The Los Angeles Lakers stumbled to another potentially costly defeat in their NBA Finals series with the Boston Celtics on Sunday but, from the ashes of a 108-102 loss, they may finally have witnessed the spark to ignite their Championship bid.

Kobe Bryant inspired a late comeback by his team, which had trailed by 24 points with only 7:55 (minutes) left to play, a recovery which brought them to within 104-100 with 63 seconds remaining.

Ultimately, thanks to two free-throws from the excellent Paul Pierce, the Celtics were able to hold on for a win which gives them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series as it is transplanted to Los Angeles for three games starting Tuesday.

However, the performance of Bryant, who finally seemed to come to terms with Boston’s stifling defence in the second half on his way to a game-high 30 points, suggested that the Lakers may have it within their power to become only the fourth team to ever recover from a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals.

“Sure, it’s something that we can take from, absolutely,” said Bryant, who scored just one point below his play-off average. “Understand, we played harder.

“We played with a sense of desperation and more aggression and I think that’s something for us to take home and learn from.”

The Lakers will have to learn quickly, however, and coach Phil Jackson remained unconvinced that the momentum from this game’s closing stages can be carried to California - “No, no. It’s 2,500 miles away. It’s too far to carry,” joked Jackson

Instead, the veteran coach was more concerned with the officiating in his team’s latest defeat, specifically the disparity in fouls called with the Celtics shooting 38 free-throws to the Lakers’ 10. Little used Celtic sub Leon Powe, who scored an impressive 21 points, alone took 13 free-throws in just 15 minutes on court.

“The fact Leon Powe gets more shots than our whole team does is ridiculous,” said Jackson. “I’ve never seen a game like that in all the years I’ve coached in the Finals. Unbelievable.

“I think my players got fouled. I have no question about the fact my players got fouled but didn’t get to the line.”

Predictably, Pierce showed no ill effects from his much-discussed knee injury as he scored 28 points and handed out 8 assists although his pleasure at the victory against his hometown club was tempered, as it was throughout his camp, by their near-fatal late collapse.

“I was a little disappointed in our play in the last six minutes of the game,” he said. “I thought we just weren’t aggressive enough to put the game away.

“But this means everything, it’s a dream. It’s a dream for me to go home and play in a place where I grew up against a team I grew up with, for the Boston Celtics, and to have an opportunity to win an NBA championship. I couldn’t have scripted it any better myself.”