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It wasn’t pretty but the Lakers got the job done tonight to get back in the NBA Finals against the Celtics defeating them in a must win Game Three 87-81 at Staples Center. They now trail the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game Four Thursday.

Los Angeles was led by Kobe Bryant and money shooter Sasha Vujacic. Bryant finished with a game high 36 on an efficient 12-of-20 shooting while the super shooting sub added 20 including three trifectas with one huge dagger coming late which essentially put the game away for Phil Jackson’s more desperate club.

With their backs to the wall, not surprisingly the Lakers came out with better energy playing more aggressive getting to the hoop early and often. Unlike Game Two where Boston sub Leon Powe had more free throws than the entire team, the Lakers got to the line 12 more times than their opponents taking 34 to the Celts’ 22.

A determined Kobe took 18 all by his lonesome but much like his team didn’t shoot a good percentage misfiring on seven to leave the door ajar for Boston to steal this game and take a commanding 3-0 lead. The Lakers as a team shot 61.8 percent missing 13 from the charity stripe. Following Game Two, they complained plenty about the free throw discrepancy (38-10). This time, they got the benefit of the whistles even if NBA commish David Stern didn’t want to lead credence about Tim Donaghy alleging to have fixed series. Oops. Nevermind!

If they had connected on more freebies, no way would this game have been so close because only one of Boston’s Big Three showed up ready to play. If Paul Pierce was the best player in the series first couple of games, he was the worst one by far tonight shooting a woeful 2-of-14 from the field including 0-for-4 from downtown with three turnovers and only six points in 31-plus. Kevin Garnett wasn’t much better finishing with just 13 (6-of-21 FG) though he did add 12 boards, five assists and three blocks.

Third option Ray Allen kept the Celtics in the game with splendid perimeter shooting nailing five of seven triples and 8-for-13 overall to pace the Eastern Conference winners with 25.

Amazingly, KG’s 13 was the only other Celt in double figures exemplifying how stingy the Laker D was. By switching Kobe on Rajon Rondo (16 Game 2 assists), they kept the speedy point guard from getting in the paint and finding open teammates. Instead, an ineffective Rondo finished with eight and only four helpers while getting into foul trouble in less than 22 minutes. That’s cause Bryant wisely played off the ball using his length to bother the second-year player out of Kentucky.

Despite playing more inspired D, the Lakers made it tougher on themselves by not putting away the Celts in the first half. They somehow allowed Doc Rivers’ club to stay within striking distance down six at halftime. Maybe if Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom bothered to try, it wouldn’t have been so dangerously close to a Celts’ comeback win which would’ve put a stranglehold on the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Alright. I’m a bit mean. At least Odom and Gasol were more aggressive in crunch time with the latter finishing off two putbacks of Odom misses for huge hoops to at least hike his total to nine. And hey. The former Grizzlie did grab 12 rebounds including three on the offensive glass. As for Odom, the former Christ The King star again struggled hitting just 2-of-9 from the floor for four while grabbing nine boards and dropping four dimes including a vital one to a wide open Vujacic who increased a Laker two-point lead to five with a trey from the left corner which at least made an antsy Jack Nicholson relax a tad. He seemed to want this game pretty badly. Maybe he should be asked to give them a peptalk for the next game!

Watching Jack on the sidelines standing and even looking at the heavens as if to say, ‘Please let them prevail’ was entertaining in itself. How could you not love the legendary actor’s fire? It was pretty freaking classic.

Believe it or not, the Celts took a five-point lead thanks to Allen and some inspired play from sharp shooter James Posey (9 pts, 6-of-6 FT, 7 rebs). KG was also a little better late even though still not good enough to get his team within a game of the NBA title.

Overall, Boston had too many possessions where they forced bad shots resulting in nothing. Part of that was due to the Laker defense which was much better and kept the perimeter-oriented Celts at bay even though they still connected on 8-of-18 treys. The Lakers’ intensity was better.

Still, the Celts were right there despite two of their three big scorers having ineffective nights. So, they can at least take that out of this one. Heck. They even had a chance to tie it but Eddie House’s shot wouldn’t fall. A couple of money buckets by Kobe with Allen single covering him put the game out of reach. Why he was single covered deserved explaining.

Jordan Farmar was solid off the bench providing 20 effective minutes filling the stat sheet with five pts, four rebs and five dimes. Even one-time Knick Trevor Ariza got off the bench for eight minutes and hit two shots helping supply the Lakers with an eight-point bench edge (29-21). Vujacic remember had 20 of those or one fewer than the entire Boston bench. Not a bad night’s work.

With Derek Fisher (6 pts) still struggling and Vladimir Radmanovic reduced to the bench despite one early three, the Lakers bench needed to come up strong and did.

In order for them to get this series knotted and make believers out of Hollywood, they must get better performances from Gasol and Odom. Most nights, a combined 13 points and eight turnovers from options B and C won’t get it done. You can’t expect Pierce to be as off next time out and figure KG to play better.

Still, at least LA gave ABC something to talk about. Now Game Four at least means something. And that’s very good news.