Cj Gunther / EPA

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce celebrates during his team's victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. Pierce scored 22 points as the Celtics won Game 1.

The Lakers again got within six, but Garnett, who missed nine shots in a row, followed up a miss with a ferocious dunk to crown Boston’s win.

Unable to find his shooting touch in the first half, Bryant decided to focus on his defense. After 16-year veteran Sam Cassell came off Boston’s bench and scored six quick points at the start of the second quarter, Lakers coach Phil Jackson switched Bryant onto the 38-year-old with the aching back and one of the few Celtics who knows his way around the finals.

Although their superstar wasn’t doing his usual thing, the Lakers stayed close, and when Pierce had to sit down after picking up his third foul with 5:14 left, Los Angeles went on a 14-6 run — Gasol and Odom scored four points apiece — to open a 51-46 halftime lead.

Surprisingly, it was Fisher, not Bryant, who led Los Angeles with 13 points and Gasol had 12.

Despite their collective lack of finals experience, the Celtics didn’t display any nervousness early. Strangely, it was Bryant who appeared to have some jitters, starting 1-for-7 from the field and not getting any clean looks at the basket.

Allen’s 3-pointer from the right wing gave the Celtics a 19-14 lead, but the Lakers got a basket from Jordan Farmar, a 3 by Vujacic and Bryan’t second bucket to pull within 23-21 after one quarter.

As the clock ticked down toward tipoff, Celtics fans, some who weren’t even alive the last time the NBA’s two marquee franchises clashed, scooped up T-shirts and bought other finals souvenirs marking the fierce rivalry’s rebirth.

On a section of Union Street, adjacent to historic Faneuil Hall and not far from statues of patriot Samuel Adams and hoops patriarch Red Auerbach, Bostonians young and old warmed up their voices with chants of “Let’s Go Celtics” and lubricated their throats before walking en masse toward the new “Gah-den,” which had never hosted an event of this magnitude.

Notes: Jackson isn’t a fan of the 9 p.m. tipoff. “I don’t enjoy it at all,” he said. “I think it takes guys out of their rhythm and out of their lifestyle. I know (the NBA) is trying to reach both audiences on the coasts, but there’s another way to do that.” ... Fueled by five players from outside the U.S. on the Lakers’ roster, the series has drawn a record 280 international media members from 35 countries and territories. The finals are being televised to 205 countries. When the teams met in the 1987 finals, the games were televised to 28 countries. ... This is the Lakers’ 29th finals appearance with the first six coming when the franchise was in Minneapolis. ... Among the celebrities in attendance were actor Bruce Willis and New England Patriots stars Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi.

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