CAVALIERS Paul Pierce scores 41 in Celtics win

He also stole the ball from LeBron James with the outcome still in doubt.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- One on one when it counted most, Paul Pierce stopped LeBron James cold.
Pierce scored a season-high 41 points and stole the ball from James in the closing seconds to help the Boston Celtics win their fifth straight game, 105-98 over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
James scored a season-high 37, but Cleveland's rookie star missed a 3-pointer in the last two minutes and was stripped by Pierce with 13.9 seconds to go and the Cavs down by four.
"He had it going all night," Pierce said. "So I wanted to challenge him. It was me and him, and I had the opportunity at the crucial moment in the game."
Boston has won 12 in a row over Cleveland.
Pierce, who scored 33 points in a win over Toronto on Friday night, added nine rebounds and six assists -- his biggest a feed to a wide-open Jiri Welsch, whose 3-pointer from the corner with 1:19 remaining made it 100-94.
"We were concentrating on Paul, Jiri hadn't made a shot all night," James said. "He's a great shooter. He was bound to make one."
Down the stretch
After Carlos Boozer made two free throws for Cleveland, James, who earlier this season became the youngest player in NBA history to score 30 points, scored on a drive to make it 100-98.
A pair of free throws put the Celtics back up by four, and on Cleveland's next possession, Pierce swiped the ball from James and was fouled with 12.5 seconds left.
"He got me," James said. "I was trying to go around him, but with his long arms, he just picked me."
Boston coach Jim O'Brien said Pierce asked to guard James down the stretch."
"Paul wanted to play LeBron, and we let him do it," O'Brien said. "We generally try not to have Paul on their top scorer until late, and that's when we're willing to expend the energy of Paul Pierce -- when the game is on the line."
Pierce, who went 16-of-18 from the foul line, made one of two free throws and Boozer and James missed shots for Cleveland in the final 10 seconds as the Cavaliers lost for the eighth time in 11 games.
Praise for James
Afterward, Pierce, who refused to leave in the final few minutes with a calf injury, had high praise for James.
"He's a spectacular rookie," Pierce said. "I've never seen anything like him in my six years."
Vin Baker added 16 points and Mike James had 13 and nine assists for the Celtics, who were outrebounded 50-32 but grabbed five offensive boards in the final five minutes.
Darius Miles had 24 points, and Boozer added 17 and 15 rebounds for Cleveland, which couldn't find a way to stop -- or even slow down -- Pierce.
"It seemed like every time he got the ball, he was either at the free-throw line of making a tough shot," Boozer said. "The guys that guarded him did a heck of a job, and every shot he took was a tough shot. He's a great player and he made great shots."
For the second straight game, James drove to the basket without hesitation. He went 16-of-18 from the line -- both team highs this season -- and had just two turnovers in 45 minutes.
"He's figuring it out," Cavs coach Paul Silas said. "He's attacking the hoop, making the contact and knocking down his free throws. Before, he wasn't that comfortable going to the line. He put on a good show tonight."
Pierce's 15 points in the third enabled the Celtics to take a 84-76 lead into the fourth.
Miles scored seven straight points to bring the Cavs within 69-66, but Pierce, using every move in his repertoire, scored 13 in the final 4:58 of the period.
Although they rarely matched up against each other early on, Pierce and James waged a little one-on-one scoring battle, getting 20 points apiece in the first half as the Celtics took a 59-48 halftime lead.