AP Photo
Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce (34) shoots as Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol (16) of Spain defends in the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball finals, Thursday, in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Beating the team he grew up idolising, Paul Pierce celebrated leading Boston back from a 24-point deficit to a 97-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the NBA finals on Thursday night.

"It's a dream if I can come out here and win on Sunday," said Pierce, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, when the Celtics erased most of the deficit. "It's definitely a great win, one that you're going to put up there in the library and break back out one day for your kids to watch. But I want nothing more than that ring right now and I'm not going to get overexcited."

"We said coming out of the third quarter that regardless of what the score is, we're not going to look. We're just going to go out and play and compete," Pierce said. "We just went out there and played as hard as we could and we believed and we stuck together and were able to pull off this win. Incredible."

The Celtics captain also proved his worth on defence, asking to guard Lakers star Kobe Bryant and holding him to 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

No team had ever overcome a first-quarter deficit of more than 15 points in the NBA finals and won.