Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce had 18 of his 27 points in the first quarter as the Celtics beat the Miami Heat 95-85 in front of 20,022 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami on Friday night.
The NBA’s top team had run out to a 28 point lead and almost saw it get wasted away before holding on for their 13th win against two losses. Miami drops to 4-11.
The win was the Celtics 4th in a row and comes at the back end of a home/road back-to-back.
The Green were led by Pierce who added 7 rebounds, Kevin Garnett had 23 points and 9 boards, while the Heat were paced by Jason Richardson who had 22 points off the bench. The Celtics held Dwayne Wade to 10 points and Shaquille O’Neal to 13.
Tennis star and Canon pitchwoman Maria Sharapova was at the game.
The Celtics are off until Sunday afternoon when the host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 12:30 p.m.
