Veteran reserve shows his mettle in overtime triumph at home

The Boston Celtics took an unusual route to reach a tie with the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference standings.

After holding a 12-point lead with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics needed an overtime rally to beat the Hawks 107-102 on Friday night.

The Celtics had four field goals in OT and three of them came from beyond the arc, including Jason Terry's tiebreaker with 35 seconds remaining which put Boston ahead to stay.

"I was brought here to make big shots and make plays and be a spark off the bench," Terry said.

Terry, Jeff Green and Paul Pierce all hit 3-pointers in OT and the Celtics held the Hawks without field goal over the final 2:14.

Pierce finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Garnett had 17 points and eight rebounds and Terry scored 19, 11 more than Atlanta's reserves combined.

"Jason really stepped up. We count on him late in games," Pierce said. "Even if he doesn't get the shot, he's such a threat late in games that you can't come off of him. He's hit so many big shots throughout his career. He understands the moment and that's why he's here."

Boston won its fifth straight and is tied with the Hawks at 34-27, sixth in the Eastern Conference.

"We just continue to fight. In the stretch run of the season, every game is crucial," Pierce said. "Between the fourth and eight spot, it's a difference of between one or two games so all these games are big and we understand the sense of urgency."

The Celtics improved to 7-4 in overtime and set a franchise record with their 11th OT game this season.

"I had a couple of turnovers that I wish I could've had back," Atlanta's Zach Smith said. "We couldn't come up with the big rebound that we needed in that overtime."

Al Horford added 22 points and Devin Harris scored 12 for Atlanta. Four starters scored in double figures for the Hawks, but only two other players scored at all for Atlanta in its fourth loss in five games.

The Hawks did make it a thrilling finish in a game Boston appeared to have in hand after a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Atlanta still had time and didn't panic, using a 13-4 run to get back in it and force overtime.

Kyle Korver's 3-pointer with 1:31 left tied it at 92-all and was just the second field goal by a reserve for the Hawks. Pierce answered with a jumper, then Smith set up Horford on an alley-oop dunk to tie it up again.

"We just really wanted to make sure we controlled the rhythm of the game. I thought we did a good job for the most part of that late, particularly in the overtime," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. "We just had too many bad plays on both ends of the floor."

(China Daily 03/10/2013 page7)