Tom Halzack's NBA Monday Night Heroics Recap

It was a night of 4th quarter heroics with amazing individual clutch performances.

Celtics (7-1) Pierce Toronto ( 4-3) Raptors: 94-87

 Paul Pierce overcame a 3 of 13 shooting funk to score 36 points to lead the Celtics to victory over conference rival Toronto Raptors.

The Celtics were lethargic after a big win at Detroit the night before and heading for a loss at home until Kevin Garnett started trash talking and scoring and Paul Pierce woke up to score 22 points in the 4^th quarter.

Boston has started slowly in 6 of their 8 games, losing the first quarter each time, before coming back to win 5 of those games. They are now 7-1.

Boston has been trying to work the role players into the offense more and the three stars have been sacrificing their own games a bit more this season. Paul Pierce, in particular, has been in somewhat of a shooting slump (32% over the last 5 games).

Tonight it took him most of three quarters before he finally woke up and broke out, shooting 7 of 9 in the 4^th quarter to lead the Celtics back from a 16 point deficit to the win.

Though sharp shooting Jason Kapono (14 points) answered many of the Celtic scores with shots of his own, he was unable to stop Pierce from scoring in a variety of ways, including back to back three pointers.

Jermaine O’Neal led Toronto with 23 points, 19 of them in the first half. The NBA’s 3^rd leading scorer at 26 points per game, Chris Bosh was held to 9 points by Garnett. Kevin Garnett scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds, Ray Allen added 19 points as the Celtic big three won this game without strong bench support for the first time in many games.

Portland (4-3) "Out Benches" Orlando (4-3): 106-99

The Oden-less Portland TrailBlazers won its first road game while giving up a beastly 29 points and 19 rebounds to Magic superman Dwight Howard. Brandon Roy led the Blazers with 27 points, Steve Blake contributed 20, and LaMarcus Aldridge added a double/double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

But it was the Portland bench of Travis Outlaw (20 points) and Euro newcomer Rudy Fernandez (16 points) who led Portland in the 4^th quarter to beat Orlando. Outlaw is shooting a white hot 65% from three point land and was 3 of 5 last night. Fernandez added 4 of 6 from downtown, but is showing he is more than a shooter with 3 steals, 3 assists and a blocked shot on the night.

Portland has played a tough early season schedule and are 4-3 so far.

Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu tried to bring the Magic back in the 4th quarter and led both teams with 35 points on 11 of 21 shooting with 4 of 7 from downtown. The Magic’s lack of depth, lack of help for Howard in the middle and middling point guard play will hold this team back from advancing beyond where they are.

An inside/outside team, they are shooting more threes but hitting them less often, led by Rashard Lewis’s 28% shooting from the arc. He was 0-5 last night.

Miami’s (4-3) Wade Outshoots the Nets (2-4) in the 4^th

In yet another 4^th

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