NBA Finals: Lakers, Celtics shrug weight of history in Game 7

By Greg Beacham

The Associated Press

Click photo to enlargeLos Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant talks with reporters after basketball... (The Associated Press)«12345»Los Angeles » Even when Lamar Odom was a kid with limitless imagination growing up on New York's playground courts, he thinks he might have dismissed tonight's season finale as a bit too extravagant.

When the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA finals, Odom realizes it's a fantasy come true for any basketball player with the audacity to dream this big.

"It's historic, especially when you talk about these teams and what they stand for, the pride," the Lakers forward said Wednesday. "This is what you envision when you're a kid in your backyard. Counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

Another memorable chapter in the NBA's best rivalry will end with a coronation at Staples Center, where the defending champion Lakers will try to earn their 16th banner while denying Boston its unprecedented 18th title in the clubs' second finals meeting in three years.

For the fifth time in their 12 Finals meetings, Boston and Los Angeles need all seven games to decide it. Each previous time it went to Game 7, the Celtics won -- but when the current Lakers and Celtics take the court for the NBA Finals' first Game 7 since 2005 and just its second in the past 16 years, most will try awfully hard not to think about the history and pressure heaped on their shoulders.

It's fine for kids and historians to savor this scenario, but Kobe Bryant knows it's not a good idea for players to get caught up in it.

"It's got nothing to do with me," said Bryant, the series' leading scorer with 29.5 points per game. "[When] I look back, years from now, or even when I was a kid, [if] you'd talk about being in this situation, I'd be really excited. But when I'm in the moment right now, I've got to play. I've got to focus on that. I can't focus on the hype about it."

Although Boston has the rivalry's Game 7 history on its side, the Celtics have plenty stacked against them after an embarrassing 89-67 loss in Game 6 on Tuesday night. Most glaringly, Boston won't have starting center Kendrick Perkins, who sprained multiple ligaments in his right knee in the first quarter.

The Celtics' starting five has never lost a playoff series, but that five must change for Game 7. Although Perkins is a role player next to Boston's Big Three and point guard Rajon Rondo, the Celtics must hope veteran Rasheed Wallace and youngster Glen Davis can make up for Perkins' inside defense and rebounding.

No visiting team has won an NBA championship in Game 7 since the Washington Bullets did it in 1978, yet the Celtics are a whole lot more worried about the Lakers than the Hollywood crowd.

"I just love the pressure," said Paul Pierce, who leads the Celtics with 18 points per game. "I love the fact that I get to play against the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7 on the road. I love the fact that if I don't win multiple championships that I probably won't be mentioned amongst the other guys in Celtic history that have done it before. That type of stuff motivates me. That's what the challenge is for me, every time I put on this Celtic uniform."