PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia 76ers got tired of watching Paul Pierce make clutch shots.
Aaron McKie's jumper snapped a tie with 1:05 remaining and the 76ers chased the ball out of Pierce's hands down the stretch, holding on for an 87-85 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Pierce scored 33 points, including eight in a row that pulled Boston into an 83-83 tie with 1:29 to play. The All-Star swingman, who led all NBA players in fourth-quarter points last season, scored 13 in the final period.
"I wanted to come out there tonight and be aggressive and set the tone," said Pierce, who made 13-of-29 shots. "That's how I have to be for the rest of the year. I have to be out there and set the tone for the team and give us the confidence on both ends of the court so we can go out there and win on anybody's court."
McKie answered Pierce's flurry by beating the shot clock with a 20-footer that gave the Sixers the lead for good. On the next possession, Philadelphia forced a shot-clock violation with a perimeter double-team of Pierce, who had to give up the ball.
"The clock was running down," McKie said. "(Eric) Snow was penetrating, but they closed the middle. I circled, my man lost me, and I shot it as the clock ran down. It was a shot that I made when we really needed it."
Allen Iverson missed badly on a runner, and the Celtics again went to Pierce. With time running down, he tried to dribble into the lane but was harassed by McKie and Eric Snow and again had to pass.
"We knew they were going to go to Paul, so we wanted to make sure that we did not give him a clean look, try to make him put the ball on the ground and make somebody else hurt us," Snow said. "We were able to do that. He was trying to get a shot, but we were able to challenge the shot."
Walter McCarty's corner jumper bounced into the hands of Iverson, who sealed it with two free throws with 5.1 seconds to go.
Returning after a one-game absence due to a sore knee, Iverson scored 24 points on just 8-of-25 shooting but added eight assists for the Sixers (7-6), who are the only team in the Atlantic Division above .500.
Vin Baker scored 22 points for Boston, which wasted a 12-point first-half lead and lost for the fourth time in five games. The Celtics were outrebounded, 40-35, and outscored on the fast break, 22-3.
"We did not look like the same team from a flow standpoint in the second half," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said. "I don't have answers."
Iverson had a 3-pointer and jumper in an 8-0 burst early in the fourth quarter that gave Philadelphia a 73-68 lead. His coast-to-coast layup made it 83-75 with 3:33 to go before Pierce dunked and drilled consecutive 3-pointers from the left wing.
"Some of those plays we could have doubled him and got it out of his hands, but except for the dunk, they were still tough shots," Snow said.
"It's fun for basketball," Iverson said. "When something like that happens, I would hope that I'm home watching him do that to somebody else instead of doing that to us. You like it when you see it on TV. You don't like it when you see a guy doing that to your team."
