Sun.Star Breaking News

BOSTON — Boston Celtics claimed their 17th NBA title, and first in 22 years, with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners, the Celtics won the first title - at last - for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen - their Big Three for a new generation.

Lifted by ear-splitting chants of “Beat L.A.” from their adoring crowd, which included Boston greats Bill Russell John Havlicek and JoJo White, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a resounding win over the Lakers in Game 6.

Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the finals MVP, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first crown since 1986.

With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his
Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.

This was total domination. The Celtics obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

Boston’s 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA finals.

Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth - a tribute to Red
Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise’s first 16 titles.

Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court, then found Hall of Famer Bill Russell for a long embrace.

“I got my own. I got my own,” Garnett said. “I hope we made you proud.”

“You sure did,” Russell said.(AP)

Sports