Los Angeles  - Superman made an unexpected late appearance in Boston to rescue the reigning NBA Champions.

Paul Pierce poured in 22 of his 36 points in the final quarter, rallying the Celtics to a 94-87 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
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"I like to play within the flow of the offence," said Pierce, who was icing a sore right shooting hand afterwards. "We ran our stuff. I just got caught in situations where I had opportunities to score."

Teammate Kevin Garnett thought Pierce did a great job of playing a super hero.

"I love it when Superman goes in to the phone booth and changes," Garnett said. "I get to hear everything in the huddle. I have the best seat in the house and get to see it. Oh man."

Garnett had 21 points with 10 rebounds, while Ray Allen finished with 19 points for the Celtics (7-1), who trailed by 16 in the first half, but outscored their visitors 35-22 in the decisive fourth frame.

"We need to start better but when the fourth quarter came around everybody took the challenge," Garnett said. "Like they say, it's not how you start it's how you finish."

Pierce struggled, hitting just three-of-13 field goals through the first three quarters as the Celtics trailed 65-59. However, the NBA Finals MVP found his touch, connecting on seven-of-nine shots and six-of-seven free throws to engineer the come-from-behind win.

"I never get discouraged about what I'm doing out on the court," he said. "I'm just trying to help us win. I said to myself: take good shots and eventually they'll start falling."

Pierce scored 12 points, including two of his four three-pointers, and Eddie House drilled his own triple to cap an 18-8 run that put Boston on top 79-77 with 4:45 left.

With the score knotted at 84 apiece, Celtics centre Kendrick Perkins deflected Jermaine O'Neal's jumper and Pierce knocked down a jumper at the other end with 1:38, giving the Celtics an 86-84 advantage.

On the next play, O'Neal lost the ball out of bounds and Pierce drilled another jumper to make it a four-point game. He added a dazzling spinning, scoop layup with 34 seconds to go, that sent the TD BankNorth Garden crowd into a frenzy.

Allen and Pierce sank two free throws apiece around a three- pointer by Toronto's Anthony Parker to seal the victory.

"That's our leader, our superstar," Celtics back-up centre Leon Powe said of Pierce. "He was missing shots early, but eventually they're going to fall because he doesn't lose confidence."

O'Neal had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors (4-3) while Parker finished with 15 points.

Elsewhere:

Phoenix Suns 107, Memphis Grizzlies 102

Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa scored 16 of his 27 points in the final quarter, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 43.8 seconds remaining, and the Suns held off the visiting Grizzlies for the ninth straight time.

The Grizzlies erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit and went ahead 102-100 on Rudy Gay's dunk with 1:30 remaining before Barbosa delivered from behind the arc.

Suns Steve Nash sank two free throws to make it a three-point game, before OJ Mayo missed a game-tying three-pointer with 6.9 seconds left

Mayo scored led the Grizzlies (3-5) with 33 points and Gay added 20.

Portland Trail Blazers 106, Orlando Magic 99

Brandon Roy scored 27 points, Spanish rookie Rudy Fernandez added 16, including a pair of timely three-pointers in the pivotal fourth quarter, helping the Trail Blazers trim the Magic for their first road win of the season.

Portland (4-3) also received 20 points apiece from Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake.

Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu scored 35 points for host Orlando (4-3) while Dwight Howard finished with 29 points and a season-high 19 rebounds

Miami Heat 99, New Jersey Nets 94

Dwyane Wade erupted for 19 of his 33 points in the final quarter, and the Heat overcame a late 10-point deficit to clip the visiting Nets.

China's Yi Jianlian had 24 points with 10 rebounds, while Vince Carter netted 22 for New Jersey (2-4) which led 83-73 with 5:48 left.

Indana Pacers 107, Oklahoma City Thunder 99

TJ Ford scored seven of his 24 points in the final 74 seconds and handed out 10 assists, sparking the host Pacers (3-3) to their second straight win.

Kevin Durant had 37 points for Oklahoma City (1-6) which dropped its fourth in a row. (dpa)