Celtics backup forward Leon Powe slams home two of his 21 points in the third quarter last night during Boston’s 108-102 victory over Los Angeles.

AP / Charles Krupa

BOSTON – It’s tough not to give the Los Angeles Lakers plenty of credit after last night’s Game Two of the NBA Finals.

For the first 44 minutes, the Lakers were completely outplayed by the surging, energetic Boston Celtics. The Celts were slicing and dicing the L.A. defense, racking up 31 assists on 36 field goals. That efficiency helped the Celts build a 24-point lead with just inside eight minutes to go.

At that point, Kobe Bryant couldn’t take anymore. During breaks in the action, he started ripping into his teammates, hurling invective at their souls.

“It was a bunch of beeps. Beep, beep, beep, beep,” he said. “It was 'Eddie Murphy Raw,' times ten.”

The Lakers listened. With Bryant leading the way with 13 fourth-quarter points, his teammates followed along. Still down 104-93 with 2:02 left, the Lakers rushed to the finish. A Bryant running jumper plus two Paul Pierce turnovers and a Sasha Vujacic 3-pointer quieted the sellout crowd at TD Banknorth Garden. A layup from Vladimir Radmanovic, a Rajon Rondo missed jumper and two Bryant free throws cut the Celtics’ lead to 104-102 with 38 seconds left.

But the Lakers couldn’t close the deal on what would’ve been one of the great escapes in NBA history. Pierce, who showed no effects of the knee injury that was the talk of the Hub for the last few days, found his way to the hoop through the teeth of the L.A. defense and was fouled with 22 ticks on the clock. His two free throws bumped the lead to four points, and when Pierce deflected a Vujacic shot and James Posey gathered the loose ball, the Celts did just enough to escape with a 108-102 victory.

Boston is up 2-0 in the series with the next three games coming at the Lakers’ Staples Center.

“I thought we wanted the time to run out and we were -- myself -- I was a little lackadaisical with the ball,” said Pierce, who finished with 28 points. “It’s a great win, but definitely a lesson to be learned in the last six minutes.”

Up until the unexpected finish, the Lakers played stunningly badly. While the 41-25 fourth quarter altered the final numbers, the Lakers could not stop Boston most of the way as the Celtics shot 53 percent and made 9 of 14 threes. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen scored 17 points each and the Celts received a huge bench boost from Leon Powe, who powered his way to 21 points with heaping loads of toughness and aggression.

Bryant, who finished with 30 points on 11 of 23 shooting, led the way for the Lakers. Pau Gasol added 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“It is what it is,” said Bryant. “They took care of business at home, and we’ve got to go home and try to do the same thing. It’s not the end of the world. We’ve come too far to really sweat being down 2-0. We’re going to go home and handle our business.”

The Celtics travel to Staples Center today with loads of confidence. They dominated the Lakers for long stretches of this game, going up 54-42 by halftime. The Lakers showed a bit of life in the third quarter as a 10-2 run cut Boston’s lead to 68-59 at the 4:31 mark, but a Boston timeout ended the spurt.

When the Celtics returned to the floor, they were world beaters. Sparked by the aggression of Powe and some outstanding passing up and down the lineup, the Celts closed the quarter on a 15-2 run. Powe converted an alley-oop layup and two big dunks late in the run, and by the end of the quarter he had almost as many points (16) as did Bryant (17).

“I’ve got a job to do for this team and whenever Doc [Rivers] calls on me, it’s my job to go out there and produce, be a constant professional,” said Powe.

The Celts carried an 83-61 lead into the fourth quarter and extended that to 95-71 after a Powe layup and a Garnett 15-footer.

That’s when the Lakers somehow regrouped. Afterward, they tried to spin it that they simply refocused and played how they had hoped. It may not be that easy. Boston’s quickness advantage at several positions allowed the Celts to get to the foul line 38 times to only 10 for the Lakers. Powe (13 to 10) took more free throws than the entire L.A. team. The Celts took 19 free throws in the first half to two for the Lakers. The Lakers took notice of those grizzly numbers.

“That’s ridiculous,” said coach Phil Jackson. “I’ve never seen a game like that in all these years I’ve coached in The Finals. Unbelievable.”

Those numbers will certainly even out in Los Angeles, where the Lakers are a perfect 8-0 in the playoffs. But if the Celtics keep playing as the aggressor, this series may not make it back to Boston.

“We did our job, we held home court and now we can break their backs with another win in Game Three,” said Pierce. “We’re not settling on a 2-0 lead. We want to go out there and win two more games in L.A. That’s our focus.”

kmcnamar@projo.com