BOSTON (Ticker) -- After helping build a big lead, Paul Pierce wasn't going to let it slip away.
Pierce scored 17 of his 36 points in a huge second quarter as the Boston Celtics rolled to their season-high third straight win, a 126-112 victory over the slumping Seattle SuperSonics.
After a slow start, Pierce caught fire late in the first period and carried it into the second quarter, when he matched the total of the entire Seattle team. He made eight straight shots during one stretch and scored 13 straight Boston points to push the lead to 56-33 with 3:21 left.
"I was just trying to stay aggressive," said Pierce, who made 13-of-23 shots and also pulled down 14 rebounds. "I know I missed my first six or seven shots, but I didn't worry about that. Eventually, they fell in."
Pierce went to the bench as the Celtics took a 99-68 lead into the fourth quarter before the SuperSonics went on a 25-4 spree in less than five minutes, bringing a hush over the FleetCenter crowd.
The rally brought back memories of Friday's home loss to Phoenix in which Boston blew a 29-point second-half lead.
Celtics coach Jim O'Brien brought back Pierce, who immediately drained two jumpers and found Mike James for a 3-pointer, rebuilding the lead to 110-93 with 4:37 remaining.
"I would've rather played the fourth without Pierce," O'Brien said. "I would like the guys that were in early in the fourth quarter to close out the game. But they were unable to do it, so I had to put him in. When it got down to 15 points, I went with guys who are used to playing at the end of the game."
"Phoenix was one of the most disappointing losses and we didn't want that to happen again," Pierce said. "We kept our composure, we passed the ball and we knocked down shots at the end and put them away."
James scored a career-high 24 points for the Celtics, who shot 58 percent (45-of-78) from the field and posted a season high total. They reached triple figures for the fourth straight game after doing it just once in their first 18 contests.
"It's good to put together three good wins in a row where we did some great things in every game," O'Brien said. "I thought our offense was terrific tonight - ball movement, 25 assists and really did a great job of attacking them."
"If we are going to win a lot of games, it's gotta come not only from me but from a lot of guys," Pierce said.
Ansu Sesay scored a career-high 19 points off the bench for the Sonics, who trailed by 30-plus points for the second time in as many nights. They have lost four straight games overall and five in a row at Boston.
"We never got a rhythm defensively," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "The first three quarters, we gave up over 30 shots a quarter, and when you give up 30 shots a quarter, it's going to be hard to beat any team defensively."
Seattle (9-10) fell under .500 for the first time this season.
Second in the NBA at 3-point shooting at 39 percent, the Sonics made five 3-pointers in the first quarter and trailed just 30-25. But they missed their first 10 shots of the second period.
James scored 12 points in the third quarter, when Boston led by as much as 33 points. O'Brien sat down the starters shortly thereafter.
"We were up 30 points and the coaching staff sat me down and started looking at other things, like risking injury when you are up so much," Pierce said. "But that's naturally what coach is going to do."
Jiri Welsch scored 17 points for Boston. Rookie Richie Frahm tallied 14 off the bench for Seattle, which made 17-of-41 3-pointers.
