Paul Pierce sank a 21-foot shot on the buzzer to give the Boston Celtics a 100-98 win over the Miami Heat on Friday and a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven NBA first-round playoff series.
“That’s a shot I hit a number of times in playoffs and regular season,” Pierce said after getting mobbed by teammates in an on-court melee. “I told the coaches: ‘Give me the ball on the right side.’ I got to my sweet spot, made sure there wasn’t any time left and drained it.”
No team has ever rallied from an 0-3 deficit in a series and Miami might have even bigger problems than that. Dwayne Wade hurt his left calf after missing a three-pointer with 14 seconds left.
Pierce finished with 32 points, while Ray Allen added 25 for the Celtics, who got 17 from Rajon Rondo and 16 from Kevin Garnett.
Wade finished with 34 points, eight assists and five rebounds for the Heat, who rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead, then fell victim to Pierce at the end.
Boston led 85-76 early in the fourth, seeming to be in full control of the game and with it the series.
On the ropes, the Celtics poised to land the knockout blow, the Heat found a way to counter.
Michael Beasley scored six of the next eight Miami points to spark the rally and when Dorell Wright hit two foul-shots with 3 minutes, 46 seconds left after Pierce shoved him in the back jostling for a rebound, the Heat were up 92-91.
After the score was tied twice, Allen swished a three-pointer off a quick catch-and-shoot with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left, putting Boston back up 95-94.
Pierce made a three-pointer — he missed a jumper, but Rondo swooped in, got the rebound and got the ball back out — to give Boston a three-point lead, only to have Wright answer 13 seconds later with a three-pointer of his own.
SPURS 94, MAVERICKS 90
In San Antonio, Texas, playing with a bandage across his broken nose after getting popped by an elbow, Manu Ginobili helped San Antonio hold on to beat Dallas in a wild fourth quarter.
Ginobili scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. He was diagnosed after the game with a broken nose and the Spurs said he would undergo a CT scan yesterday.
The Spurs took a 2-1 series lead after beating the NBA’s best road team, despite Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki scoring 35 points after a shaky Game 2. Tim Duncan scored 25 points for the second straight game for the Spurs.
Jason Terry scored 17 points and J.J. Barea had 14 for Dallas, but Caron Butler never left the bench in the second half and finished with two points.
Nowitzki was 13-of-23 from the field and jump-started a 17-0 run in the third quarter that got the Mavericks back into the game.
Tony Parker had 23 points as San Antonio’s sixth man, a role Ginobili held for many years.
JAZZ 105, NUGGETS 93
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Paul Millsap had career-highs of 22 points and 19 rebounds, rallying Utah from a bad start to beat Denver.
The Jazz lead Denver 2-1 in the series with Game 4 in Utah, where the loud and rowdy fans lived up to their reputation on Friday and added to the Nuggets’ misery with endless taunts.
Utah limited Denver’s Carmelo Anthony to 25 points and flustered him into five fouls.
Deron Williams finished with 24 points and 10 assists for the Jazz, while Carlos Boozer added 18 points despite missing his first five shots.
Chauncey Billups also scored 25 points, but he and Anthony were the only Denver players to finish in double figures.
Millsap made his first nine shots and finished 11-of-14 from the field for Utah, who dominated the second and third quarters after Denver had pulled away by 11 points in the first.
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