ZACK: “I respect Kobe [Bryant]. I respect his game. I think he’s one of the top five players probably of all time. I wouldn’t want to be his teammate. I think if I was a Lakers fan or Kobe was on my team that would be something I’d really look forward to as a sports fan. But he’s also kind of that great sport enemy that we can all sort of love to hate.”

GINA: “I’m a Lakers fan. I always have been since Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and back in the good old days. I didn’t realize this is a Red Sox bar which would kind of mean that it’s a Celtics bar, too. But it feels kind of good watching the Celtics fans walk away sad.”

The Lakers played from behind for most of the game. They were losing by as many as thirteen points in the second half. That was until Ron Artest tied the game with a little more than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Sasha Vujacic closed the game out for the Lakers. He hit two free throws in the final seconds to give Los Angeles an eighty-three to seventy-nine victory.

Kobe Bryant was named most valuable player in the finals for the second straight year. He averaged almost thirty points per game. This was his fifth NBA championship. Bryant said this championship is sweeter than the rest because it came against the Celtics.

The two teams have met twelve times in the championship series. They last played against each other in the finals in two thousand eight. The Celtics won that series in six games.