If you ask any die-hard basketball fan who won NBA finals in 2010, they won't just give you a name. They'll probably give you a look of exhausted respect. It wasn't just a series; it was a physical, ugly, beautiful grind between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The Lakers took it. They won their 16th championship in a Game 7 that felt more like a street fight than a professional basketball game. Honestly, if you look at the box score today, you’d think both teams forgot how to shoot. But that’s the thing about 2010. It wasn't about shooting percentages. It was about who could survive.
Kobe Bryant got his fifth ring. That’s the headline. He finally passed Shaquille O'Neal in the championship count, which, let’s be real, was basically his primary motivation for existing at that point. But the way it happened was weird.
The Brutal Reality of the 2010 Finals
People remember the Lakers winning, but they often forget how close the Celtics came to ruining the party at Staples Center. Boston was up 3-2 heading back to LA. They had the momentum. Then Kendrick Perkins blew out his knee in Game 6. People underestimate that injury constantly. Without Perkins, the Celtics’ interior defense lost its teeth. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum started feasting on the boards.
Game 7 was an absolute nightmare for offensive purists. The final score was 83-79. Think about that for a second. In an era where teams regularly drop 130 points now, these two powerhouses couldn't even break 85 in the biggest game of their lives. Kobe Bryant shot 6-for-24. Six for twenty-four! In any other universe, that’s a legacy-killing performance. But Kobe grabbed 15 rebounds. He willed himself to the free-throw line. He played defense like his life depended on it. It was grit personified.
The Lakers trailed by 13 points in the second half. Staples Center was dead quiet. You could feel the panic through the TV screen. But then Derek Fisher hit a massive three. Ron Artest—now Metta Sandiford-Artest—hit the shot of his life. When Artest sunk that triple late in the fourth and blew a kiss to the crowd, the building exploded. It was the moment everyone knew the Lakers weren't going to let this one slip away like they did in 2008.
Why 2010 was the End of an Era
This wasn't just another trophy. It was the last time the "Old Guard" really owned the league before LeBron James took his talents to South Beach and changed the NBA's DNA forever. The 2010 Finals represented the peak of the Grit-and-Grind era of superstars. You had Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen on one side. You had Kobe and Pau on the other. Phil Jackson was on the bench. It was the ultimate clash of traditional basketball titans.
Phil Jackson later called this his most satisfying championship. High praise from a guy with eleven rings. Why? Because the Celtics were the Lakers' boogeyman. They had embarrassed LA in 2008, finishing them off with a 39-point blowout in Game 6 of that series. For Kobe, beating Boston was the only way to truly cement his place in the Lakers' pantheon alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The MVP Debate and Pau Gasol’s Greatness
While Kobe took home the Finals MVP trophy, there is a very loud segment of the NBA community that believes Pau Gasol deserved it. Looking back, the argument is pretty strong. Gasol was the anchor. In Game 7, he put up 19 points and 18 rebounds. Nine of those were offensive boards. In a game where every possession felt like a war, those extra chances were the difference between winning and losing.
Gasol’s finesse matched against Garnett’s intensity was the tactical heart of the series. Garnett was moving on a surgically repaired knee, and while he was still a defensive genius, Gasol’s length and touch started to wear him down by the end of the seven games.
It’s also worth mentioning Rajon Rondo. Before he became a journeyman, Rondo was a terrifying force for the Celtics. He was triple-double threat every single night. In the 2010 Finals, he was often the best player on the floor for Boston, darting through the Lakers' defense and making Kobe work for every inch of hardwood. But without Perkins to clear the way in the paint during those final two games, Rondo’s drive-and-kick game lost its primary release valve.
The Statistical Oddities
If you’re a numbers nerd, the 2010 Finals are a gold mine of "wait, really?" moments.
- The Lakers shot 32.5% from the field in Game 7. They won.
- Ray Allen set a Finals record in Game 2 by hitting eight three-pointers, then went 0-for-13 in Game 3.
- The Lakers out-rebounded Boston 53-40 in the final game.
That rebounding stat is basically the whole story. When the shots stopped falling—and they definitely stopped falling—the Lakers just started taking the ball out of the air. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't "Showtime." It was blue-collar basketball in Hollywood.
What Most People Get Wrong About 2010
There's this narrative that the Celtics were "washed" by 2010. That's nonsense. They had just dismantled a young LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round. They were elite. They were seasoned. They had the best defense in the league.
Another misconception is that Kobe "choked" in Game 7 because of his shooting percentage. If you watch the tape, the Celtics were sending three guys at him every time he touched the ball. He recognized his shot wasn't falling and pivoted to becoming a rebounder and a decoy. That’s veteran leadership. He trusted Ron Artest to take a clutch shot. He trusted Gasol to carry the load in the post. That's the nuance people miss when they just look at a box score on Basketball-Reference.
The Legacy of the 2010 Lakers
This win validated the trade for Pau Gasol as one of the greatest heists in NBA history. It also gave Phil Jackson his second "three-peat" of sorts—back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. It was the final peak of the Lakers' dominance before the franchise entered a decade-long wilderness.
For the Celtics, it was the "what if" year. What if Perkins doesn't get hurt? What if Ray Allen hits just two of those 13 misses in Game 3? Doc Rivers has said multiple times that he feels that team was the best he ever coached, even better than the 2008 championship squad. The margins in the NBA are razor-thin, and 2010 proved it. One bounce of the ball, one twisted knee, one Ron Artest three-pointer—that’s all it takes to change history.
Key Takeaways from the 2010 NBA Finals
If you want to understand why this series still gets talked about in barbershops and on Twitter, you have to look at the impact it had on the league's trajectory.
- Defensive Masterclass: This was arguably the last Finals series where defense truly dictated the terms of engagement. The "illegal defense" rules had changed, but the league hadn't yet shifted to the "pace and space" era of the Golden State Warriors. It was heavy, physical, and slowed down.
- Kobe's Ring Count: Getting to five rings put Kobe in a specific bracket of greatness. It ended the "can he win without Shaq?" debate once and for all. He did it twice.
- The Role Player Factor: Derek Fisher and Ron Artest proved that superstars get you to the Finals, but role players win them. Fisher's leadership and Artest's unpredictability were the X-factors.
- The Perkins Effect: It’s a lesson in depth. The loss of a starting center—even one who doesn't score much—can collapse an entire defensive system against a team with elite size like the 2010 Lakers.
To truly appreciate who won NBA finals in 2010, you should go back and watch the fourth quarter of Game 7. Don't look at the score. Look at the intensity. Look at the sweat. Look at the way players were diving for loose balls like they were made of gold. It was the end of an era of basketball that we probably won't ever see again in the same way.
Next Steps for the Basketball Fan:
- Watch the "30 for 30" on the Celtics/Lakers rivalry. It provides the essential context of why 2010 felt like a blood feud rather than a sporting event.
- Study the Game 7 box score specifically for rebounding and free throw attempts. It’s a blueprint for how to win when your skill-players are having an off night.
- Analyze the defensive rotations of the 2010 Celtics. Even in a losing effort, Tom Thibodeau’s defensive schemes during that run were revolutionary and are still studied by coaches today.