The Boston Celtics were able to hold off the Los Angeles Lakers furious comeback in Game Two of the NBA Finals 108-102 at the TD BankNorth Garden on Sunday night.

A few things from the game really stood out. The Celtics defense that was so good through three quarters disappeared down the stretch as the Lakers climbed back into the game. That was the bad, the good was the play of Rajon Rondo who had 16 assists and 6 rebounds to go with 4 points and Leon Powe’s 21 point effort off the bench in 15 minutes.

The Celtics just absolutely took over in the second and third quarters but the Lakers owned the fourth quarter as a 24 point Boston lead evaporated down to two. By holding on getting the win, Boston now grabs a 2-0 series lead and guarantees a return trip to Boston as the series now heads west to Los Angeles for Games 3, 4 and 5.

The first quarter was a seesaw affair as one might expect it to be. The Lakers had an early lead despite Vlad Radmanovic having two quick fouls in less than two minutes. Boston managed to tie it at 8-8 before Los Angeles went on a 7-0 run that was helped when Boston’s Kevin Garnett got called for foul and then got T’d up for complaining about it.

The Green though were able to fight through it and with some solid defense, that included one stop that resulted in a Los Angeles shot clock violation, were able to claw back and have a 9-2 run of their own. They tied the game at 17-17 on a Ray Allen three from the corner after he ran off Kobe Bryant on a screen.

Kendrick Perkins and Bryant were also in early foul trouble with a pair of fouls each in the first quarter.

Garnett seemed a bit out of sorts in the quarter missing 3 shots, throwing away two passes and getting beat on the boards in addition to the technical. But he did have 6 points and 3 boards in the quarter. Allen also had 6 points.

Boston held Bryant to just three points in the quarter as Pau Gasol was the Lakers leading scorer with 6 points as the Lakers had a 22-20 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Celtics came out of the break and poured in 10 straight points in the first 2:20 of the second quarter. Leon Powe came off the bench and went to the line 3 times in the first two minutes making 4 of the 6 free throws. A Paul Pierce three, his second of the night, from the left elbow sent LA coach Phil Jackson scrambling for a time out as Boston built a 30-22 lead.

After Bryant stopped the run with a bucket, James Posey hit a three to give Boston its largest lead at 9. After another LA bucket by Lamar Odom, Poe converted a three-point play as Boston went up 10, 36-26 with 7:44 left.

LA cut the lead to six on a pair of Bryant jumpers as the teams spent the next few minutes trading points.

Perkins went back to the bench when he drew his third foul, this one a push in the offensive end, with 4:42 to play. Gasol drew a foul on Pierce and made a three point play as the Lakers had cut the lead to four at 41-37 with 4:22 to play.

After a pair of Garnett misses, an Odom miss and a Rondo steal in the LA end led to back-to-back three’s by Pierce and Allen to once again put the Celtics up by 10, 47-37 with 2:52 to play in the half. After a Radmanovic three to cut the lead to 7, Bryant picked up his third foul when he knocked Pierce to the floor as he shot. The Celtics captain made both free throws as Bryant went to bench with 1:52 to play in the half with Boston leading by 9, 49-40.

Gasol made a shot to cut the lead to 7 but then Rondo took over with a slam on a fast break and after then on the next possession he grabbed an offensive rebound and then got fouled going to rim. He made of one of two as the Celtics went to the locker room with a 12-point lead, 54-42.

Pierce had 16 first half points to go with five assists, Ray Allen had 9 points in the half and Powe chipped in with 8 points off the bench as the team picked up Garnett who only had 8 points on three of 11 shooting in the half.

Meanwhile LA was led by Gasol who had 13 first half points while Bryant was held to 9 points on 4 of 10 shooting from the field.

Boston started the second half right where they left off wih an Allen jumper and a pair of made free throws by Perkins to push the lead up to 16-points early in the third, Odom made a jumper to cut it back to 14, Bryant made a lay up but picked up a technical for complaining about a non-call. Allen made the free throw and then Pierce hit a three and the lead was back to 16 again with 8:20 to play in the third.

The Lakers went on a run in the middle of the third quarter after Garnett made a pair of free throws to give Boston a 17-point lead Bryant made a jumper plus added a pair of free throws. Combine that with a Gasol dunk and jumper and LA cut the Boston to lead to 9, 68-59, with 4:28 left in the third quarter.

Boston pushed the lead back to 15, 74-59, on a pair of Pierce shots and a PJ Brown lay up with 2:32 left in the quarter. After a Luke Walton miss, Allen hit the Lakers with a dagger three pointer from the corner. Then Rondo stripped the ball from Bryant and broke down the court feeding Powe for a lay in and all of sudden the Celtics were sitting on a 20 point lead with 1:20 left in the quarter. With the Garden rocking Jackson was forced to use yet another time out to try to stem the Boston tide.

After the time out Odom picked up his fifth personal foul when he was called for charge on Brown while going to the rim. At this point not much was going the Lakers way and after yet another LA miss Powe slammed home a dunk as the Boston crowd exploded with the Green up by 22 as the quarter neared an end. Sasha Vujacic made a jumper to bring the lead back to 20 but Powe once again slammed home a pair to close out the quarter with Boston running Los Angeles out of the building as they built an 83-61 lead.

The Celtics continued their run in the final quarter as they pushed the lead to as many as 24 points as Powe continued to kill the Lakers, Garnett found his shot and the defense continued to hold up and frustrate the Lakers, especially Bryant, to no end.

After Pierce was called for a travel on a three point attempt, Radmanovic hit a three of his own from the corner to cut the lead to 18 points with 6:20 to play in the game. Bryant then stole the ball from Rondo and Derek Fisher was fouled on his way into the lane by Powe for his fourth foul. Fisher hit both free throws and the lead was cut to 16, 96-80.

The Lakers further cut the lead to 12 but a Posey three with 3:48 left brought it back to 15. The Lakers continued their 20-7 run as Radmanovic and Bryant hit shots to cut the lead to 11, 102-91, with 2:53 to play.

The Lakers wouldn’t go away as they cut the lead to 6 points on a Vujacic three and then a steal lead Radmanovic to slam home a dunk and the lead was just four points, 104-100, with 1:03 to play as the Lakers were on a 29-9 run. Rondo missed a jumper and Bryant got fouled at the other end. He hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 2 with 38.4 seconds left.

Pierce got fouled driving to the hoop and made both free throws as the lead was now 4 points, 106-102 with 22.8 to play. Vujacic had a three point attempt blocked by Pierce with 14 seconds left and Posey grabbed the loose ball and was fouled with 12.6 seconds left to play. Posey knocked down both free throws to ice the game as Fisher missed a least ditch three point chance that was knocked out of bounds on the loose ball rebound with 0.3 seconds left.

Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points and 8 assists, Powe chipped in 21 points off the bench, Garnett had a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds and Allen had 17 points in the win.

Bryant led all scorers with 30 points, Gasol had a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards and Radmanovic also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds as the comeback fell short for LA.

Among the crowd: Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester who was honored by the Celtics for his no-hitter, Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and DH David Ortiz. Former Celtics JoJo White and Antwan Walker, former Red Sox and current Oriole Kevin Millar, Boston Pops director Kevin Lockhart, former Patriot Doug Flutie, Titans QB Vince Young, Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.