Lakers vs. Celtics Game 6: Lakers Supporting Cast Fuels Rout of Celtics

After a dominating performance by his teammates Tuesday night, it’s clear that Kobe Bryant isn’t alone after all.

The Lakers blitzed the Celtics early and often en route to a 89-67 victory in Game Six at the Staples Center.

Although both Pau Gasol and Ron Artest provided aggressive, productive play from the start, the Lakers bench proved to be the biggest asset.

The Lakers reserves outscored Boston's bench 15-0 in the first half as L.A. surged to a 51-31 lead.  Meanwhile, Boston's Big Three scored all but two of the team's points in the first 24 minutes.

The Lakers led by as many as 22 points in the first half and pushed the lead to 27 in the third quarter.

The Celtics were dealt a big blow in the first quarter when Kendrick Perkins left with what appeared to be a significant knee injury.  The severity of the injury wasn’t immediately known, but a return for Game Seven seems unlikely.

Fueled by the energy of his teammates, both Gasol and Kobe Bryant put together solid performances.

Gasol finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists while playing with outstanding aggressiveness.

Kobe scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.  He looked fresh and took the ball to the basket more than he had in previous games, finishing 7-of-7 at the foul line.

Ray Allen led the Celtics with 19 points.  Paul Pierce finished with 13 points and five turnovers, and Kevin Garnett added 12 points.

The Lakers' primary bench players filled their roles perfectly Tuesday.

Sasha Vujacic scored nine points in 14 minutes.  Lamar Odom played with intensity and finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

After playing just 19 seconds in the Game Five loss, Shannon Brown logged 19 minutes in Game Six.  Brown broke off two highlight-reel dunks, including an incredible one-handed alley-oop.

Jordan Farmar made a number of strong plays on the defensive end and dunked on Kevin Garnett in the open court—sort of, at least.

The Celtics' bench was horrible throughout.  Glen Davis was scoreless in 27 minutes.  Nate Robinson demonstrated his lack of understanding for the game of basketball with a 2-of-8 performance featuring at least five questionable shots.

The stage is set for what should be a very interesting Game Seven. 

As ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy pointed out during the second half of Tuesday’s broadcast, the Lakers are successfully doing what the Cavaliers did unsuccessfully: laying off Rajon Rondo and daring him to shoot.

The Celtics have struggled in the half-court at times during the series thanks to this strategy and Rondo’s reluctance to shoot from the perimeter.

He has grown more tentative on the offensive end as the series has progressed and is shooting a paltry 4-of-17 at the foul line in the series.

In order for Boston to have any chance in Game Seven, Rondo must resume his attacking style and go right at Kobe.

It will be interesting to see what other adjustments Doc Rivers makes to spark an offense that has struggled throughout much of the 2010 playoffs.