Lakers Still Alive, But for How Much Longer?

The Lakers showed last night that Boston doesn't have the NBA title wrapped up yet, but columnists say they still face an uphill battle. Los Angeles, trailing 3-2, has "very little to be proud of," Bob Ryan sniffs in the Boston Globe, pointing to squandered leads. Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times disagrees: "On a thumping Sunday night, that heartbeat returned."

In the Boston Herald, meanwhile, Steve Buckley bemoans Kevin Garnett's implosion. "Superstars don’t miss consecutive free throws in the last minutes of what could be a championship-clinching game" he writes. And Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register applauds LA's gumption, writing, "This is how the Lakers wanted to be remembered." (More Boston Celtics stories.)