BOSTONEvery now and then, Paul Pierce reminds us all why he's considered a professional scorer.
It took him just 12 minutes to drop 20 points on the Brooklyn Nets.
Even with a big scoring game from Pierce and the Nets playing without their big Three - Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson - the C's still couldn't put Brooklyn away as the Nets rallied in the closing minutes for a 97-96 win.
Brooklyn closed out the game by scoring seven of the game's last eight points for the win as the C's had their core guys on the bench while most of their end-of-the-bench players saw some mop-up duty.
Boston (1-4) had multiple chances to squeak out a victory in a game that they controlled for most of the night, but continued to come up short.
With 27 seconds to play, the C's had the ball and trailed 96-95.
Following a time-out, Jason Collins was fouled with 23.8 seconds to play.
Boston Celtics
Collins made the first free throw, but missed the second which was rebounded by the Nets with 22.9 seconds to play and the score tied at 96.
Brooklyn's Stephen Dennis was fouled going to the basket with five seconds to play.
He missed both free throws, but Nets big man Mirza Teletovic grabbed the rebounded and was immediately fouled by Rob Kurz.
Teletovic made the first of two free throws as the C's grabbed the loose ball and called a time-out with 3.6 seconds to play.
Following the time-out, Courtney Lee's lob attempt to Micah Downs failed as the ball sailed out of bounds with 1.3 seconds to play.
The C's had one last shot to steal back the game, but Kris Joseph's desperation heave was well off the mark as time expired.
Boston opened the with a 9-2 run, but soon saw their lead - and control of the game - swing in Brooklyn's favor as the Nets outscored them 23-12 to end the first with a 25-21 lead.
The second quarter was one in which the C's played from behind most of the quarter, but a barrage of jumpers by Paul Pierce brought the Celtics back and eventually propelled them to a 49-47 lead at the half.
Pierce's hot hand didn't cool off in the third quarter as Boston pushed its lead to double digits before settling on an 83-74 lead going into the fourth quarter.
He led all scorers with 29 points that came in just 27 minutes of action.
In addition to Pierce, Boston also got a nice scoring lift from Courtney Lee who has had his problems shooting the ball throughout the preseason. He finished with 13 points, five of which came in the third.
Orchestrating all this hot shooting for the C's was Rajon Rondo, who was having a very Rondo-like night in putting up numbers in several categories. Although he scored just five points, he also grabbed five rebounds and dished out a game-high 11 assists.
Boston's strong play in the third came with head coach Doc Rivers back in the locker room where he was presumably watching the game on TV, or he may have done a little channel surfing and checked out the second presidential debate.
Regardless, the Celtics once again showcased how diverse they can be with their lineup.
But with Kevin Garnett back on the floor (Rivers gave him the night off on Monday because of Boston's back-to-back games), the Celtics had an edge about them that only Garnett and his presence can provide.
So when you take strong play defensively and add Pierce knocking down open and contested shots, the Celtics are a tough team to beat - preseason or not.