Pierce drained an 18-foot jumper with nine seconds left and made 1-of-2 free throws seconds later to spark the Celtics to a 101-99 victory over the slumping Miami Heat.
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Heat-Celtics: 300k 
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Without Boston calling a timeout, Pierce took the ball into the frontcourt and got loose for a wide-open jumper thanks to a double screen from Antoine Walker and Raef LaFrentz that Jones could not get through.
"I drew it up before," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I told them we were going to run a double pick-and-roll. The reason I didn't call timeout is that they might have taken Shaq out. I wanted to run it with both bigs in the game."
After the game, Heat coach Stan Van Gundy was irate about how his team defended the last play.
"That last play is just absurd," Van Gundy said. "To not be up on that, on Paul Pierce, the best player on the team? Let's just let him shoot a jump shot? That to me is unfathomable."
On Miami's ensuing possession, Dwyane Wade missed a driving layup in traffic. Shaquille O'Neal could not corral the rebound and missed a follow shot, with Pierce grabbing the rebound with 0.9 seconds to go.
Pierce, who scored 22 points, made the first and intentionally missed the second to try and run out the clock. But the ball bounced straight up and Miami (56-23) grabbed the rebound, calling timeout with five-tenths of a second remaining.
Wade had to double-clutch a 3-pointer at the buzzer, throwing up an airball with Ricky Davis running at him.
"Huge win," Pierce said. "Every one win is huge for us, but to go against the best team in the East and get a win - huge win. To play the way that we're playing at the end of the year, it's a great win."
The Celtics can clinch their first Atlantic Division title since 1992 - Larry Bird's last season - with a win in Toronto on Sunday.
Rookie Al Jefferson scored a career-high 19 points and Davis added 16 of the bench. All of Davis' points came in the first half and Jefferson scored all of his in the final 24 minutes.
"I was just playing my role," said Jefferson, who scored 11 of Boston's first 15 points of the fourth quarter. "Doc got on me in the first half, saying that I was chasing the ball. He said, 'Let the game come to (me)' and I felt like that's what I did."
O'Neal scored 34 points but was just 10-of-20 from the line. Wade added 15 of his 17 in the second half for the Heat (56-23), who have dropped a season-high four in a row and seven of 11.
"This is nothing to panic about," O'Neal said. "I've been in this situation many times before. Things like this happen. We just have to remember this, dig deep down and suck it up because it's not going to get any easier for us."
"We follow Shaq," added Wade. "He's been through this. He knows what it takes. We're looking at him. If says we're OK, then we're OK. If says we're not, we'll do something about it."