Celtics and Lakers surge ahead

The Boston Celtics rallied to a 96-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final.

Boston's top-seeded counterpart in the Western Conference also surged 3-2 ahead as the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 111-104 in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant, struggling with a sore back, led Los Angeles with 26 points, Lamar Odom added 22 and Pau Gasol 21, including two key hoops after Utah closed to 103-102. Deron Williams paced the Jazz with 27 points.

The Cavaliers, led by 23 first-half points from LeBron James, stormed to a 14-point lead in the second quarter before Boston went on a 14-3 run to reach the intermission trailing only 46-43.

The Celtics outscored Cleveland 29-17 in the third quarter for a 72-63 lead and held on as the Cavs made it close in the final seconds.

Trailing 95-89 with 11.6 seconds left, guard Delonte West failed to inbound the ball within the allotted five seconds for a costly violation that ended Cleveland's hopes.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points and Kevin Garnett added 26 points and 16 rebounds. James paced the Cavaliers with 35 points.