RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Even after erasing a 21-point deficit, the Boston
Celtics knew their night wasn't over.
They still had to stop Vince Carter, who had a chance to tie the
game in the final seconds.
|  | | Paul Pierce poured in 30 points for the Celtics Friday night. |
"We knew he was going to shoot the ball. We just didn't want
him to get an open shot," Celtics forward Antoine Walker said
Friday night after Carter scored 33 points, then missed a late
3-pointer as Boston held on to beat Toronto 93-91.
Paul Pierce scored 30 points and Walker added 20 as Boston sent
the Raptors to their third consecutive loss. The victory also
avenged a buzzer-beating game-winner that Carter made last season
in Toronto's last visit to Boston.
Carter had a chance to repeat the heroics in the last 10 seconds
on Friday. Trailing 91-88, Alvin Williams missed a 3-point attempt
from the left corner, but Charles Oakley grabbed the rebound and
dished it to Carter up top.
Forced to shoot off balance, Carter put it off the front of the
rim.
"I always feel good about my chances," he said. "Sometimes
you make it, sometimes you don't. This time, I missed bad."
Tony Battie rebounded the ball, then Randy Brown drew a foul and
sank both free throws to make it 93-88 with 2.8 seconds left.
Morris Peterson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"With a few seconds left in the game, you're just trying to
score," Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens said. "You don't have a whole
lot of time to think or make a move."
But Carter didn't have much time last March, either, when he hit
a fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Boston 96-94. The ending
drew cheers even from the Boston fans, but it set Celtics coach
Rick Pitino off on a memorable rant in which he complained, "All
this negativity that's in this town (stinks)."
This time, Pitino praised his team for intelligent play as it
battled back from an early deficit with full-court pressure that
led to 13 steals.
Antonio Davis had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Toronto, and
Mark Jackson had 12 assists. Battie had 10 rebounds for the
Celtics.
Toronto, which was celebrating the fifth anniversary of the
franchise's first game, fell to 0-3 for the first time in its
history even though Carter has averaged 28 points per game this
season.
The Raptors led by as many as 21 points early in the second
quarter. But the Celtics scored 38 of the next 52 points, cutting
the deficit to seven at the half.
Pierce hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 14-2 third quarter run,
and Walker and Kenny Anderson also hit from beyond the arc as
Boston turned a nine-point deficit into a 60-57 lead.
The Raptors scored nine consecutive points early in the first to
turn a 7-5 game into a 16-5 lead. Toronto added a 15-4 run to close
out the quarter to make it 33-13 after one; Carter already had 14.
The Raptors took a 36-15 lead when Carter hit a 3-pointer with
10:11 left in the second quarter. Boston gradually cut the deficit
to 15 points, then scored eight consecutive points to make it a
seven-point game, 47-40, with 2:12 left in the half.
Pierce scored Boston's last six points of the first half. A
victim of a nightclub stabbing in September, Pierce had 28 in the
Celtics opener Wednesday night, a 103-83 victory over the Detroit
Pistons.
Game
notes
Toronto has six players that have at least 13 years of
experience in the league. ... Carter had his 87th consecutive game
with 10 or more points. ... Vitaly Potapenko was 0-for-6 for
Boston, missing several from close in. Kenny Anderson also missed
several layups and shot just 3-for-12 from the floor.
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NBA Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
New York 80
Washington 76
Boston 93
Toronto 91
Charlotte 83
Miami 79
Philadelphia 87
Orlando 80
Sacramento 100
Detroit 93
New Jersey 92
Chicago 82
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Coach Rick Pitino comments on his star Celtic, Paul Pierce.
wav: 190 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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