Pierce scored eight of his 26 points in overtime and Antoine Walker added 17 and 15 rebounds as the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to six games with a 109-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Pierce has been making a habit of taking over late in games. He scored 46 points in the second half of last Saturday's win at New Jersey and exploded for 21 in the third quarter against Denver on Wednesday.
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However, the Suns could not score in the final 3:07 of regulation and Boston wound up with the final possession. Pierce missed a potential game-tying shot with time winding down, but Walker tipped in the rebound to send the game into overtime.
"I knew the buzzer was about to go off," Walker said. "I just tapped it right back, a real quick tap. I just said, `Let me go underneath and try to get a tip in the end,' because I knew (Pierce) was going to hold it until the end. So it worked in our favor."
"It took the heat off of me," Pierce said. "Antoine was big. That's a lot of toughness right there to go in, mix up the defense with a second on the line, and get the tip-in for the game. From there it just carried into overtime. He just took a lot of weight off my shoulders."
Rodney Rogers opened the extra session with a baseline jumper to give Phoenix a 94-92 lead, but Walker tied it with a layup and Pierce sank a pair of free throws to give Boston the lead for good with 3:47 left.
"(Walker and Pierce) tend to do that," Boston coach Jim O'Brien said. "We rely on them to step up when the game's on the line. Not too many times in my tenure have they disappointed us."
Pierce drove through three defenders for a two-handed dunk 59 seconds later and followed with a 3-pointer as Boston put together a 14-1 run and secured its first six-game winning streak since January 23-February 4 of last season.
"No matter how far down we are or no matter how much we look up at that scoreboard, we've got that mental toughness," Pierce said. "That's what you need. You can't be out there and be soft and be laid back team."
The Suns made just 4-of-15 shots in overtime and have lost two straight on the heels of a season-high five-game winning streak.
Eric Williams tied a season high with 17 points off the bench and Tony Battie added a season-high 14 for Boston. Milt Palacio had 12 points and a career-high five steals.
"Eric stepped up and Milt stepped up and played big minutes for us tonight," Walker said. "We're getting contributions from different guys so me and Paul know we don't have to be there every night scoring. We just have to continue to do other things on the floor."
Stephon Marbury had 24 points and 13 assists and Tony Delk added 20 points off the bench for Phoenix. Shawn Marion collected 17 points and 13 rebounds and Rogers finished with 17.
The Suns' bench scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to fuel a rally. Boston had an 85-79 lead with 6:19 to go after a 3-pointer by Kenny Anderson, but Delk responded with a 3-pointer to halve the deficit.
Marion followed with a pair of free throws and Rogers gave Phoenix an 86-85 lead on long jumper with 4:50 left. Pierce made 1-of-2 free throws before Hardaway made a driving layup to make it 88-86 at the 4:20 mark.
Battie tied it with free throws, but Rogers sank another jumper and Marion added a layup to give the Suns a 92-88 advantage with 2:50 remaining.
Phoenix would not score again until overtime and Pierce cut the deficit in half on a pair of free throws with 2:50 left. Neither team scored until Walker's tip at the buzzer.
"We had a small lineup out there down the stretch," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "I thought that was helping us down the stretch offensively. It was a big tip-in obviously, but one play never makes a game."