The Boston Celtics routed the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Six of the NBA Finals 131-92 as they won their 17^th NBA Championship at the TD BankNorth Garden on Tuesday night. Now Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen can now call themselves “NBA Champions” as they will get to see their banner hung amongst the others with all the Celtics legends.

Pierce (17 points/10 assists) has officially cemented his status in Celtic lore, Garnett (26 points/14 boards) has cemented his as one of the finest big men to ever play the game and Allen (26 points) will go down as one of best shooting guards to wear a uniform.

The Celtics no longer need to look to the past for motivation and greatness. It is here and now in the present.

With the Celtics on the verge of their 17^th NBA title the Garden was absolutely electric. With every Celtics basket or Lakers miss the crowd just seemed to ratchet it up. And when the Garden is rocking it bodes well for Boston because guys like Garnett, Pierce and Perkins thrive off of it.

Boston had a solid opening quarter despite some very poor shooting as they only shot 21% from the field in the first seven minutes of the first quarter. Meanwhile, LA was around 50% and Kobe Bryant was killing them early as he had 11 of the first 13 Lakers points in what was a see-saw battle for most of the quarter.

But sloppy play from LA led to 6 turnovers, including 4 steals by Rajon Rondo who looked like the energizer bunny for most of the quarter as Boston steadily righted their shooting behind Kevin Garnett. Garnett had 8 consecutive points late in the quarter as Boston took a 24-20 into the break.

Boston guard Ray Allen suffered an eye scratch in the middle of the first quarter and was finally able to return to the bench with about 6 minutes left in the half.

Both teams started the second quarter with mostly a cast of reserves including Boston’s Glen Davis seeing action for first time in the finals. After a Sasha Vujacic jumper, Eddie House comes back with one of his own off a Paul Pierce feed to give Boston a 26-22 lead at 10:36

Doc Rivers gets a technical from Joey Crawford for showing his displeasure on a possible foul by Bryant on a screen. After the free throw it was 26-24 but Pierce buried a three at it was 29-24 Boston at 9:52.

Leon Powe gets called for a block putting Lamar Odom on the line, he makes both shots to cut the lead back to three, 29-26.

After a Boston miss and yet another LA turnover (the 7^th), Powe gets on the board with a lay up to push the lead to five, 31-26 at 8:49.

After a Boston miss, a Davis rebound got the Celtics a fresh shot clock. Boston’s James Posey ending up knocking down a three from the corner and it was 35-39 Boston. Then another steal in the defensive end, this time by Davis, led to a House three from nearly the same spot and all of a sudden the Celtics had a nine point lead, 38-29 with 6:25 to play in the half forcing Phil Jackson to call a time out to try to stem the tide.

After a Pierce picking of Bryant’s pocket, he rushed up court feeding Posey for a three from the left elbow and the lead ballooned to 14, 43-29 with 5:20 in the half. It was part of an 11-0 run forcing yet another LA time out.

A pair of free throws and a lay in all by Pau Gasol cut the lead to ten but Garnett followed it up with a 20-footer to bring the lead back to a dozen at 45-33.

A foul on Vlad Radmanovic with LA in the penalty puts Pierce on the line and the Celtics captain hit both freebies and the lead was 14 again with under 4 minutes in the half.

After a Luke Walton miss he ended up fouling Pierce in the defensive zone putting him on the line where he made both shots and it was 49-34 Boston with 2:58 left in the half.

After Jordan Farmar made one of two free throws for LA, Garnett continues to chew up Gasol in the paint as he hit another turn around jumper to make it 51-35. Rondo laid in a shot at it was an 18-point lead.

At the other end of the court Allen stole the ball from Bryant, for LA’s 9^th turnover leading to a three-point play by Garnett and it was 56-35. Odom missed a short three footer that led to a Boston break capped by a Kendrick Perkins 3 foot turn around and the quarter ended with the Celtics running off a 26-6 run to expand their lead to 23 at the half, 58-35.

The stifling Boston defense held LA to 30% from the field in the first half and also forced 11 turnovers by the Lakers as they were absolutely being run out of the building. LA had no offensive rebounds in the entire half and were out rebounded 26-14 by the Green.

Strong third quarters are a Boston standard. While this quarter wasn’t up to the standards of some others they’ve had it was a solid 12 minutes in which they were able to push their lead another 6 points in search of the franchises first title in 22 years.

After the teams swapped some buckets in the first two minutes of the third, Perkins ended up going to the bench with 9:58 left in the 3rd quarter with five fouls. Derek Fisher made a three point play off the foul to cut the lead to 63-39.

The Celtics continued to open up the lead in the third quarter as Rondo got an old fashioned three point play and Allen hit a 23-footer from the right corner and it was a 73-46 and Boston led by 27 points early in the second half.

Garnett was fouled going to hoop and he made both free throws at it was 77-48 with 6:48 to play and the Garden couldn’t have been anymore charged than it was. Allen stole the ball from Fisher, it was LA’s 13^th turnover, leading to a Rondo miss but P.J. Brown grabbed the offensive board off the miss and was fouled. Brown converted both shots and it was a 31-point lead 79-48 with 5:57 to play in the quarter.

After Garnett made one of two free throws, Odom once again coughed up the ball on a bad pass to Pierce who was then fouled. With chants of MVP! MVP! MVP! Ringing through the Garden the Celtics captain made both shots to push the lead back to 31, 84-53 with less than four minutes to play in the 3^rd quarter.

The last minute of the quarter summed up this game to that point, Bryant missed a three the Celtics turned it into a Brown jumper and then Bryant missed a wild off balance shot as the clock ran out. The Celtics were doing everything right and were one quarter away from a championship. The Lakers couldn’t do anything right and were being blown out by 29-points after three quarters, 89-60.

The fourth quarter saw more Celtics magic as the Rondo hit a lay up and then a moment later got to the line after a flagrant foul on Farmar. He hit one of two and it was a 29-point Boston lead. After an LA miss, Davis ended up on the line making one of tow and it was a 30-point lead. Then Farmar and Allen traded three’s, and after Ronnie Turiaf hit a jumper for LA, Ray added a second three and the was once again back to 31 points, 101-70 with just 9:07 left in the NBA season.

Allen out of a time out once again torched the LA defense for a three and it was 104-70 with 8:24 left. After a missed three by Bryant, who became ice cold after the first quarter, Garnett pushed the lead to 36 with a 7 foot hook shot. After an Odom lay up, Rondo got poked in the eye and came to the bench with a title secured with 7 minutes to play and Boston up 34.

After the teams traded a few hoops Allen hit his 7^th three pointer of the game tying an NBA Finals record and pushing the lead to 36, 113-77 with 5:21 to play.

With 5 minutes to play the Garden was amazing loud just overpowering the ABC television crew as they serenaded the Lakers with “Hey, Hey, Goodbye”. Then when Pierce and Garnett came off the floor with just over minutes to play the crowd may have busted a decibel meter if there was one in the arena.

Then over the final four minutes the celebration started on the bench for the regulars as the back ups all saw time in the final minutes even expanding the lead to 38-points, 123-85 on a Posey trey.

Davis and Tony Allen put exclamation points on the title win thundering jams in the final two minutes as the lead went to 43 points, 130-87. Pierce, the 2008 Finals MVP, even may have provided the first Gatorade bath in NBA history when with 34 seconds left he let Doc Rivers have it courtside.

In the final seconds it looked as if everyone in the Garden had to courtside as the players, their families and fans celebrated on Red Auerbach court.

What a fitting end.