Trying to get to his sweet spot with Jameer Nelson all over him, Pierce could do nothing.
The Celtics were going to have to absorb every punch the Magic threw — the barrage of 3-pointers from Matt Barnes, Rashard Lewis and J.J. Redick, and the assaults on the basket by Dwight Howard. They fought to tie the score, 86-86, late in the fourth quarter when Pierce drove hard to the rim with 1:15 left, finished with his left hand, drew the foul, and hit the free throw.
But in the end their chance to put the series away and seal their second trip to the Finals in three years crumbled, just like their final play of regulation.
In overtime, Jameer Nelson dealt the Celtics a combination they couldn’t recover from, drilling one 3-pointer from 24 feet and knocking down another in front of the Celtics’ bench to put the Magic up, 92-86.
But Ray Allen answered with two threes of his own to make it 94-92, as close as the Celtics would get. Forced to chew on their first loss in two weeks, the Celtics didn’t harp as much on their 2-for-10 shooting in overtime. They dwelled on the last moments of regulation, and how the desire to put away a series led them to fall back into the bad habit of trying to be heroes rather than sharing the ball.
“I thought everybody wanted to win the game,’’ Rivers said. “I thought everybody showed up to win the game. But I think at times, when you have a chance to do something — close out a series or win a big game — each guy tries to do it themselves.’’
Pierce finished with 32 points, matching his 2010 playoff high set in in Game 3 of the first-round series against the Heat. On a night when fouls and muscle spasms hampered Rajon Rondo (9 points, 8 assists in 43 minutes) Pierce was Boston’s primary source of offense. But on the final play, he had options.
“Just pretty much screwed it up,’’ he said. “Pretty much turned the ball over and that’s all it is. Couldn’t get the final shot. Sometimes it happens that way. But that’s no excuse. We still had opportunities in overtime and we didn’t take advantage of it.’’
Allen finished with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, draining 5 of 7 3-pointers.
