NBA Game Summary - Minnesota at Boston

Boston, MA (Basketball News) - Paul Pierce headlined a balanced attack with 25 points and eight rebounds to lead Boston to a 103-96 comeback victory over Minnesota at TD Banknorth Garden.

"With the lineup we had out there I was looking to be aggressive early," said Pierce. "I had some drives to lane and a couple of three’s. I was just making sure we ran our stuff."

Al Jefferson added 18 points and pulled down eight boards off the bench for the Celtics, who won for just the second time in their past seven outings. Kendrick Perkins chipped in with a career-high 17 points while Delonte West had 14 in the win.

"I got in the mind set at the beginning of the game that I needed to cut out the BS and go play my game," said Jefferson. "When I’m out there on the court sometimes there’s a million things going through my head. Tonight I was just focussed, ready and wanted to concentrate on defense."

Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves, who lost for the first time in four games, with his usual double-double of 29 points and 13 rebounds. Wally Szczerbiak added 22 points for Minnesota while Trenton Hassell pitched in with 18 and Troy Hudson had 13 points in the loss.

"Their young guys got going a little bit," said Garnett. "They played well. Kept balls alive. Jefferson hit some big shots, Perkins hit some big shots and then Pierce just finished us off. We weren’t able to do anything on the offensive end that we were doing in the first half. They were running double teams and we didn’t do a good enough job of spacing."

Down four entering the fourth quarter, Boston rattled off the first eight points of the frame to take back the lead. Pierce’s jumper made it 77-73 with 10 1/2 minutes to go.

Instead of folding, Minnesota answered with a 6-0 spurt over the next four minutes. Michael Olowokandi’s bucket from just inside the free throw line put the Timberwolves back on top, 79-77.

The see-saw continued as the Celts scored eight of the next 11 points. Back to back buckets by Perkins and West ignited the crowd and gave Boston an 85-82 edge with 4:09 left.

Hudson tried to stop the bleeding for the ’Wolves with a jumper, but Boston answered. Jefferson’s jumper, a Perkins reverse layup and another Jefferson lay-in extended the Celtics’ lead to 91-84 with just 1:58 left.

Pierce essentially sealed things with a long trey with just over a minute left and another jumper with 49 ticks left.

Minnesota tried to extend the game by fouling down the stretch, but Boston was good enough from the stripe to seal things.

"I thought all our bigs got out-scrapped in the second half by their young guys," said Minnesota coach Dwayne Casey. "I thought we would respond a little bit more offensively in the second half. Every big play we had there was an opportunity to extend the lead and we didn’t come up with making the play."

The ’Wolves roared to a 10-point edge after one quarter, 32-22.

Minnesota continued to control the pace in the second frame and took a 55-46 advantage into intermission. Garnett had 17 heading into the locker room while Hassell, who hit a fade-away jumper from just inside the free throw line to end the half, had 16 on 6-of-7 shooting. Perkins led the Celts with nine points.

Boston closed the gap in the third quarter. Pierce’s three from deep in the left corner brought Boston to within two with under 40 seconds left in the quarter but Olowokandi’s follow-up slam gave Minnesota a four-point cushion, 73-69, heading into the final stanza.