Celtics take control of East Finals, 3-2

MIAMI  — Kevin Garnett finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds and Paul Pierce hit a 3-pointer over LeBron James with under a minute left as the Boston Celtics moved one win away from an Eastern Conference title by beating the Miami Heat 94-90 on Tuesday night.

Pierce scored 19 points for the Celtics, who have won three straight games for a 3-2 series lead.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Boston.

“We’ve done nothing,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re playing a heck of a basketball team. So just because we’re going to Boston, I told them, we have to play. They’re not going to give it to us. We have to go get it.”

James finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, though he went 8 minutes without scoring in the final quarter. Dwyane Wade scored 27 for the Heat, who got no more than nine from anyone else.

“We wouldn’t want to be in this situation but we never get too high or too low in a series,” James said. “We had an opportunity to come home and take a lead, but we didn’t. So we have to go up to Boston and win a game.”

Pierce’s 3 put Boston up 90-86. Miami got within two points twice, and argued that it should have had a steal with 8.8 seconds left. Instead, a foul was called on Udonis Haslem, Garnett made two free throws, and the Celtics knew they had just stolen one on Miami’s home floor.

Now all they need is one home win of their own to clinch a trip to either Oklahoma City or San Antonio for Game 1 of the NBA finals. The title series starts June 12.

“Right now,” Celtics guard Ray Allen said, “the next game is Game 7.”

The Celtics were down by 13 points in the second quarter, then down nine in the third, and answered both times — prevailing on a night where they shot just 41 percent, and got outrebounded 49-39.

“We stayed with it,” Garnett said. “We had a rough first quarter, first half. We got our stops and made our run ourselves. And when we had to, we had stops.”

Allen and Mickael Pietrus scored 13 apiece for the Celtics, who got 10 from Brandon Bass. Pietrus hit two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for Boston, which remained perfect with this core when facing maybe the most pivotal situation a best-of-seven can offer — a Game 5 with a series tied 2-2.

Pierce, Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen are now 9-0 in that scenario. /ap