Boston Celtics, Nba Finals | featured news

The NBA's championship-winning game for the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday was seen by nearly 24 million people, leading ABC to its most-watched week during the slow summer season in nearly 10 years. The Nielsen Co. said the Mavericks' series victory over the Miami Heat was seen by an average of 17.3 million people over the six games. That's a little less than the viewership for last year's Lakers-Celtics series, which had the advantage of going to a climactic seventh game.

After playing from behind for most of Game 7, the Los Angeles Lakers surged past the Boston Celtics in the final minutes to capture their 16th N.B.A. Championship.

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and got plenty of help from his teammates this time as the Lakers evened the N.B.A. Finals series at three games apiece.

Celtics handle Kobe onslaught and lead Lakers 3-2
A Los Angeles native who has played his entire career with the rival Celtics, Pierce scored 27 points to help Boston withstand 38 points from Kobe Bryant to beat the Lakers 92-86 on Sunday night and move within one victory of an unprecedented 18th NBA title.

On another difficult night for the Boston starters, the bench came through, and the Celtics bullied their way to a 96-89 victory to tie the N.B.A. finals at 2-2.

Home-court advantage? What's that? For the second time in three games, the visitor walked into unfriendly confines and walked out with a win. Tuesday night it was the Lakers stealing back the advantage they lost on Sunday with a 91-84 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Ray Allen set a finals record for 3-pointers while scoring 32 points, and Rajon Rondo had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as Boston won in Los Angeles.

Ratings for Game 1 of the NBA Finals are up from last year, highlighting the rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics.