Boston thrash Lakers to win title

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NBA Highlights: LA Lakers 92-131 Boston

Boston Celtics thrashed Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 to seal a record 17th NBA title with a 4-2 series win.

Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen both hit 26 points and Rajon Rondo weighed in with 21 as the Celtics won their first crown since 1986.

The 39-point margin was the second largest in NBA finals history and the largest in a title-securing victory.

"I'm so happy right now," Garnett, who also grabbed 14 rebounds, said before screaming, "Anything is possible."

For Garnett, Paul Pierce - who hit 17 points and had 10 assists - and Allen, the win was especially poignant having struggled for 12, nine and 11 years respectively without landing an NBA title.

The Celtics signed Garnett and Allen last July and, with Pierce, set about turning the Celtics back into a title-winning team.

"This is all we talked about and it's finally here," Pierce said.

"Kevin, Ray and myself, we sacrificed so much. We got all sorts of rewards in this league but we never got to the mountain top. Today it's a breath of fresh air.

They definitely were the best defence I've seen in the entire play-offs LA's Kobe Bryant

"Nothing beats this."

Pierce, who was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, averaging 21.8 points and 6.3 assists in the series, thanked the Celtics fans for sticking with a team which finished with the NBA's second-worst record last season.

"This is unreal from where we came from a year ago," he told the crowd.

"You guys stuck with me and now we're bringing home championship number 17."

Lakers star and league MVP, Kobe Bryant, admitted: "I've seen some pretty stiff (defences) and this was right up there with them.

"They definitely were the best defence I've seen in the entire play-offs."

LA coach Phil Jackson added: "Kobe started off that game with a hot hand and then his legs.... you could see his shot was flat.

"He didn't get his shot going and it really changed the course of the game. He started out so strong and then he only made three field goals the rest of the game, so that really was a change.

Boston's Paul Pierce celebrates finally getting his hands on the NBA trophy

"One of the things they did is they really focused on him and made sure that he wasn't going to be the guy that hurt them, and we didn't have guys step up in this instance tonight."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, the first black coach to win an NBA title since K.C. Jones guided the Celtics to the 1986 crown, said: "Offensively and defensively it was just perfect tonight."

The series victory came on what would have been Rivers' late father Grady's 77th birthday, the elder Rivers having died last November. "That was the first thing I thought of, what he would say," Rivers said.

"I laughed, because I thought he would say, 'It's about time.'"

Kobe Bryant hit 22 points for the Lakers, but the Celtics recovered from missing nine of their first 10 shots to surge to a 58-35 half-time lead and never looked back.