Celtics Burn Struggling Heat

Paul Pierce executed the plan to perfection.

Coming out of a timeout, Pierce’s driving layup as time expired lifted the Boston Celtics to an 84-83 victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night at Miami.

Pierce’s shot snapped Boston’s four-game losing streak and ran Miami’s slide to nine consecutive losses. Antoine Walker added 28 points.

“It went just as we drew it up,” said Pierce, who scored 33 points. “I saw the hole open up on the left side. Nobody was coming, so I kept going. It surprised me a lot. I thought they’d have somebody running at me.”

After Miami went ahead, 83-82, on a pair of free throws by Eddie House, Boston called timeout with 3.5 seconds left. Taking an inbounds pass from Eric Williams at the top of the foul circle, Pierce drove left past Eddie Jones and sank a left-handed layup before Alonzo Mourning could provide help.

Jones, who led Miami with 27 points, took the blame, saying, “It was my fault. He beat me. He blew by me.”

Seattle 112, Minnesota 102--Brent Barry had a career-high 31 points to go with 10 assists as the SuperSonics won at Seattle.

Dallas 116, Golden State 106--Michael Finley matched his career-high with 39 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 33 as the Mavericks rallied from a 21-point deficit to stretch their winning streak to four games with a victory at Dallas.

Cleveland 94, Washington 75--Michael Jordan, who used to destroy the Cavaliers, scored 18 points on nine-of-24 shooting in a losing return to Cleveland. Ricky Davis scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for the Cavaliers, who won their third in a row at home.

New Jersey 100, Chicago 68--Todd MacCulloch had 18 points and 13 rebounds and the Nets tied a team-record by holding the Bulls to six third-quarter points at East Rutherford, N.J.

The victory gave the Nets a 10-5 record, their best start since 1978-79.

Sacramento 89, Houston 84--Peja Stojakovic scored 24 points as the Kings held off the undermanned Rockets at Houston.

The Rockets were without their starting backcourt of Steve Francis, sidelined at least four weeks because of a foot injury, and Cuttino Mobley, day-to-day because of a sprained ankle.

Portland 96, Indiana 90--Ruben Patterson scored 12 of his 22 points during a pivotal fourth-quarter run to lead the Trail Blazers at Portland.

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Former Washington Wizard coach Gar Heard said Michael Jordan’s comeback is hurting the team’s young players more than it’s helping them.

“When the season first started everybody thought Michael would be more of a teacher to those guys, but in a sense it’s kind of backfired,” said Heard, whom Jordan fired less than two weeks after joining the Wizards as president of basketball operations during the 1999-2000 season.

Heard, now an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks who was fired by Jordan as coach of the Wizards, said Richard Hamilton, 23, and Courtney Alexander, 24, are the main victims of Jordan’s return.

“It seems like they’ve definitely taken a step back,” Heard said. “At the end of last season those guys were playing pretty good.... Maybe they’re watching Michael too much.”

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Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill was listed as day-to-day after re-injuring his surgically-repaired ankle. X-rays were negative but he traveled to Baltimore to meet with the doctor who performed bone-graft surgery on his left ankle in January.