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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Paul Pierce was ineffective and insulted the last time he played the Miami Heat. He got even Friday night.
Pierce tied Larry Bird's club record with nine steals, getting
six in the first 8:04, and scored 26 points as the Boston Celtics
beat Miami 96-84 for their NBA-record 2,500th victory.
|  | | Eric Williams of the Celtics scuffles with most of the Heat for a loose ball. |
"I was so focused and mentally prepared for this game, I
blocked everything out," Pierce said. "My best defensive games
usually turn into my best offensive games."
Boston went ahead to stay when P.J. Brown was called for goaltending on Eric Williams' layup, making the score 9-8 just 4:08
into the game. The Heat stayed close until a 10-point run gave the
Celtics a 95-77 lead with 1:31 left.
Two weeks earlier, Pierce made just four of 16 shots in a 100-92
loss to the Heat marked by physical play and trash talk.
"They said Dan Majerle is such a defensive stopper. He didn't stop me. It was their team defense," Pierce said. "I feel I can
score on him any time of the day and I was really insulted by it."
The intensity from the first matchup resumed Friday night with Alonzo Mourning in foul trouble most of the game and Boston coach
Rick Pitino getting ejected late in the first half.
Pierce also picked up a technical when he objected to Voshon
Lenard's physical play just before Pitino was thrown out by referee
Joe Forte with Boston leading 43-35 with 1:23 left in the first
half.
"I told him (Lenard) we're not going to take that," Pierce
said. "I think that was a good technical. It fired us up."
Miami coach Pat Riley said referees should call the game the
same for both sides.
"The league is trying to open up the offense, but the physical
play they are allowing has to be called both ways," he said.
"I knew what I was doing the whole time," said Pitino, who
hoped to give his team a spark. "I deserved to be thrown out."
Lenard had 23 points and Mourning 21 as Miami's four-game
winning streak ended. It also lost for the first time in the five
games it's played without Tim Hardaway, on the injured list with a
knee injury.
"You need as many ballhandlers as you can get against them,"
Jamal Mashburn said. "We missed Tim."
Boston, the winningest franchise in NBA history with a
2,500-1,616 record, broke a three-game losing streak as assistant
coach Jim O'Brien filled in for Pitino. The Lakers, who moved to
Los Angeles from Minneapolis, were second with 2,452 victories
before Friday night's game against Portland.
The Celtics were determined to avoid squandering another lead.
In their last two games, they lost leads of 21 points in losing to
Milwaukee 114-112 and 13 points in a 94-84 loss to Atlanta.
The Celtics led by between three and 10 points throughout the
third quarter and took a 69-61 lead into the fourth.
Miami kept the game close when Majerle's 3-pointer made it 85-77
with 4:17 to go. Then Boston took control with the 10-point run.
Kenny Anderson, who finished with 22 points, hit a 3-pointer,
Vitaly Potapenko scored on a tip-in, Antoine Walker sank a basket,
Anderson followed with two free throws and Walker ended the spurt
with another free throw.
Lenard ended the spurt with a 3-pointer that made it 95-80 with
1:12 remaining.
For the first time this season, Miami trailed after the first
quarter, 23-21, despite closing the period with a 13-4 run in which
Mourning had nine points.
Game notes
The game started Miami's longest road trip of the season,
six games in 13 days. ... Mourning extended his streak of games
with at least one blocked shot to 44. ... Pierce's previous career
high for steals was seven in his rookie season last year at
Vancouver on Feb. 17. ... Mourning stayed in the game after picking
up his fifth foul with 9:33 to go and Boston leading 74-63. ...
Anderson made his first seven shots and finished 8-of-9.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Miami Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 96
Miami 84
Toronto 95
Washington 93
Philadelphia 102
Cleveland 100
Detroit 102
San Antonio 80
Indiana 100
Utah 75
Orlando 112
Denver 100
Charlotte 113
Vancouver 94
LA Lakers 93
Portland 80
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