Brink job; Down 24, C's steal game, win away from 17th title.

Byline: Bill Doyle

LOS ANGELES - Look at it this way, Celtics fans. You may be tired this morning, but aren't you glad you didn't turn the television off last night after the Celtics fell behind, 26-7?

The Celtics went on to trail by as many as 24 points, then mounted the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history over at least the last 35 years and beat the Lakers, 97-91, at the Staples Center to take a 3-1 lead. No team has overcome a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. The Celtics can earn their 17th NBA title by winning Game 5 here Sunday night.

The Celtics closed the third quarter with a 21-3 run to pull within 73-71, then Leon Powe opened the fourth with a layup to tie the score. Eddie House's jumper gave the Celtics their first lead, 84-83, with 4:05 left. Ray Allen's drive and Kevin Garnett's layup made it 88-83 with 2:11 to go.

James "Big Game" Posey hit his fourth 3-pointer to regain a 5-point lead for Boston, 92-87, but Derek Fisher answered with a jumper for L.A. with 1:04 left.

Allen clinched the win by driving past Sasha Vujacic for a layup to make it 96-91 with 16.4 seconds left.

The Celtics closed the game by outscoring L.A., 47-21, to complete the greatest comeback in the NBA Finals since at least 1971 when the Elias Sports Bureau began keeping track of such things.

"We just went out there and played as hard as we could," Celtics captain Paul Pierce said, "and we believed and we stuck together and were able to pull off this win. Incredible."

Pierce led Boston with 20 points and 7 assists and helped limit Kobe Bryant to 6 of 19 shooting and 17 points. When the Celtics outscored L.A., 31-15, in the third quarter to get back in the game, Bryant made only 2 of 7 shots and scored just 4 points.

"Paul came to at halftime," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, "and said, `I want to guard Kobe. Let me guard him. I'm foul-less. I can commit some fouls, be physical with him.' It would take him off the post, so we went with it and it was terrific."

"We let a huge opportunity slip away," Bryant said. "(I'm) upset, hurt, disappointed. A huge loss, no doubt about it."

Garnett contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds. Allen had 19 points and 9 boards. Posey scored 18 and Eddie House 11.

The only bad news for Boston was that Kendrick Perkins left grimacing in pain and holding his left shoulder with 9:35 remaining in the third quarter. Perkins underwent surgery on that shoulder after the 2006 season after dislocating it twice. Rivers said he didn't know if Perkins had dislocated his shoulder again.

After Perkins left, Rivers went with Posey and House to give the Celtics two 3-point threats that the Lakers had to guard and to create room underneath. The strategy worked as Posey made four 3-pointers and House hit two.

Garnett said he planned to come out stronger and take the ball to the basket, but he missed his first three shots before picking up his second foul and leaving the game midway through the first quarter with L.A. on top, 17-6. By the end of the quarter, L.A. led, 35-14, for the largest lead after one quarter in NBA Finals history.

Lakers forward Lamar Odom promised to play better than he had in the first three games of the series and he did. Odom hit his first six shots and scored 13 of his team's first 26 points after making only 2 of 9 shots and scoring just four points in Game 3. But Odom took only two more shots in the next two quarters and finished with 19 points.

The Lakers shot 64.7 percent in the first quarter, but only 33 percent in the second half.

Rajon Rondo started despite a bone bruise in his left foot, but played only 17 minutes and wasn't effective.

The Lakers had been 9-0 and fell one victory shy of tying the NBA record for most consecutive home playoff wins in the same year.

Vujacic's 3-pointer - his only basket in nine attempts after scoring 20 points in Game 3 - gave L.A. its largest lead of the half, 45-21, but Pierce's jumper capped a 12-0 run that pulled the Celtics within, 45-33. Jordan Farmar raced through the Celtics defense and banked in a 3-pointer at the halftime horn to make it 58-40. Jack Nicholson, Toby Maguire, Justin Timberlake, Will Smith and the rest of the Lakers fans went wild.

The Celtics are just one victory away, but Sam Cassell, who won two championships with Houston, and Posey, who won one with Miami, reminded the team that the work isn't over.

"They said, `Hey, the closeout game is the hardest game,'" Pierce said. "You thought this game was hard? So, hey, I don't want to get overjoyed. I want to go out there to try to win Game 5 on Father's Day and then I'll be able to breathe. Right now, I'm waiting to exhale."

So are Celtics fans.

NAME: BOSTON CELTICS

ART: PHOTO

PHOTOG: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CUTLINE: Los Angeles' Pau Gasol shoots over Boston's Kendrick Perkins. The Lakers led by 24 points in the second quarter before the Celtics used a 21-3 third-quarter run to pull out a 97-91 win.