SALON

Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 5:45 AM UTC

Pierce lifts road-weary Celtics over Jazz in OT

By

Topics: From the Wires,

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Paul Pierce scored 26 points, including seven straight in overtime, and the Boston Celtics beat the Utah Jazz 110-107 on Monday night to close out a five-game road trip.

Pierce had a chance to win it in regulation, but his 19-footer at the buzzer rimmed out.

Alec Burks’ reverse layup pulled Utah to 108-105 with 37 seconds left in overtime. Kevin Garnett’s banked 3-pointer with 13 seconds left came after the shot clock expired, giving the Jazz another chance.

Paul Millsap was fouled before he could get off a 3, but made two free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining.

Courtney Lee added two free throws at the other end with 1.2 seconds left to bump Boston’s lead back to three, and Randy Foye’s 26-footer at the buzzer missed everything.

Avery Bradley added a season-high 18 points for Boston.

Gordon Hayward led Utah with 26 points, Millsap had 16 and Al Jefferson finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Celtics (30-27) were playing their fifth game in seven days, but didn’t seem to care down the stretch.

The Jazz (31-25) led 101-99 in overtime on DeMarre Carroll’s 21-footer, but Pierce countered with a 3-pointer, then followed with a pull-up jumper over Carroll and a 15-footer to give the Celtics a 106-101 edge with 1:12 left.

Jefferson hit a 15-footer with 1:05 left to get Utah within 106-103, but Garnett’s jumper over Jefferson helped seal it.

The Celtics also were smart down the stretch, fouling with fouls to give and finding a wide-open Lee when the Jazz needed a late steal in overtime.

The Jazz trailed by eight entering the fourth but opened on a 13-2 run.

Jefferson’s 10-foot turnaround jumper over Brandon Bass tied it at 93 with 2:46 left in regulation.

Pierce hit an 18-footer with Carroll diving at him for a 97-95 Boston lead with 36 seconds remaining in regulation, only to see Burks tie it with a tough layup with 19 seconds left.

The game took a 16-point swing in the third, as Boston trailed 58-50 only to counter with a 20-4 run and lead 80-72 entering the fourth.

Pierce ignited the run with a 3-pointer, Bradley hit two more 3s and Lee added a dunk after a steal and another 3-pointer. Pierce capped the run with a jumper over Hayward for a 70-62 Boston lead.

The Celtics hit 6 of 13 3-pointers in the quarter, while Utah made just 5 of 16 from the field.

Utah trailed 34-27 after Jason Terry’s 3-pointer with 10:49 left in the second but went on a 17-2 run to lead 44-36 with 5:46 left in the quarter.

Utah led 53-48 at halftime.

The Celtics led 28-26 after the first in a quarter that saw seven lead changes and seven ties. Overall, the game had 13 lead changes and was tied 17 times.

NOTES; Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin opted to start Earl Watson over Jamaal Tinsley at point for a faster pace, but Burks ended up playing much of the game there. … Jazz F Derrick Favors picked up his third foul with 9:06 left in the second quarter. . Jazz G Foye needed four 3-pointers to tie Mehmet Okur (129, 2006-07) for the franchise single-season record. Foye went 0-5 Saturday but hit his first Monday and finished 2 of 6 . . Bradley started 5 of 5 and had 10 points in six minutes for Boston, while Millsap started 4 of 4 for Utah.

More By Lynn Debruin.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations