Rajon Rondo fell a point short of a triple double, putting up nine points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics past the Miami Heat, who were playing without star forward LeBron James, 101-96 at the T.D. Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday night .
Avery Bradley scored a game-high 23 points and Brandon Bass added 18.
James missed the game because of back spasms.
The Heat, who have played well with James out of the lineup this season, looked like they were going to cruise to victory without the four-time MVP in the early going. They raced out to a 34-22 lead by the end of the first quarter, but the Celtics closed the gap to six at the half. Bass gave them the lead with 4:28 to go in the third quarter. A Bradley three extended the gap to four.
The Celtics never trailed again, but the Heat did tie the game at 94 with 3:38 to play. Jeff Green responded with a three just a minute later and two buckets by Rondo iced the game.
Dwayne Wade had a game-high 17 points for the Heat.
The win improves the Celtics to 23-46 and the loss drops the Heat to 46-20.