Boston ? Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers climbed out of another hole, just as they’ve done all season.

Now they have home-court advantage in their playoff series with the Boston Celtics.

Miller scored 28 points, and the Pacers beat the Celtics, 82-79, Monday night two days after he had just seven points in a 102-82 loss in the opener of their playoff series.

“After what happened in Game 1, we all knew he would come back in a big way,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after they tied the series at 1. “He is the guy you want on your team this time of year. We’ll keep riding him as long as we can.”

The best-of-seven series shifts Thursday to Indiana for Game 3.

Miller plans to retire after the season, but still had a big shot left in his 39-year-old body. He sank a running jump shot with 37 seconds to go from 17 feet for the game’s final points after deciding to forgo a three-point attempt when he saw Ricky Davis running at him.

He dribbled and “got by him a couple of steps and just pulled up,” Miller said.

Simple as that for a veteran who has seen just about every defensive approach in his 18 NBA seasons.

But he said he was not more emotional because this was his last season.

“Not at all. I’m locked into a great playoff series,” he said. “I’m very encouraged how we played, for the most part.”

Boston's Paul Pierce dribbles past a fallen Jermaine O'Neal. Pierce led the Celtics with 33 points, but they fell to the Pacers, 82-79, Monday in Boston.

That was no surprise to the Celtics.

“We knew the Pacers were going to come out with a better effort,” said Paul Pierce, who led Boston with 33 points. “Reggie did a great job carrying this team.”

Miller hit nine of 18 shots after going 1-for-7 in the opener. The Pacers have needed him because of all the key players they lost for long stretches.

After the melee Nov. 19 at Detroit when several of them went into the stands, Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season and the playoffs, Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games and Jermaine O’Neal for 15.

Then, O’Neal missed 22 games because of a sprained right shoulder before returning with just three games left. But he said he didn’t expect to make his usual offensive contributions for the rest of the playoffs.

And starting point guard Jamaal Tinsley still is sidelined after missing the last 29 regular-season games because of a bruised left foot.

Still, the team that made it to last year’s Eastern Conference finals, where it lost to Detroit, managed to get the No. 6 seed in this year’s playoffs.

“The fourth quarter was kind of how our season’s gone, playing through adversity, going through ups and downs,” said Jackson, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the first quarter. “Any adversity we go through is nothing to us now.”