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BOSTON, April 10 (Ticker) -- Antoine Walker helped the Boston Celtics confirm their playoff pedigree, while the Miami Heat confirmed they will miss the postseason for the first time in seven years.

Walker had 21 points, including four during a game-closing 13-3 run, and Paul Pierce added 15 as the Celtics rallied past the Heat, 70-65.

Walker nailed a 3-pointer with 2:36 left to knot the contest. Off a steal by Eric Williams, Walker made a driving hook shot to put Boston ahead for good, 64-62, with 1:41 to play as the Celtics won their first season series against the Heat in three years, 3-1.

"You have to be in timeouts to understand the leadership that they bring to this team," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said of Walker and Pierce. "How positive they are when things are seemingly against us. They are always very, very positive at the end of the game."

Boston had not won a season series from Miami since the 1998-99 campaign, when it took all three matchups. The Celtics also have defeated the Heat two previous times this season. The Heat took the prior meeting in Boston on January 4.

The Celtics also clinched home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs with Wednesday's win.

"That was won of our goals, to accomplish home court," Pierce said. "Now we've just got to try and solidify the third spot. We've got to win as many games as we can right now because you never know. If we win the first round and if a higher seed gets knocked off, then we can have home-court advantage for the rest of the playoffs."

Alonzo Mourning and Eddie Jones scored 16 points apiece for the Heat (34-44), who will not see postseason action for the first time since 1995.

"We put ourselves in this position a long time ago," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We had a dozen games like this tonight that we lost, games that we had control of -- four or five points."

An NBA coach for 20 seasons, Riley is not in charge of a playoff-bound team for the first time.

"Well, we all have our years so that's the way it goes," Riley said. "I would've loved to have been in there, it just wasn't meant to be. I carry on. There have been a lot better coaches than me who haven't made the playoffs, too. So, I'll deal with that."

Boston center Tony Battie sparked his team's game-closing spurt, putting home a dunk with 3:34 left to moved within three.

After Miami's Rod Strickland missed a pair of free throws, Pierce grabbed his team-high 12th rebound and fed Walker, who hit the game-tying 3-pointer.

Pierce also finished with five assists.

Williams' second steal came off a bad pass from Mourning. Walker's ensuing basket gave Boston a 64-62 edge and forced Miami to call a timeout.

"Coach O'Brien said at the shootaround that he wanted the perfect defensive game and guys responded," Walker said. "We gutted it out in a playoff-type atmosphere where the game was tough and tight, and we continued to fight all the way to the last three minutes until we could make a run at the end of the game."

The teams exchanged misses before Pierce's driving layup increased the lead to four with 49 seconds to play.

Strickland and Jones each missed a jumper before Miami finally got a basket from Kendall Gill, whose 3-pointer with 25 seconds to go to made it a one-point game.

Celtics point guard Kenny Anderson, who finished with 12 points and five assists, converted a pair of free throws to restore the three-point advantage.

After another Miami timeout, Jones missed another jump shot with just eight seconds remaining. He went just 6-of-20 from the floor.

"The personnel we had, the attitude, the committment to the organization -- all that compiled ... the bottom line is that we didn't get it done on the court," Mourning said. "Doing the thing you need to do on the court in order to pull out wins. If you don't do that, you come up short."

Williams' two shots from the line capped Boston's run with six seconds left.