Celtics draw even

NBA Finals now a best-of-3 with series tied at 2-2

Associated Press

BOSTON

The Boston Celtics have tied up the NBA finals, and they owe it more to “Big Baby” than the Big Three.

Backup Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored half of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Celtics bench as it pulled away from the Los Angeles Lakers to win 96-89 on Thursday night and even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

Game 5 is Sunday night in Boston. The Celtics’ win guaranteed them a trip back to Los Angeles and averted a 3-1 deficit that has never been overcome in NBA history.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and Pau Gasol had 21 for the Lakers.

Paul Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett had 13 and Ray Allen bounced back from a seven-quarter shooting slump to score 12 points for Boston.

Andrew Bynum gave it a go, but couldn’t go for long.

Battling a painful right knee, the starting center for the Lakers was limited to about 13 minutes.

Bynum was on the floor for less than two minutes in the second half, and the Lakers sorely missed his size and strength. The Celtics had a whopping 54-34 advantage in points in the paint, a 20-10 edge in second-chance points and outrebounded Los Angeles 41-34.

Bynum has a torn meniscus, and the knee quickly refilled with fluid after he had it drained last week. He wasn’t on the floor down the stretch in Game 3, but Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before Thursday’s game that Bynum wanted to give it a shot.

“We’ll try to get him six, seven minutes at the beginning of the game,” Jackson said. “He likes to get out there and participate and get the feel of the game, and we’ll see how he goes from there.”

It don’t go much further.

Bynum played 10 minutes of the first half, then wasn’t on the floor for the start of the third quarter. He eventually checked in with about 4 minutes left in the period, then was back on the bench for good with 2:13 remaining.

Without him, the game resembled something from the 2008 NBA finals, when Bynum wasn’t available after knee surgery and the Celtics overpowered the Lakers inside.

Boston’s Davis was able to bull his way to the basket in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics had a key possession extended in the closing minutes with an offensive rebound.

Bynum had been averaging only about 25 minutes in the postseason because of the knee, but he had been effective early in this series. He had 21 points and seven blocked shots in Game 2.