Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are the National Basketball Association champions for the second consecutive year after knocking off the valiant Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals via the full seven-game route to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since another Lakers unit that included Bryant and Derek Fisher put together three straight championship finishes from 2000 to 2002.

The Lakers’ latest title success, the 16th in their storied 62-year franchise history, was far more difficult than last year’s 4-1 shellacking of the Orlando Magic. Though they owned the home-court advantage, the Lakers trailed the Celtics, 3-2, going into the final two games at the Staples Center in California.

The Lakers staved off elimination by crushing the Celtics, 89-67, in Game Six as Boston was held to the second-lowest score ever for a Finals game (Chicago scored 96 and limited Utah to 54 in Game Three of the 1998 Finals for the largest winning margin in Finals history and San Antonio tallied 80 and held New York to 67 in Game Two of the 1999 Finals).

Last Friday, in the decisive Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, LA was forced to sweat it out before snatching a dramatic come-from-behind 83-79 decision over the hard-driving Celtics, whose hopes for a league record-extending 18th championship were dashed by an endgame meltdown.

Before the heartbreaking setback, Boston was 7-0 in Game Sevens of a Finals series, including 4-0 against the Lakers.

The Lakers were on the shorter end of the stick in each of the first three quarters – 23-14, 40-34 and 57-53 – of Game Seven. Coach Phil Jackson’s troops fell behind by as much as 13 points (49-36) with just 3.5 minutes gone in the third quarter. Boston was still ahead, 64-61, at the 6:29 mark of the payoff period when Fisher knocked in a three-pointer to start a 9-0 Lakers run that gave LA a 70-64 advantage that it never surrendered thereafter.

Offensively, Game Seven, the first of such kind since the 2005 Finals between champion San Antonio and Detroit, was not a pretty sight to watch. LA shot a forgettable .325 (27-of-83) from the field while Boston made only .408 (29-of-71) of its field attempts.

Though his offense (6-for-24 from the field and 11-for-15 from the free-throw line for a game-high 23 markers) betrayed him, Bryant made it up by grabbing 15 rebounds, including 11 on the defensive end, for a Finals career high.

Just like in Game Six, Bryant’s supporting cast helped turn the tide in the finale.

With 7-foot center Andrew Bynum’s minutes shortened throughout the classic seven-game series due to a knee ailment that will necessitate surgery soon, Pau Gasol stepped up to dominate the post for a second straight game. Gasol, the 7-foot Spanish forward-center (18.6 ppg, 11.6 rpg and 2.57 bpg in Finals), collected 19 points (making seven free throws and 13 overall in the second half), 18 boards, four assists and two blocks in 42 minutes.

Unpredictable Ron Artest, a free agent acquisition last summer who was the lone player on the Lakers’ 13-man playoff roster to earn his first ring (the other 12 were all on the 2009 championship team), also was outstanding on both ends of the floor in Games Six and Seven. In the series-clincher, Artest had 20 points (including a pair of threes), five rebounds and five steals in a team-high 46 minutes while limiting the Celtics’ top scorer Paul Pierce (18.0 ppg in the Finals) to a pitiful 5-for-15 field shooting and just 18 points.

Fisher, the Lakers’ sturdy 35-year-old playmaker who is eligible for free agency on July 1, added 10 markers on 4-for-6 field shooting (including 2-for-2 from the trifecta area). He, too, held the Celts’ soon-to-become-free-agent guard Ray Allen to a 3-for-14 field shooting and a measly 13 points.

Rebounding was a key factor during the physical and defense-oriented 2010 Finals. The team that had an edge in the rebounding department won in each of the seven games. In Game Seven, the Lakers outrebounded the Celtics, 53-40, overall (including 24-14 in the second half), and were ahead, 23-8, off the offensive glass.

Bryant, who along with Fisher picked up his fifth NBA championship ring, registered averages of 28.6 points (on a .405 (66-for-163) field-goal clip), 8.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.14 steals during the seven-game championship series to romp away with the Bill Russell Trophy that goes to the Finals Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row.

Jackson, on the other hand, got his 11th championship as a head coach to move farther away from the late Arnold (Red) Auerbach, who had nine with the Boston Celtics in the fifties and sixties during the Russell era.

With his latest triumph, Jackson became richer by $2 million in performance bonus. The 64-year-old Jackson’s contract expires on June 30 and Lakers owner Jerry Buss has already asked him to take a paycut if he wants to return to the team next season.

It may be imperative for Jackson, the highest-paid bench boss in league history with a $12 million salary during the 2009-10 campaign, to come back to the Lakers’ fold if only to take a crack at a fourth title “three-peat.” He also won three straight with the Chicago Bulls in 1991-92-93 and 1996-97-98 and with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002.