BOSTON -- He finished with 30, a better night than he had in the first game, but once again Kobe Bryant was something less than Superman.

And can the Lakers beat the Celtics if he's not?

That's the question.

So far they haven't been able to.

In the first half, especially, the Lakers once again resorted to jump shots, and it's tough to beat the Celtics doing that.

``I think we did a better job tonight in getting to the rim and moving the ball well and hitting my shooters and them knocking shots down.'' Kobe said. ``What we have to do is get those loose balls. We've got to get timely rebounds, and we have to stop them in transition knocking down those threes, and we'll be all right. A free throw or two wouldn't hurt.''

Neither would finding a way to bring oil prices down, but he didn't mention that.

``Can you talk about the lopsided fouls?'' he was asked. ``The Celtics got to the line a lot more.''

``I didn't notice,'' smiled Kobe.