Celtics throw it away

This time they left the floor angry.

Paul Pierce [stats] flung both of his wristbands into the stands in disgust. Ray Allen, eyes straight ahead as he walked past the crowd and down the runway, grimaced as if he had just lost Game 7.

And in some respects, the Celtics [team stats]’ 90-89 loss yesterday to the Lakers carried that kind of bite.

Forget that an inefficient Kobe Bryant needed 20 shots to score 19 points. The Lakers star was true to form when it counted, hitting the 17-foot game-winner with 7.3 seconds left over Allen, who up to that point had played one of his finest defensive games of the season.

Allen then missed a 3-point try when the Celtics desperately needed him to be true to form - at the buzzer.

But the Celtics can be thankful that the bite didn’t break the skin. It’s not that time of year yet.

“Postseason is a whole different season,” said Rasheed Wallace. “It’s the added-on season when all the shots get bigger. That’s when you see who has the biggest machismo - I don’t want to say the other word - but that’s what it comes down to.

“Regular season, yeah, you get a few big games where anybody can hit shots, but when it’s for the hardware, some cats don’t want to take those shots. So I don’t think it’s a psychological advantage if you dominate or beat a team in the regular season.”

But here’s a caveat. Based on the Celtics’ recent struggles - including their 0-3 run through a prime-time gantlet of the Lakers, Atlanta and Orlando - they won’t be playing for that hardware.

Yesterday, courtesy of an Eddie House 3-pointer with 9:17 left in the game, the C’s led 81-70.

The Celtics then started throwing the ball away, didn’t score for another 2 minutes, allowed the Lakers to cut the score to 81-78, and, in the estimation of coach Doc Rivers, started playing not to lose.

The home team would turn the ball over five times in the fourth, including two throwaways from Rajon Rondo [stats], whose 21-point, 12-assist performance was belied by his scoreless, one-assist fourth.

But Rondo wasn’t the only Celtic who turned overly cautious in the face of the Lakers’ comeback.

“I thought we tried to hold onto the game,” said Rivers. “What disappointed me about that is that I told our guys, we can’t be surprised to be up. We should have been up, and we should have been up more. So that was tough.”

The Lakers, who hadn’t led since the second quarter, scored on five of their last seven possessions, starting with a Shannon Brown tip-dunk that cut the C’s edge to 84-82 with 4:20 left.

Kevin Garnett nailed a 15-foot turnaround, only to be answered by Andrew Bynum (19 points, 11 rebounds), who may be a more difficult matchup for Kendrick Perkins [stats] than Dwight Howard.

A free throw exchange over the next three minutes left the C’s with an 89-86 lead before the Lakers turned the last corner.

Ron Artest slashed inside with a drive that rolled along most of the rim before trickling in.

Referee Derek Richardson then called Pierce for an offensive foul - the Celtics [team stats] captain’s forearm made contact with Artest - and Bryant came back with a dribble to just above the foul line.

Allen refused to leave his feet, but Bryant, true to form at last, hit the biggest shot of the day.