Pierce's heroics lead Boston to game one win

The crowd was deathly silent. The Celtics were down 62-58. Most of all, Paul Pierce was down. And he was in pain.

After Pierce and Kendrick Perkins both jumped to try and block a Kobe Bryant floater, Pierce's legs got tied up with Perkins', and Pierce felt a pop in his knee.The Truth had to be carried off the court and then wheeled into the locker room. Not too long after, Pierce emerged from the Boston tunnel, sending the crowd at TD Banknorth Garden into a frenzy.

Pierce, who scored only three points in the first half, willed the Celtics to victory, scoring 19 points over the final 24 minutes, including draining two threes in a row to give Boston a 75-71 lead as the third quarter was winding down. The Celtics would never relinquish that lead, and they ended up taking game one of the NBA Finals from the Lakers by a score of 98-88.

Kevin Garnett compensated for Pierce's poor first half, scoring 16 points off 6-of-9 shooting. He would finish with 24 points and 13 rebounds and put the icing on the cake of the game with two hustle plays late in the fourth quarter. First, Garnett ran into the backcourt to save a backcourt violation, keeping his feet in the air and flipping the ball back into the frontcourt where Sam Cassell caught it and knocked down one of his four field goals. He then capped things off with an emphatic put-back jam on a missed three by James Posey.

Pierce's performace is sure to go down in Celtic lore. The 10-year veteran said he felt like he tore something when he first went down, and even went as far to say that he thought he was done. Still, being the warrior that he is, when Pierce discovered he was able to stand up and put pressure on his leg in the locker room, he wasted no time in coming back on to the floor.

There will be some skeptics that will say Pierce exaggerated his injury a little bit to fire up the arena and his team, but do you really think he was thinking that when he went down? Also, does anyone seriously believe that a man who has waited his whole life to reach this point is going to sacrifice playing time to fake an injury? If anyone does, then they need to get their head checked.

However, it wasn't just Pierce and Garnett who put up stellar game one performances. P.J. Brown was huge off the bench, replacing Perkins who injured his ankle soon after Pierce fell to the floor. Brown only put up two points, but he tallied six rebounds and play phenomenal interior defense, particularly in helping out against Bryant. The 37-year old also started a fast-break when he stuffed a Bryant layup attempt. Rajon Rondo produced as well, going for 15 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Cassell recorded eight points off the bench.

Bryant could not buy a bucket for Los Angeles, finishing 9-for-26. He did have 24 points, but the only real efficient stretch he had was a portion of the beginning of the third quarter. Ray Allen played stifling defense on the MVP, and that isn't the first time he has done so. Bryant is shooting only 33% from the floor (24-for-72) in three games against Boston this season. Allen gave Kobe no room to breathe, and when Allen wasn't defending Bryant, Pierce or Posey were blanketing him. Bryant felt he "missed some bunnies" and that it was more him failing to convert on good looks than it was the Celtic defense stopping him, but anyone who was watching the game knows that that is completely false. If the three-time champion cannot figure out how to shake this Boston defense which ranked number one in the league this season, the Lakers are in trouble; big trouble.