BOSTON, March 18 (Ticker) -- Bonzi Wells led six players in double figures with 20 points as the Portland Trail Blazers notched their 15th victory in 16 games, a 100-91 triumph over the Boston Celtics.

After Damon Stoudamire hit a 3-pointer with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter, the Blazers held their biggest lead, 71-58.

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But Boston closed the quarter on a 16-6 run and tied the game, 77-77, on a 3-pointer by Paul Pierce to begin the fourth quarter.

Pierce had 12 of the Celtics' 19 points during the burst.

But Derek Anderson and Stoudamire hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Portland the lead for good. Boston got within 84-81 on a free throw by Rodney Rogers with 7:14 left, but Wells had a 3-pointer and a dunk and Scottie Pippen scored on a driving layup to give the Blazers a 91-81 advantage with 5:23 left.

After Boston climbed within 95-91 with 34 seconds left, Wells countered with a 3-pointer from the right corner.

"This is the NBA, and we knew they were going to make a run," said Pippen. But I think we're a little more poised team than we were here in the past. Where we would have probably broke down and panicked, we just stayed with what was working for us, and it gave us an opportunity to open the game up."

Rasheed Wallace scored 18 points for Portland, which began a four-game road trip. One game after having season highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds starting in place of Dale Davis, who was starting a two-game suspension for throwing a punch at Dallas' Shawn Bradley, Shawn Kemp had 12 and 11 against the Celtics.

"That is what you want," Wells said. "When you start a road trip you want to get a win. You don’t want to start on a sour note. We’re playing well right now but we're not content."

Anderson and Ruben Patterson each had 13 points of the bench for the Blazers, whose reserves outscored the Celtics' second unit, 30-17.

"RB, DA, RP (Rick Brunson, Anderson and Patterson) stepped in and really played some minutes," Portland coach Maurice Cheeks said. "Came in and did an excellent job in pushing the game up."

"We started helping each other," Anderson said. "They had some big guys in the post, and their guards post a lot more than normal. So we started getting help from our big guys. And just everybody started playing team defense. And it took away from what Paul and Antoine (Walker) do, which is individual. So we just helped each other out to get the win."

Pierce had 28 points and eight rebounds, Walker 19 and nine and Kenny Anderson 14, nine and nine assists for the Celtics, who have dropped consecutive games following a season-high seven-game winning streak.

"We haven’t been stopping teams like we have in the past," Walker said. "We just need to refocus our energy and become a tough defensive-minded team again."

Portland shot 47 percent (35-of-74) and made 11 3-pointers. Boston converted 44 percent but made just five shots from beyond the arc.

"They're a tough team," Pierce said. "They are playing well. They had high intensity in the first half of the game. We tried to pick it up late but that's not enough against a quality ballclub like this. You've got to do it with defense. That's something we have to go back to the basics."

Boston led, 29-28, after one quarter but Portland shot 56 percent (9-of-16) and limited the Celtics to 40 percent (8-of-20) in the second period to take a 58-49 lead at halftime.