Do you believe in magic?

Do you believe that the Celtics came back from a 24-point deficit, back when they looked as gone as May?

Do you believe that this all happened in Los Angeles, right there in front of Kobe and Phil Jackson and all the rest of the L.A. celebrities who sit at courtside in the Staples Center and think basketball was invented in L.A.?

Do you believe that the Celtics are now up, 3-1, in these NBA Finals, having just had one of the most improbable comebacks in NBA history?

Do you believe that the Celtics are now just one win away from their first NBA title in 22 years, their 17th banner?

Do you believe in magic?

You should.

Because last night was basketball magic, an amazing win for this amazing team, an amazing win for this franchise that won only 24 games last year and has been reborn right in front of our eyes, a story right out of some sports fantasy.

How amazing was it?

For the longest time last night, this was a Laker blowout, one big L.A. party, payback for the first two games in Boston.

For the longest time, the Celtics looked as if they had spent the afternoon playing shirts and skins on Venice Beach.

Could you play any worse than they did in the first quarter?

It’s hard to imagine.

They had little energy, little offensive cohesion, little fight, and were making Lamar Odom look like a potential Hall of Famer, the same Odom who had been ineffective in the first three games. At one point, the Celtics were down, 24-7, as if the game had started and no one had told them yet, and then it got to being down by 24, and it was starting to get embarrassing.

This was the team that had taken control of this series in the two games in Boston?

They looked more like the team that had lost three games to the Hawks in Atlanta in the first round, then three more against the Cavaliers in Cleveland. They looked like the team that had us all worried going into those Game Sevens in the first two rounds, those games that might have turned out differently if it hadn’t been in the Garden.

At the half, they were down 18, but in many ways it seemed even worse than that. Truth be told, it seemed like just another night on the road for the Celtics in this playoff season, another night in which their evil turn had seemingly shown up.

Then it all changed, the third-quarter rebirth.

Down by nine with two minutes left in the quarter.

Then down by only 73-71 at the end of the quarter, right back in the game, a quarter that belonged to them.

And who would have believed that at the half?

“How did Boston do it?” Phil Jackson was asked during the timeout on television.

“I don’t know,” the old Zen master said. “How did they do it?”

Who knows?

But down the stretch they came, these two teams that are the last two standing in this NBA season that began in October, in this classic rivalry that cuts back through time and basketball history. Down they came, these two great franchises that are NBA royalty, each knowing that the NBA title was going to be decided last night, one way or the other.

For it’s a big difference between 3-1 and being 2-2.

And, in the end, it was the Celtics who made the big plays, taking over this game when it was there for the taking. It was the Celtics imposing their will on the road, the place where they couldn’t win in the first two playoff series. Eddie House. Paul Pierce. Kevin Garnett. Ray Allen. They all had their clutch moments.

And James Posey’s 3-pointer from the left side was dagger into the Lakers’ heart, giving the Celtics a five-point lead with just 1:13 to play.

Do you believe in magic?

You should.

Magic, and this team.

This amazing team that’s now only one game away from the NBA title.

breynold@projo.com