Resilient Lakers focused on making history

PHIL JACKSON Taking it one play at a time

LOS ANGELES - It wasn't pretty. It wasn't impressive. It wasn't exactly confidence-building, either.

But do you think the Lakers care about the aesthetics or psychological carryover from their Game 5 victory Sunday? Please. A team on the brink of elimination will take a win any way it comes, even if the opponent's foul trouble and injuries played a big part. The Lakers have bigger worries than style points heading into Game 6 tonight at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Will they ever be able to sustain a big lead after losing a 24-point advantage in Game 4 and a 19-point advantage in Game 5? Will they ever play a solid 48 minutes? Will Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol stay aggressive? Will Sasha Vujacic regain his shooting touch? Will Kobe Bryant figure out the Celtics' defense in time for a vintage scoring performance of the 40-plus point variety?

Who knows?

"We all know we can beat them," said Vujacic. "We just played the way we were supposed to play. It's nothing great, but it was enough to win. We gave one big lead away, but I can't even count how many times we came back during the season. We know we can do it. That's how we're thinking about it right now."

In the postgame locker room Sunday night, the Lakers didn't seem all that interested in rehashing their 103-98 victory. They also didn't sound interested in talking about momentum gained from the grind-it-out win. If the Lakers have learned anything from the 2008 Finals, it is the benefit of selective memory and a move-on mentality. It worked when they trailed the Celtics, three games to one, after a historic collapse in Game 4. They figure such an approach will work again with their sights set on a historic comeback.

Asked what he told his team following Game 5, coach Phil Jackson said, "The same thing I said after Game No. 4, and that's just keep forcing the games and making plays. Keep making one play at a time, one quarter at a time. Don't think anything past this next opportunity to play this team again."

Given the ups and downs in the series, Jackson has trumpeted the Lakers' youth and resiliency as positive qualities. With a quick turnaround and cross-country travel between Games 5 and 6, young legs and a youthful outlook could work in the Lakers' favor. Plus, the Celtics will be playing in their 26th postseason game, with veterans undoubtedly feeling the wear and tear and younger players such as Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo banged up.

But the health and freshness of the Celtics doesn't concern the Lakers. While they would like to start as strong as they did in Game 5, they know it will be virtually impossible to take a 39-22 lead at the end of the first quarter again. So they are focused on consistency, on making open jumpers, on withstanding runs by the Celtics even if they cannot hold leads.

"We just think about the next game," said Bryant. "But to put it in more realistic terms, in training camp, if you told us we'll give you two games that you have to win to win a world championship, we would have took it in a heartbeat."

Bryant made a similar statement heading into Game 5, and his team stepped up its play.

In Game 5, for the first time during the Finals, the Lakers outplayed the Celtics during the third quarter, winning the period, 24-18. After the Lakers saw a 19-point lead shrink to a 55-52 advantage at halftime, the fact that they did not collapse in the third earned the attention - and the sarcasm - of Jackson.

"I went into halftime and said, 'Thank God we don't have the lead,' " said Jackson, apparently not considering 3 points a true edge. "It's important we don't have something like that because we just don't know what to do with it anyway, and they were able to come out and give it up right off the bat, but scrap back."

Again lauding the Lakers' resiliency, Jackson added, "They played harder than the Celtics for the game, and I think that was the key in the ballgame. They scrapped out rebounds, won the rebound situation. It was a very close game statistically, but possessions were important."

If the Lakers took anything away from Game 5, it was their ability to scrap and play as aggressively as the Celtics. Maybe it was the absence of Perkins. Maybe it was the foul trouble faced by Kevin Garnett and P.J. Brown. Maybe it was greater resolve. Maybe it was desperation. Whatever it was, the Lakers looked more comfortable, more self-assured.

"There's no tomorrow if we don't find a way to get it done," said Jordan Farmar. "Nobody is going to back down. Nobody wants to lose. We want to keep this series going. We have a great belief in this locker room that we can get it done and be the world champs. That's been our goal all year and we are holding onto it."

Shira Springer can be reached at springer@globe.com.