Pierce lights the way: Late fireworks spark C's win over Magic

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pierce lights the way: Late fireworks spark C's win over Magic
By Mark Murphy
Thursday, November 27, 2003

ORLANDO - The warning light went on in Paul Pierce [news]'s head early in the
fourth quarter.

     The Celtics had just withstood a furious third-quarter Orlando run, Tracy
McGrady was in foul trouble, and the basket seemed as big as a trash barrel.

     ``I just said to myself, man, if we lose, I'm going to have a party - (a
loss) isn't going to happen because of something I didn't do,'' Pierce said
after scoring 15 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter of last night's 94-92
win over Orlando, which has now lost 14 straight.

     In comparison, the Celtics got out of jail relatively quickly by snapping
their own four-game losing streak, with Pierce shooting 6-of-8 while stamping
his name on those last 12 minutes.

     And you wonder why Memphis coach Hubie Brown has called Pierce one of the
game's greatest fourth-quarter performers? With his team making the necessary
stops down at the other end, Pierce simply put the ball to the floor and, off
the dribble, started burying heavily guarded jumpers.

     Most were from 20-foot range, with Pierce at one point scoring 11
straight Celtics points.

     ``He's done that a lot in his career,'' Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said.
``But he was really feeling it from a jump shot standpoint. They went zone,
and we got some good looks in the zone.''

     That would particularly count over the last five minutes, once the Magic
started loading their zone coverage to Pierce's side.

     The Magic made two runs down the stretch, cutting the Celts' lead to
86-83 and then to 90-88 with 2:12 left on a Gordon Giricek trey.

     Vin Baker, who finished with another solid 19-point, seven-rebound,
five-assist performance, took the air out of the first run with a hook,
followed by a pair of Mike James [news] free throws. James' play, a fast-break
push that forced McGrady into making his sixth and final foul, proved
especially pivotal.

     And when Giricek brought the Magic back yet again with his trey, Pierce
drove, drew the foul and hit both free throws. Though Donnell Harvey answered
with a tip, Pierce rifled a pass to Tony Battie in the lane, who buried the
turnaround for a 94-90 lead with 1:03 left.

     Drew Gooden's 10-foot hook with 28 seconds left wouldn't be enough. The
Celtics ran 24 seconds off the clock without taking a shot, leaving Magic
guard Tyronne Lue with 3.4 seconds to drive to mid-court and miss a
desperation trey.

     Considering that the Magic played with the force of a team that had won
13 straight, instead of the other way around, the Celtics were able to draw
encouragement from the fact that they survived a rough night on the road.

     ``Those were pro athletes out there,'' said Eric Williams, who came off
the bench with 15 points, including 9-of-12 shooting from the foul line, to
lead the Celtics through their defensive paces. ``They made their runs at us,
and we survived it.''

     That was perhaps the most significant development to come out of last
night's game.

     ``We really needed this win tonight,'' Battie said. ``We knew it was
going to be a tough one coming in, and we knew it was a game they were looking
at winning. We gave up that lead in the third, but we didn't hang our heads.
We had another quarter to play and we came out tough.''
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx