Celtics now 4-0 minus Rajon Rondo

Not even a late comeback by one of the NBA's best teams could keep host Boston from beating the Los Angeles Clippers 106-104, on Sunday and improve to 4-0 since a knee injury ended their star point guard's season.

"A lot of people say that we don't have a chance to go to the playoffs, we can't do this, we can't do that," starting guard Avery Bradley said. "We know we have each other and we're going to go out there and fight for each other, no matter what, every single night."

The Clippers played without their own brilliant point guard. Chris Paul missed his seventh straight game with a bruised kneecap.

But they cut a 98-83 deficit to 103-101 on a three-pointer by Eric Bledsoe with 56 seconds remaining. Then Bradley drew an offensive foul on Los Angeles' Jamal Crawford with 26 seconds to go.

Paul Pierce then held on to the ball - and was surprised that the Clippers didn't foul him - before making a three-pointer with 2.5 seconds left to clinch the win and finish with a team-high 22 points.

"If we get a stop there [with] 3 or 4 seconds to go, we've got plenty of time," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said of his decision not to foul. "If I was going to do it, I would have fouled Courtney Lee early right when he got the ball."

In other games:

* At Toronto, LeBron James scored 30 points, Chris Bosh had 28 against his former team and the Miami Heat beat the Raptors, 100-85, for their 10th straight win.

The victory ensured that coach Erik Spolestra will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars, as the Heat clinched the best record in the East through Feb. 3. Had Miami lost, New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson would have been in charge of the East's bench.

* At Auburn Hills, Mich., the Lakers' Pau Gasol had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and he contested Detroit's failed, last-second alley-oop from Kyle Singler to Andre Drummond to help Los Angeles hold on for a 98-97 win.

The Lakers blew an 18-point third-quarter lead but went back ahead for good on Kobe Bryant's driving three-point play with 1:09 remaining. That gave the Lakers a 98-95 lead, and they held on despite missing four free throws in the final 16.8 seconds, including two by Steve Nash (90.7 percent lifetime) with 2.7 seconds left.