Defense sure wanted its quarter back

Paul Pierce knew it was a travel before the ref even blew the whistle.

He had done a nice little dance move to upfake his defender, only he had added an extra step. So instead of going to the line for his second 4-point play in two games and piling on to a 21-point lead, he backpedaled to go back on defense.

It was funny.

Pierce laughed. Celtics coach Doc Rivers laughed.

Of course, everything's funny when you're up 21.

When you're up 2, you're nervous.

You're thinking, "What happened to that defense that had held the Lakers to 61 points through three quarters," and if you're Rivers, you're hoping the same Pierce stroke that sent that 3-pointer slicing through the rim in the third quarter is the same stroke that shows up while he's at the line.

"Just make them," was what Rivers thought as Pierce stepped to the line with Boston up, 104-102, with 38 seconds left.

Pierce sank both freebies. Rivers expected that.

But what he didn't expect was to be in such a close game after his team had all but demolished the Lakers offense (12 misses in 20 shots), ripping rebounds out of their hands like they were kids.

"I thought we got cute when we got the lead," said Rivers, after the 108-102 win was complete. "We started trying to make sensational plays instead of keeping it simple."

But despite almost being even with Boston in the grind-it-out stats (Los Angeles: 36 rebounds, 40 points in the paint, Boston: 37 rebounds and 34 points in the paint), the Lakers couldn't beat Boston at a game it had mastered.

For the second straight game it looked as if Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins were the free throw lane's personal bouncers and Kobe Bryant wasn't wearing the proper wristband.

He could barely take two steps in the paint before a body was there to cut him off. He either had to pull up for his fadeaway or look for somebody to pass it to.

They had Bryant settling.

But then the Celtics started to play a different game - behind-the-back passes, lob passes, and threes in transition - and it was as if the Celtics had jogged the Lakers' memory.

"We allowed them to get comfortable," Rivers said. "We had a chance not to allow them to get comfortable and we did."

Worse, they got the Lakers to think they actually could be aggressive.

"We noticed some things in the fourth quarter that we can do that we'll look at and see if we can't use them in at Staples [Center]," Bryant said.

Pierce couldn't laugh afterward. He barely smiled. The win was nice. They are up, 2-0, in the series after all. But honestly, he said, he was disappointed.

"I thought we just weren't aggressive enough to put the game away," he said. "I thought we just wanted the time to run out.

"It's a great win, but definitely a lesson to be learned in the last six minutes."