Live action updates from Game 3 of the NBA finals between longtime rivals Celtics, Lakers

Lakers take back home-court edge

Ball game.

Home-court advantage back to the Lakers, thanks to their 91-84 win over Boston in Game 3 of the NBA finals. The Lakers lead series, 2-1.

Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol combined to shoot 15 for 40 — and the Lakers won.

Ray Allen, 0 for 13, will live in infamy. If the Celtics lose this series, it’ll be right up there — err, right down there — with that 2 for 18 by John Starks for the Knicks in Game 7 of the 1994 finals.

See you Thursday.

How do you not foul there?

Boston let too much time slip away after the offensive foul on Kevin Garnett. Lakers end up getting two free throws, and now lead 89-82 with 23.8 seconds left.

Three-possession game.

Lakers would have to fall apart to lose this one.

Unlucky 13 for Ray Allen, indeed.

He misses a 3-pointer — his 13th shot, 13th miss of this night he’ll try to forget — and Derek Fisher gets the ball in transition for the Lakers.

Fisher comes down the left wing, 1 on 3, gets hammered and scores. Then makes the free throw.

Lakers up 87-80 with 48.3 seconds left. The fourth quarter has belonged to Derek Fisher, plain and simple.

This is why replay isn’t a great idea.

A long delay to check a missed call with 1:29 left in a finals game?

Refs got it right, eventually, though it baffles the mind why it would take so long to see something on replay. Lakers ball, Celtics unhappy, and Los Angeles still up four as we get near the final minute.

And 19 seconds later, there was another review for a sidelines out-of-bounds call. Much quicker review. Call got fixed, Celtics ball.

Kobe Bryant missed his first four shots of the fourth quarter.

He didn’t go 0 for 5.

A pullup from the left elbow with 1:41 left gave the Lakers a four-point lead, once again giving just a tiny bit of wiggle room in crunch time.

Meanwhile, Ray Allen is now 0 for 12.

That huge Lakers lead is long gone, but this is a great example of a championship team’s resolve. There’s been six instances in the second half when Boston has made it a one-possession game, getting within one, two or three points.

Los Angeles bent. Los Angeles hasn’t broken. Yet.

For as close as the Celtics have gotten, they still haven’t had the lead in the second half.

Dramatic ending awaits.

This Ray Allen thing is getting more and more fascinating.

He’s barely involved in the Boston offense. Totally standing still, it seems, on several possessions in the fourth quarter.

A decoy? Or just trying to lull the Lakers to sleep before snapping this horrific 0-for-11 shooting night?

Meanwhile, Derek Fisher has hit two more huge shots, has eight points in the quarter, and the Lakers lead 80-78 with under 2½ minutes to go.

Derek Fisher has made two big shots in the fourth quarter, first a swooping layup, then a tough leaner in the lane.

The Lakers’ big lead is gone, but they still have a lead — the most important thing.

Fisher’s faded to the wing for the most part now, and it’s worked for Los Angeles, which has a tiny bit of breathing room and a 74-70 lead over Boston as we get into crunch time.

If nothing else, Fisher being a factor means the Celtics won’t be able to triple-team Kobe the rest of the way.

Big Baby’s growing up.

Rajon Rondo’s been great, Tony Allen’s defense on Kobe Bryant has been suffocating at times, but Glen Davis is why Boston is within one point with 10 minutes left against Los Angeles.

He’s hit three of his four shots, both of his free throws, is getting rebounds, making acrobatic layups that no man as big as he is should be able to pull off, and has been a super-sized source of energy for a worrisome Boston crowd.

Huge moment with 11:21 left in Game 3.

Boston’s worst nightmare — Paul Pierce just got his fifth foul, on a play where he and the Lakers’ Ron Artest were banging in the post. Pierce is the one who got hit with the whistle.

Next possession: Rasheed Wallace starts to go wild over a foul call, although in fairness, replays showed there wasn’t much there.

Still, Boston can’t lose its cool now. It’s a two-possession game with 11 minutes left.

Kobe Bryant almost lost the ball. Then he threw a dagger.

His long 3-pointer with about 90 seconds left in the third was no ordinary triple. He had to head-fake his way free of the Celtics’ Tony Allen, all with the shot clock running down, then step through and hit a 26-footer.

He’ll need to stay spectacular if the Lakers are going to win this game. For as much as the Celtics have struggled offensively, they trail just 67-61 with 12 minutes remaining.

Bryant has 25 points so far.

Never.

That’s the last time Ray Allen shot like this.

He’s 0 for 11 from the field. And he’s one of the best shooters, bar none, on the planet.

The Celtics star has never had a game like this. Ever. He was 0 for 8 in a game against Cleveland in 1999, and 0 for 9 against Memphis in 2008.

Those are the only times in his career that he went 0 for 8-or-more in an NBA game. And they weren’t during a crucial point in the NBA finals.

Interesting TV shot of the Lakers’ bench with 4:45 left in the third.

Andrew Bynum — he of the knee injury sustained in April — is flexing and holding that braced knee, not necessarily looking in pain, but definitely looking uncomfortable.

The Lakers have enough length to get by without Bynum defensively.

They just click better offensively when he’s an option.

Something worth watching.

By the numbers, Boston has to be feeling pretty good right about now.

Kobe Bryant is 6 for 18, Derek Fisher has one assist, Pau Gasol has eight points and eight rebounds — nice numbers, but not exactly stellar stuff.

Bottom line is this: The Lakers aren’t playing flawless, by any stretch of the imagination.

So trailing by nine midway through the third quarter, Boston has to know that two or three stops in succession are all it needs to make this deficit pretty much disappear.

The Lakers lead 58-49.

Mark this moment down: 8:40 left in the third quarter.

Paul Pierce just picked up his fourth foul.

Just like when he got No. 3, Doc Rivers left him in the game — but only for a few moments. You could understand his wavering on what to do there. Kendrick Perkins is no offensive option, and Ray Allen hasn’t hit from the field yet.

Can’t play five-on-three when you’re down in Game 3 of the finals.

But if Pierce got No. 5 in the next couple minutes, he’d have been a non-factor the rest of the way. So Tony Allen returns.

So much for that “Kobe is rolling” notion.

Two horrible jumpers in the first couple minutes of the second half, Paul Pierce hits a 3 at the other end, and Boston is suddenly within 54-45 early in the third quarter.

And the Celtics still have nothing from Ray Allen.

Long way from over, this one is.

Halftime in Boston, and the Lakers lead 52-40.

Kobe Bryant has 16 points so far, and has it all working. Leaning out of bounds, saving the ball and setting up a layup. Long jumpers. Left-handers in the lane.

The Celtics are trying to run him off everything, and even that isn’t disrupting Kobe’s rhythm. Yes, he’s 5 for 13 from the floor, but seems to be in a groove.

Meanwhile, the Ray Allen Watch continues. He hit eight 3-pointers in Game 2, a finals record, but is 0 for 5 from the floor in Game 3. Paul Pierce is 1 for 8.

Kevin Garnett has 15 points and without them, the Lakers might already have a 2-1 series lead.

Calculated risk by Celtics coach Doc Rivers in the final minutes of the first half.

Paul Pierce has three fouls — and he’s still on the floor.

It’s not all that risky of a play, when you think about it. He’s guarding Luke Walton, who the Lakers won’t run a play for until 2014 at the earliest.

But it shows the desperation. Boston is shaky right now.

It’s like a good night of boxing in the early going of Game 3.

Back and forth we go, a lot of jabs, the occasional flurry of punches, but mostly two fighters feeling each other out.

The difference is, the Celtics know they don’t need to try to throw a knockout punch to impress the judges.

You get the feeling one of the teams will go on a big spurt by halftime.

And if it’s the Lakers, the Celtics will certainly be on the ropes.

Could Boston’s early struggles be easily explained?

The Celtics were in Los Angeles for nearly a week, then took an all-night flight back after Game 2 ended Sunday night. Yes, they fly in style, but sleep on a plane is, well, it’s sleep on a plane for NBA players, too. It’s not exactly perfect.

By the time they got home, it was practically time for brunch Monday.

A lot of shots are coming up short in the early going for Boston, which any shooter knows is a sign of tired legs.

Something to watch as tonight rolls along.

The Celtics are in big trouble early.

There’s no offensive flow. They’re in slow motion, not even hustling over to Doc Rivers when he called a timeout with his team down 31-17. The Lakers’ run was up to an eyepopping 26-5.

You don’t see that a lot in the finals.

Nate Robinson, Rasheed Wallace, Glen Davis and Tony Allen on the floor together at once — that’s not striking fear in anyone. Not playing like this, anyway.

End of the first quarter and the Lakers lead 26-17 — with all the momentum, too.

So many objectives met in the first 12 minutes for the defending champions. They established a defensive identity. They got three of Boston’s key players to commit two fouls each. They silenced the Beantown crowd. And they got Lamar Odom on track for the first time in the series.

It was a 21-5 run for the Lakers to end the quarter.

Where would Boston be without Kevin Garnett’s big start? Doomed, that’s where.

Paul Pierce, 0 for 5.

Ray Allen, 0 for 5.

Go ahead, ask Phil Jackson if he thought the Lakers would be in control after the first 12 minutes if Kobe Bryant had just one field goal. Chances are, he wouldn’t have believed that one.

And now it’s two fouls on Paul Pierce. Perkins and Rondo already had two fouls.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers doesn’t mind going deep into his bench early.

Question is, how will this affect the substitution patterns going forward?

In the foulfest known as Game 1, once they got disrupted, Boston was totally out of sorts the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, not only does Boston have a bunch of guys with two fouls, the Celtics have two of something else you don’t often see in a finals game: shots that clanked off the side of the backboard.

The Lakers weathered the storm.

And the Celtics are now the team shaking their heads.

Kendrick Perkins got his second foul on a screen against Derek Fisher, and Rajon Rondo got his second for brushing Kobe Bryant’s elbow as the four-time NBA champion buried a straightaway 20-footer.

It’s an 13-4 run for the Lakers, helped by Lamar Odom banking in a 3. Hey, after eight points in the first two finals games, he needed a break.

KG, by the way, made his first five shots from the floor. The rest of the Celtics in the first 8 minutes? Combined six points.

Certainly a less-than-ideal start for the Lakers.

Ron Artest gets two fouls in the first 2:15. Luke Walton, who has seen limited minutes so far in the finals, is off the bench quickly for the Lakers while Artest takes a seat.

And so continues the trend we saw in Games 1 and 2: early foul trouble for a key player. It can send game plans right out the window.

Plus, in case you missed the last few minutes of Game 2 and how Rajon Rondo controlled especially the latter portions of that game, we invite you to rewind your TiVo and check out the first few minutes of Game 3.

He’s teasing the Lakers early, making them look silly.

Oh, and has anyone noticed Kobe Bryant yet? Probably not. Lakers need him to get rolling soon. Boston had its predictable inspired start, now it’s time for the defending champions to settle in and not led this early C’s lead balloon out of control.

The Celtics go to Kevin Garnett on the first possession, just as they did in Game 2. Reverse pivot, gets Pau Gasol in the air, easy bucket for KG.

Sometimes, an easy one is all a great player needs to get rolling.

Next possession, KG dunk in transition. Next possession, KG layup off a Rajon Rondo lob.

That’s what Boston needs.

Get the crowd crazy early, and get the inside game going. Free up Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the wings. And if Garnett gets it rolling, look out.

Boston 6-2, 2 minutes gone by.

It’s Game 7 of the NBA finals.

Not really, of course, but Game 3 is surely going to be pivotal.

When a best-of-seven is tied at a game apiece, like these finals between the Celtics and Lakers are, the Game 3 winner prevails about 90 percent of the time.

Don’t think Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers aren’t aware of that.

So you might see tighter rotations tonight. Quicker substitutions, especially early if something’s not working. You might see guys playing a bit longer in foul trouble.

Tonight, one team takes a colossal step toward hoisting the trophy.

It starts in a few minutes.