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Monday 4 p.m. — Giants at Reds, CSNBA 4 p.m. — MLB teams TBA, ESPN Tuesday 4 p.m. — Giants at Reds, CSNBA Sports 1B Monday June 7, 2010 Allen, Rondo lead Celtics past Lakers LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Boston Celtics evened the NBA finals with Ray Allen shredding the Lakers from the 3-point line — and Rajon Rondo doing everything else from everywhere else. Allen scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half with a record-setting 3-point shoot- ing display, Rondo completed a triple-double down the stretch and the Celtics handed the Los Angeles Lakers their first home loss of the postsea- son, 103-94 Sunday night in Game 2. Allen hit a finals-record eight 3-pointers in a dazzling effort for the Celtics, includ- ing seven before halftime. Rondo then took charge after Allen cooled down, racking up 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth playoff triple-double. ‘‘An entire team effort,’’ Rondo said. ‘‘Ray carried us through the first half. Second half, we got in a little slump but we stuck with it, stayed together and got a victory.’’ Kobe Bryant scored 21 points while battling more foul trouble for the Lakers, who couldn’t catch up to Boston’s dynamic guards in Los Angeles’ first home play- off loss since last season’s Western Conference finals. Pau Gasol had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, and Andrew Bynum added 21 points and six rebounds. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Boston. The teams traded the lead throughout the period, but Rondo’s heady layup put the Celtics ahead 91-90 with 3:21 to play. The play was vintage Rondo, as he scooted in to collect the ball and score after Pau Gasol blocked a shot. Kevin Garnett then hit a MCT photo Los Angeles Lakers' Andrew Bynum is hounded by Boston Celtics', from left, Rasheed Wallace, Tony Allen and Glen Davis in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday. jumper, and after another pos- session of stifling defense, Rondo hit another jumper, Blackhawks reboun, lead Flyers CHICAGO (AP) — Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals and had two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks got off to a quick start, got their offense untracked and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Sunday night for a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup finals. Brent Seabrook added a power- play goal and Dave Bolland, Kris Ver- steeg, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks. Chicago can capture the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961 with a victory Wednesday night in Philadel- phia in Game 6. A Flyers win would send the series back to Chicago for a decisive Game 7 on Friday night. All five wins in the series have come on home ice. Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, James van Riemsdyk and Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers. Gagne’s goal with 2:36 left made it 6-4, but a half-minute later Byfuglien converted an empty-netter. After two straight losses in Philadelphia, a return to the United Center invigorated the Blackhawks as did some line mixing by coach Joel Quenneville. The Blackhawks blitzed Flyers goalie Michael Leighton with three goals in the final 7:43 of the first peri- od and the United Center erupted as Chicago quickly found the offensive game that had helped it make the finals. Leighton was pulled — for the sec- ond time in the series in favor of Brian Boucher — after giving up three goals on 13 shots in the first period. Trailing 3-0, the Flyers wasted little time in getting one of the goals back as Ville Leino took the puck to side of the MCT photo The Chicago Blackhawks celebrate Dave Bollands' first- period goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final Sunday. net and tried to stuff it in. But after hit- ting goalie Antti Niemi, the puck sat just off the line before Hartnell came in and knocked it home just 32 sec- onds into the period. Kane, who had been with Byfuglien on a struggling Blackhawks first line that Quenneville split up, got his second goal of the finals on a nice Hamlin takes 4th career Pocono win LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Denny Hamlin is so enam- ored with the No. 11 Toyota he won in Sunday at Pocono that he’s asked team owner Joe Gibbs if he can keep it when it’s finally taken out of the rotation. After watching Hamlin celebrate a little too giddily fol- lowing another triumph at the quirky 2.5-mile oval, Gibbs isn’t certain Hamlin can foot the repair bill. Hamlin whooped it up after collecting his fourth win at the track, doing a lengthy burnout that ended up with Hamlin smacking the wall. Oops. ‘‘Obviously I wouldn’t want to damage car that I’m a future owner of,’’ Hamlin said with a sheepish grin while sitting next to Gibbs. ‘‘I’m not so sure you can afford it,’’ Gibbs interjected. Then again, if Hamlin can keep finding his way to Vic- tory Lane, Gibbs probably won’t mind picking up the tab. Hamlin’s fourth win of the season vaulted him to third in the standings. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch finished second in his 200th Cup start. Tony Stewart was third, followed by points leader Kevin Harvick and four- time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson. The ease of Hamlin’s victory playing in stark contrast to the chaos that surrounded the finish at one of NASCAR’s normally sleepy stops. While Hamlin was smoking the tires, teammate Joey Logano was on pit road confronting Harvick after Harvick knocked Logano out of contention on lap 198. The outburst from the normally reserved 20-year-old turned heads in the garage and caught NASCAR’s atten- tion. Logano went to speak to series officials after the race to talk things over. He didn’t go without taking a dig at Harvick first. ‘‘It’s probably not (Harvick’s) fault,’’ said Logano, who finished 13th. ‘‘His wife wears the firesuit in the family, tells him what to do, so it’s probably not his fault.’’ pass from Andrew Ladd. Ladd had his shot blocked by Chris Pronger, recov- ered the puck and passed it to Kane, who streaked to the net uncovered to beat Boucher for a 4-1 lead. NOTES: In the 20 previous Stanley Cup finals series tied 2-2, the club win- ning Game 5 has won the Stanley Cup 14 times. celebrating with a swing of his arm in the mostly silent Staples Center. Rondo has grown into pos- sibly the Celtics’ biggest offensive threat in these play- offs, but his 10-point fourth quarter looms among his largest achievements. After the Lakers’ whistle- plagued 102-89 victory in the opener, both teams again struggled under the weight of foul trouble. Garnett and Bryant both spent extra time on the bench, with Bryant picking up his fifth foul early in the fourth. Garnett had just six points, and Paul Pierce never got going, scoring 10 on 2-of-11 shooting. The Celtics also struggled against the Lakers’ low-post game. With Allen and Rondo playing spectacular basket- ball, none of their flaws mat- tered much. Giants overcome Pirates’ late rally PITTSBURGH (AP) — The night before, and two innings before, Freddy Sanchez left the bases loaded dur- ing a potential game-changing situation. Given one more chance, he didn’t want to fail again. Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, Tim Lincecum lasted seven for the first time in four starts and the San Francisco Giants bounced back from pinch-hitter Delwyn Young’s tying two- run homer to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 on Sunday. Andres Torres doubled off Octavio Dotel (2-1) and moved up on his wild pitch ahead of a mid-range fly ball to center by Sanchez, who went 7 for 13 in his first series in Pittsburgh since being traded to the Giants in July. ‘‘There’s no getting around it, that would have been a tough one if we hadn’t come away with the win,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘After giving up a two-out, two-strike home run to tie it, Torres came right back and got us going.’’ With the score tied at 3, Sanchez struck out looking against Brendan Donnelly to leave the bases loaded in the eighth. Similarly, Sanchez stranded three runners to end a 6-3 Giants loss Saturday, when left fielder Lastings Milledge made a remarkable, stick-out-his-glove-and- hope catch of Sanchez’s drive to the wall. No wonder that sacrifice fly felt so good. ‘‘That (Saturday) was tough but I’ll tell you, this was even harder,’’ Sanchez said. ‘‘I got a chance in that same situation and didn’t come through again. The way we were able to battle back and scrap after me striking out, everyone could have gotten down.’’ For Sanchez, it was an uplifting way to end a weekend that included a trip to a Pittsburgh suburb to play in a game for special needs youngsters on a field he helped fund. ‘‘That was special,’’ he said. So was Young’s homer — but only for a few minutes. ‘‘It was kind of a bittersweet swing,’’ said Young, who See GIANTS, page 2B A’s score with 2 outs, hold off Twins OAKLAND (AP) — Manager Bob Geren couldn’t pick a particular hit that carried the Oak- land Athletics in their lat- est nailbiter. There were several of them — and the A’s needed every one. This team is accus- tomed to close games given that it has played four one-run contests in a row now. ‘‘It’s just the games we play,’’ designated hitter Jack Cust said. Gio Gonzalez struck out four in seven innings to win his third straight decision, and Oakland scored all of its runs with two outs in a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. Cust and Kevin Kouz- manoff hit back-to-back RBI singles in the first to stake Gonzalez (6-3) to an early 2-0 lead. Ryan Sweeney hit an RBI dou- ble in the second and Mark Ellis and Cliff Pennington then hit consecutive run- scoring singles in the third to chase Twins starter Nick Blackburn (6-3). ‘‘Those are big two-out runs to keep the rally going,’’ catcher Kurt MCT photo Oakland Athletics' Jack Cust follows through on an RBI single in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday. Suzuki said. ‘‘As a catcher, you hate when you give up two-out runs.’’ Delmon Young hit a two-run homer off Tyson Ross in the eighth for the Twins. The A’s avoided being swept by Minnesota in Oakland for the first time since July 18-20, 1997, bouncing back from one- run losses in the first two games of the series in a fit- tingly close finale.