The Boston Celtics served notice on Thursday that they intend to defend their regular season record and compete for another NBA Championship.

Facing the L.A. Lakers in an epic Game 1, things looked bad for the Celtics in the 3rd quarter when Paul Pierce had to be helped off the court by teammates.  As the Lakers took the lead and appeared to be taking advantage of Pierce’s absence, the G/F re-emerged from the locker room to a standing ovation and helped lead his team back into the lead late in the 3rd quarter.

Boston’s defense was superb in the 2nd half, limiting the Lakers and stifling Kobe Bryant.  Kobe finished the game w/ 26 pts, but was 9-26 from the field, largely in part to the defense of Pierce and a few other Celtics role players.

The benches played a huge difference in Game 1; unfortunately for the Lakers, their contribution was virtually nill.  On the other hand, the Celtics got great contributions from Sam Cassell and PJ Brown, two veterans obtained late in the season to help Boston get to this point.

Kevin Garnett struggled w/ his shot late in the game, but came up w/ a monstrous comeback dunk late in the 4th quarter.

Photos from the 2008 NBA Finals – Game 1:

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