Paul Pierce scored a playoff-high 22 points and Ray Allen hit three three-pointers in the middle of the third quarter last night to turn back the Hawks' last charge and lead Boston to a hard-fought 110-85 victory over Atlanta that gave the Celtics a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Kevin Garnett scored 20 and Allen 19 to put the Celtics one game away from advancing to the second round. Boston got a huge lift from its bench in the second quarter, when Sam Cassell scored nine points and Leon Powe had seven with five rebounds while holding Al Horford to a pair of baskets.

Joe Johnson, who erupted for 35 points in Game 4 - 20 of them in the fourth quarter - scored 21, and Horford had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta. Mike Bibby continued to struggle in Boston, scoring six while recording one assist for the third straight road game.

The first five games have all gone to the home team, with Game 6 in Atlanta tomorrow night. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played in Boston on Sunday, an advantage the Celtics earned with their NBA-best 66-16 record in the regular season.

Pierce, fined $25,000 for what the NBA called a "menacing gesture" during Game 3, denied that the sign was gang-related.

Wizards 88, Cavaliers 87

CLEVELAND - Caron Butler made a layup with 3.9 seconds left, and the Wizards held their breath as LeBron James missed a potential series-ending layup at the horn, giving Washington a victory over Cleveland and adding at least one more game to this overheated NBA playoff series.

After Butler scored on a drive past James, the Cavs had one more chance, but their superstar could not get a banked runner to drop, and the Wizards headed home for Game 6 tomorrow night down, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series.

Butler scored 32 points and DeShawn Stevenson 17 for the Wizards, who played without guard Gilbert Arenas. Agent Zero announced before the game that his season was over because of a bothersome knee.

Arenas' absence figured to be the decisive blow for the Wizards, but they fought to the finish and, at least for now, prevented the Cavs from ending their season for the third straight year.

James scored 34 points - 24 in the second half - but could not make a final shot in traffic that would have sent the Wizards, who began talking trash weeks ago and have not stopped, quietly into the summer. The Cavaliers led, 87-82, with 1:47 left, but Washington scored the final six points to end a five-game playoff losing streak in Cleveland.

Mavs fire Johnson. Dallas fired coach Avery Johnson yesterday, the first of what is likely to be many off-season moves after the team with the league's highest payroll again flopped in the first round of the playoffs.