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NBA: Boston 102, Orlando 98

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Published: April 18, 2012 at 11:44 PM

BOSTON, April 18 (UPI) -- Paul Pierce scored four of his 29 points in the final 8 seconds Wednesday, boosting Boston to the Atlantic Division title with a 102-98 win over Orlando.

The Celtics won a division crown for the 30th time in franchise history, fighting off the Magic thanks in large part to 14 assists from Pierce.

Orlando rallied from a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit to climb within two on a dunk by Glen Davis with 32 seconds to go. Pierce then hit a jumper at the end of the shot clock and, after Jameer Nelson again brought the Magic within two, Pierce hit two free throws with 3 seconds left to clinch it.

Avery Bradley added 23 points for the Celtics and Brandon Bass had 21.

Rajon Rondo, who has had at least 10 assists in 23 straight games, missed the contest with a sore back. That streak of 10 assist games is the NBA's longest in 20 years.

Davis scored 27 for the Magic and Nelson had 21. Orlando slipped a game behind Atlanta into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Topics: Paul Pierce, Avery Bradley, Brandon Bass
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