The Lakers are still Alive!

The Los Angeles Lakers are still alive in the NBA Finals and they prevented the Boston Celtics from winning their 17Th World Championship with a 103-98 win on Game at the Staples Center closing the series to 3-2.

Kobe Bryant scored 25 points, Lamar Odom added 20 points, Pau Gasol had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Derek Fisher added 15 points for the Lakers. Just like in Game 4, the Boston Celtics rallied from a 19 points deficit and managed to cut the lead 97-95 courtesy of the two free throws made by Paul Pierce who scored 38 points in the game. But a crucial still by Kobe to Pierce earned the MVP a big slam dunk with 37.4 remaining gave the Lakers a comport able lead.

Kevin Garnett scored 13 points and 14 rebounds for Boston and Ray Allen added 16 points.

The Series will return to Boston for Game 6 and the Celtics will try to finish the series in their hometown, but expect the Lakers to play tough as they try to force a Game 7 which will also be played in Boston.

And just when you think that all odds are stacked against the Lakers, Boston also got one odd to defy. The Celtics already played 25 games in this post season. No team that played 25 games in the finals won the series and became Champion, with the likes of New York in 1994 and Detroit in 2005 who managed to play up to Game 7 but ended up losing.