Pierce 2-14 in Celtics 87-81 loss

Paul Pierce cooled off from his great performance, shooting just 2-14 in the 3rd game of the NBA Finals. Kobe Bryant popped in 36 points and Sasha Vujacic added 20 points The Lakerw were in danger of going down 3-0 in the NBA Finals

Magic Johnson looked very nervous. Across the court, Jack Nicholson fidgeted with his sunglasses, Sylvester Stallone squirmed in his seat and nearly everyone else styling in shades of purple and gold was on edge.

Ray Allen scored 25 points -- 15 on 3-pointers -- for the Celtics, but only one-third of Boston's Big Three showed up. The other two, Garnet and Pierce scored a grand total of 19 points while the two of them went 8-35 shooting. "As bad as we played, we still had opportunities," Allen said. "That's the positive. We can look at it, but I don't think on either side of the floor we were good. We had so much more room for improvement."

Pierce grew up in Inglewood, Calif., where he learned to play in the shadow of the Fabulous Forum, the Lakers' former home where Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and "Showtime" had an extended run of championship seasons.

But Pierce's finals homecoming was homely. The Celtics' star forward, who came in averaging 25 points in the series, went just 2-for-14 and missed all four 3-pointers. Despite his struggles, the Celtics were only down six early in the third quarter when Rondo went down with a sprained left ankle. As he laid on the floor, his teammates rushed over to check on Rondo, who limped off the court without aid -- or a wheelchair -- like Pierce famously needed after hurting his knee in the opener. Boston.com boxscore