Minneapolis ? The Minnesota Timberwolves couldn’t find an answer to Paul Pierce.

Pierce scored 31 points as the Boston Celtics held off a fourth quarter rally and beat the Timberwolves 93-90.

“I’m just a player that goes out hard every night,” Pierce said. “The Wolves kind of beat me up at home this year. They played me real tough and physical and I really couldn’t get off. I wanted to make the extra effort to come out here and play well tonight.”

The Celtics still have a chance to secure homecourt advantage through the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Boston needs to win its last game at Atlanta, and Detroit must lose its remaining games against New Jersey and Milwaukee.

Regardless of the outcome, the Celtics like their chances.

“We just want to take advantage of the opportunity in front of us,” Tony Battie said. “We’re capable of doing whatever we want to do if we put our mind to it and play the type of basketball we played tonight.”

After trailing for most of the game, Minnesota took advantage of Boston’s cold fourth quarter shooting and used a 19-8 run over the last eight minutes to pull within 91-90.

But Wally Szczerbiak, who had been 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, missed both attempts after being fouled by Rodney Rodgers with 31.2 seconds remaining.

“I thought those two were in,” Szczerbiak said. “I certainly will see them in my sleep tonight.”

The Wolves got one more chance after getting the rebound off Szczerbiak’s second miss. But Kevin Garnett, who shot 8-for-23 from the floor, missed his shot after faking Battie into the air.

Bulls 98, 76ers 96

Philadelphia Jalen Rose scored 32 points, including two foul shots with two seconds remaining, leading Chicago over Philadelphia.

Lakers 111, Sonics 104

Los Angeles Shaquille O’Neal had 41 points and 11 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant scored 15 of his 19 points in the decisive third quarter as the Lakers beat Seattle.