LOS ANGELES -- Big plays always get plenty of cheers, but when someone makes a play that leaves a defender grasping at air, fans remember.

That’s the type of reaction that Ray Allen’s game-clinching, driving layup past Sasha Vujacic elicited from the Staples Center crowd last night. With the Celts clinging to a 94-91 lead and 40 seconds left, Vujacic chased Allen all over the floor looking for a steal. Allen chose to handle the pressure and not give the ball up.

As the shot clock ticked downward, he waved off a Kevin Garnett pick. Then he yo-yo’d Vujacic with a great crossover dribble and knifed his way to the hoop for a sweet reverse layup with 16 seconds left. The deflated Lakers had no answers, and no life, after that.

“We were at a point in the game where if they were going to foul anybody, I wanted it to be me,” said Allen. “I saw the shot clock was running down and as Kevin came up to set a screen I told him to back off and I’d take him, one-on-one. I just made my move and when I looked up and he was behind me, I had the whole basket free and clear.”

Vujacic, who had 20 key points in L.A.’s Game Three win, made one of nine attempts in Game Four. He tipped his cap to Allen, saying, “There’s nothing to describe. The whole game I was trying to find a way the right way to guard Allen and everything I did was a foul. That time he got me. It was completely my fault.”