Van Exel’s Heave Turns Out Lights : Lakers: Three-point shot at the buzzer beats Celtics, 120-118, in L.A.’s final game at Boston Garden.

BOSTON — For the longest time, the guy with blue and gold face paint, the Laker jacket, the Laker hat and the pro-Laker signs held high in the air looked like the gutsiest person inside Boston Garden on Friday night. Then came the final 2.4 seconds.

Enter Nick Van Exel. Worried he would be called for traveling, worried he would step on the sideline, worried he couldn’t even muster a decent shot, Van Exel’s three-point shot at the buzzer put jubilation where anxiety once ruled and gave the Lakers a stunning 120-118 victory over the Boston Celtics before 14,890.

The Lakers got the final word at the Garden. Somewhere, Red Auerbach is stomping his feet in disgust.

Van Exel would have been happy to shoot that dagger anywhere, so it probably wasn’t for the Lakers of old who had endured so much heartache in the building. And it certainly wasn’t for the masochistic Laker fan, who endured obscene gestures, having trash thrown at him and one of the hand-made cardboard signs stolen from his grasp and ripped in half.

Then again, it didn’t hurt, either. Once more for posterity and all that.

“I’m going to frame this one,” said Bill Bertka, in his 14th year as a Laker assistant coach. “Closing out a lifetime of experiences in Boston Garden. This box score is going on the wall. I’m going to have Nick sign it.”

Which only makes sense, because Van Exel had his fingerprints all over the game. The 29 points, the 10 assists. The potential for disaster when, while clinging to a 117-116 lead, he had the ball knocked away in the backcourt by David Wesley and out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left, which became a controversial call when officials awarded possession to the Celtics.

Give the unexpected opportunity, after the Laker bench exploded to argue with the referees, Boston capitalized when Dino Radja grabbed the rebound of his own missed hook and put it in for a 118-117 lead. Now the fans inside the Garden exploded.

Timeout, Lakers. Then another without even breaking the huddle because Coach Del Harris hoped the crowd would settle down and the Lakers’ hearts would start again.

“It’s a little easier to keep your composure when you’re in shock,” he explained later.

The Lakers finally came out, with 2.4 seconds showing, and prepared to bring the ball in at midcourt with Sam Bowie throwing the entry pass. Eric Montross, Boston’s 7-foot rookie, stood in front of him, then stepped over the line to take a delay of game that the Celtics hoped would allow them a glimpse of what the Lakers were going to run. Harris responded by taking a 20-second timeout.

When the Lakers took the court this time, Eddie Jones had replaced Bowie as the trigger man, just in case, Harris decided, they needed an emergency three-point basket. Jones gave Montross a quick head fake to get him leaning the other way, then threw into Van Exel, who caught the ball near the Celtic bench and inches from stepping on the sideline. There was no time for an 11th assist, so he went up and cork-screwed with about a half-second left.

“I just wanted to get it up,” Van Exel said. “I thought I might travel. Then I thought I was out of bounds. Then when I didn’t hear a whistle, I just threw it up.

“As I released it, it was straight. But as far as going in, I didn’t think it would.”

It did.

“We had great pressure on him,” Montross said. “A situation like that, you just have to congratulate him and say great shot.”

Said Radja, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds in 33 minutes for the Celtics: “I thought it would go out. It went in. That’s the NBA, baby.”

That’s also a much-needed emotional boost for the Lakers, who got 31 points from Cedric Ceballos and a career-high 30 from Elden Campbell. Harris, down to about midcourt, pumped his right arm. Vlade Divac grabbed Van Exel from behind and put him in a bear hug. Once Van Exel was released from that hold, Anthony Peeler hoisted him up by the waist before they all celebrated their way into the locker room.

Game, set and building.