BOSTON, (Reuters) – The Los Angeles Lakers stunned  the Boston Celtics 91-84 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in the  NBA Finals and snatch back homecourt advantage in the  best-of-seven series between the league’s fiercest rivals.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points but it was his  35-year-old backcourt side-kick Derek Fisher who tormented the  Celtics by scoring 11 of his 16 points in the final period.

Fisher was also a demon on the defensive end, holding Ray  Allen to just two points. The Celtics guard had 32 points in  Game Two but misfired on all 13 of his attempts on Tuesday.

“To come through again for this team, 14 years in, after so  many great moments, it’s always quite surreal and quite  humbling to experience,” Fisher told reporters.

“But it’s like being a kid, man,” added the veteran guard,  seeking a fifth championship ring. “You just never get tired of  that candy.”

A five-foot jumper by Kevin Garnett pulled the Celtics to  within 82-80 with 2:03 left but Bryant responded with a 15-foot  pull-up jumper.

Fisher then drove home the dagger, a three-point play  hiking the Lakers’ lead to 87-80 with just 48 seconds remaining  to send the 19,000 at the sold-out Boston Garden streaming for  the exits.

“Derek Fisher was the difference in the game,” said Celtics  coach Doc Rivers. “We lost our composure a little bit down the  stretch. A four-point game, with 47 seconds left.

“All you need is a stop. We let Derek Fisher dribble the  ball all the way up the court, unattended, and get a  three-point play. If you get a stop there, we had plenty of  time.”

Bryant hit only 10 of 29 shots, including just one of seven  from beyond the arc, but the visiting team’s 43-35 edge on the  boards played a key role in the outcome.

“You win championships with your defense and rebounding,”  said Bryant. “That’s something that we continue to talk about,  we continue to stress.

“Shots come and go, you make some, you miss some, but  you’ve got to stay after them on the defensive end. You have to  rebound those misses.”

Boston held a 14-13 first-quarter lead before the Lakers  went on a 24-6 run to take a 37-20 lead midway through the  second period. The Celtics recovered to make a game of it but  never led after their first-half dry spell.

“We went through a drought, obviously, and playing a team  like this, you can’t dig yourself a hole,” said Garnett, who  paced the Celtics with 25 points on 11 of 16 shooting.

“That’s too big of a deficit and to try to come out of it  was very difficult. We had our chances to win, just couldn’t  close it out.”

The next two games of the series are in Boston, with Game  Four set for today.

“It’s a big loss until the next game,” said Rivers. “No one  thought this was going to be an easy series. We didn’t. And so  it’s not. We’ll bounce back.”