It's a test of strength

Celtics' defense meets LA offense

WALTHAM - Paul Pierce knew it. More important, he felt it.

The Celtics' captain knew that if the team could just string together a few defensive stops against the Pistons in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, it could overcome a 70-60 deficit with 10 1/2 minutes remaining.

"Even though we got down 10," Pierce said, "I never felt like we were out of the game."

The reason Pierce felt so supremely confident in Boston's defensive capabilities probably had something to do with the fact that the Celtics were, in fact, the best defensive team in the NBA during the regular season and throughout the playoffs. They wound up limiting the Pistons to 33 percent shooting (6 of 18) in the fourth quarter and converted six turnovers into 9 points, which helped fuel a decisive 19-4 run Pierce capped with a 7-point tear of his own.

"I felt like we started to get a good rhythm going defensively," said Pierce after the Celtics wrapped up practice yesterday at HealthPoint. "And I knew if we got some stops, then we could turn it around. But once you get into that defensive rhythm, you can kind of feel it."

Now the team with the best defense in the playoffs, and the Defensive Player of the Year in Kevin Garnett, will host the Lakers, the team with the best offense in the playoffs, and the Most Valuable Player in Kobe Bryant, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tomorrow night.

The Lakers, who averaged 108 points per game during the regular season, arrive in Boston with the league's most explosive offense in the playoffs, averaging 105.8 points with a field goal percentage of 47.8. The Celtics' defense, meanwhile, has held opponents to an average of 87.2 points (3 points fewer than they allowed in the regular season) and a 42.1 field goal percentage.

The Western Conference's irresistible force, meet the Eastern Conference's immovable object.

"Am I anticipating this?" Pierce said. "I'm more than anticipating it. I'm ready. It's for all the marbles, man. This is for everything you've ever wanted. It's for every time you walk into this practice facility and look up."

All along the perimeter of the practice facility, green and white championship banners hang. In one corner, next to the 1986 banner, a spotlight shines on a blank space - reserved for the next banner.

"We want to fill that open space right there," Pierce said.

If the Celtics are to do so, however, they will have to find a way to defend against the Lakers and their amazing scoring machine, Bryant, who averaged a league-leading 31.4 points in the first three rounds.

"They're not just another team," said Kendrick Perkins, who will likely draw the assignment of guarding Pau Gasol, the Lakers' midseason acquisition from Memphis who seemed to be a perfect fit in LA with his offensive-minded presence in the post, averaging 18.8 points in 27 regular-season games.

"They made it to the Finals, so they have to be something, especially with the MVP," Perkins added. "They got it going right now. They had it easy throughout the whole West. They ran through the West with no problem, so you got to respect them."

So how do the Celtics approach Bryant? Will they attempt to do to him what they did to LeBron James in the Eastern Conference semifinals? Or is the sum of LA's parts as fearsome as, say, Detroit's, which revolved around dangerous weapons such as Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Richard Hamilton complementing Chauncey Billups?

"You know, Kobe is a great, great talent," Pierce said. "Probably the best scorer, probably the best player in the game. But, physically, there's nobody like LeBron in the league. Kobe, he's going to score the points he scores by going around you and [using] finesse.

"LeBron, he's going to try and go right through you, which is a lot more demanding on your body. But they both get it done, and at the end of the day, you've got your work cut out for you, whichever one it is."

Said Perkins, "We just have to stick to our defensive rules. Like I said, Kobe will be Kobe, but we can't over-help and open up avenues for the other guys. The bigs still have to help, but you can't overplay [Bryant].

"As long as you play team defense, you'll be all right, just as long as you don't make up stuff on the fly."

So what will eventually win out? Offense or defense? Irresistible force or immovable object? West Coast or East Coast?

"Well, they say offense wins games and defense wins championships, so we'll just have to see," Perkins said. "As long as we stick with our defense, I think we're going to be all right."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.