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Inspired Pierce leads Celtics to victory
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-11 14:52 BOSTON - Paul Pierce scored 22 points in the final quarter to help the defending champion Boston Celtics rally to a 94-87 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Boston (7-1) trailed 48-36 at the half before Pierce's late heroics left Toronto coach Sam Mitchell shaking his head in disbelief. "You look at the shots Paul Pierce made," Mitchell told reporters. "He drove the basket a couple of times, but he was making a lot of 18, 19-foot shots with guys contesting him." Pierce contributed a game-high 36 points and Kevin Garnett added 21 and had 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who scored 58 points in the second half after a shaky start. Boston went ahead when Kendrick Perkins blocked a turnaround and passed to Pierce, who hit a jumper to give the Celtics an 86-84 lead with 1:38 left. Pierce added two more baskets to stretch the lead to six points and put the game out of reach. "We just couldn't contain them in the second half," Mitchell added. "That's why they are the defending champs, with performances like that. We have to learn to take our game to that level too." Toronto (4-3) got 23 points and 11 rebounds from Jermaine O'Neal, who failed to make a field goal and had just five points against Charlotte on Sunday. "In the fourth quarter they did a good job of making shots," O'Neal said. "We've got to figure a way to keep those guys down, especially when we're up 15 or 16 points in a game." Anthony Parker scored 15 points and Jason Kapono added 14 for the Raptors, who led by 15 points early in the third quarter. They have lost three of their last four games after starting the season 3-0. |
