game at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 19,... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesBoston Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen and point guard Rajon Rondo while playing the Charlotte Bobcats during an NBA basketball game at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina on... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesBoston Celtics Nate Robinson drives between LA Lakers Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol during game four of the NBA Finals June 10, 2010 in Boston. That pressure got to “Losing is one thing,” says Ryan. “That’s probably why he wanted to win it so badly.”Heisler also remembers Bryant’s postgame jab at his former teammate and : “I think the first thing he said was, “one more than Shaq.”“The feud with Shaq was still there and now he had one more,” says Helin.
The Celtics were also-rans in a weak Eastern Conference, bottoming out during a 24-win 2007 campaign. The 64th edition of the championship serieswas played between June 3 and June 17, wa… The 2010 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s championship series for the 2009–10 season. ''Then last year, when the Lakers beat Houston in the second round, Kobe played like an average Joe in Game 7. You guys are going to remember this moment. Game 7 against the Celtics: get revenge or fall short again. “They were less than five minutes away. Fisher grabbed the headlines with 11 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3, including a backbreaking bucket in the final minute. Ray Allen coolly steps to the free throw line and drains both shots. The greatest rivalry in sports got kicked up a notch this night. LOS ANGELES -- It's all so perfect.

Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics looks to move the ball as he is covered by Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty ImagesLive stream will be available after this brief ad from our sponsorsOriginal podcasts, and the shows you missed, on rewind! You have this historically momentous Lakers-Celtics game and he’s not able to be Kobe.”“Kobe was horrid in that game,” Maxwell states. “They would’ve won the last two and reasserted control over the whole thing.“I remember being overwhelmed by the size, the scope, the pressure of it,” recalls Helin. The Celtics wandered in the desert for much of that period as the Big Three got old and the organization endured two Meanwhile, the Lakers were shocked by Magic Johnson’s HIV-driven retirement. I can take losing to Pau Gasol, who I firmly believe was the MVP. (The Lakers) played their first exhibition game at the Pond in Anaheim against the Seattle SuperSonics. "This is definitely a special treat for the NBA,'' Boston's Game 7s in the Finals are about as common as power dunks by The Lakers and Celtics have met previously in four Game 7s, with the Celtics prevailing every time. The first two games in Boston were a showcase for the role players. On draft day, Ainge flipped the fifth overall pick (Jeff Green) to Seattle in a package for future Hall of Famer Ray Allen. The Celtics won game 3 in Los Angeles by scoring 103 points. And after two weeks of dodging questions about the Celtics, the star let loose after Game 7:“This one is by far the sweetest, because it's them,” Says Heisler, “Bob (Ryan) was asking Kobe a lot of questions about the rivalry and Kobe was just completely downplaying it: pretending the rivalry meant nothing, he wasn’t aware of it, he didn’t care about it - all this stuff that was ridiculous on its face. The Lakers had their own problems.“(Bryant) was so far down after Shaq left,” Heisler recalls.
They beat Orlando - that was a cakewalk.”“I just know that as a Laker legend, you have to beat the Celtics at some point, and he probably knew at that point in his career, it was going to be the last opportunity to do that,” Fisher .