Back to Boston they go.

Despite another stellar start from Paul Pierce, who scored 16 first half points, the Boston Celtics couldn't finish off the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, falling 113-92 in Amway Arena on Wednesday night.

That shifts the series back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday. Though disappointed by the back-to-back losses, Paul believes the opportunity to clinch at home is something the Celtics have earned.

"We have to get a game. We obviously don't want to come back here [to Orlando]," The Truth said regarding a potential Game 7 in Orlando on Sunday. "We want to take advantage of the wins that we got here in our first two games and that's having a closeout game once again on our floor. It doesn't feel good to lose two in a row, obviously there are some things we need to clean up. But I just hope we can take care of business come Friday."

Paul took care of his business on the offensive end in the first half, going a perfect 8-8 from the line and also draining a couple of long-range bombs.

After cracking the scoreboard at the free throw line to extend a 3-0 Boston lead to 5-0, Paul answered a 6-0, lead-stealing, Orlando run with a three to give the Celtics an 8-6 lead. After the teams traded the lead for several minutes, The Truth answered the bell again with 4:54 to go in the first when he buried a pull-up jumper to make it 16-15 Boston. He added a second three, just over a minute later, to give the Cs a 19-17 lead.

But that was the last scoring Paul would do from the field and Orlando went on a 34-20 run to take a commanding lead before Paul scored again, from the charity stripe with 3:20 left in the half. He added four more free throws before the break to amass 16 points.

No. 34 finished with 18 points and a final tally of 10-for-10 from the free throw line, along with three rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal in 42 minutes of action.

LIVE BY THE THREE
The game turned on Orlando's three-point shooting as the Magic went 9-15 from beyond the arc in the first half and 13-25 for the game.

Paul knows why it happened and what he and his teammates need to do to step up and stop it in Game 6.

"We gave shooting space to the shooters and that is something we know not to do," No. 34 said. "We know they're going to shoot open threes, we know they're going to shoot challenged threes. But we have to make them put it on the ground. We have to know that they're still going to shoot it, but we have to get in their face and make them put the ball on the ground."

But Paul also gave credit to Orlando for their energy, which was boosted by their success from deep.

"They came out with great energy and great focus. Right from the start we opened up their three-point game," he said. "We were very concerned about Jameer Nelson's penetration, but they made the extra passes all night long. They had nine threes in the first half. Foul trouble really hurt us tonight and losing Perk hurt also. They played well. Hats off to them."

Perk is Kendrick Perkins, who was ejected in the second quarter after picking up two technical fouls. Those two made seven for the postseason for Perkins, which would have resulted in a Game 6 suspension, but one of the Wednesday technicals was rescinded by the NBA early on Thursday and Perkins will be eligible to play on Friday for Boston.

But Paul wouldn't use Perk's ejection as an excuse either:

"That's not the reason we lost. It's a combination of things. Not having him obviously hurt. So did giving up those three-pointers. Their offense came in and played really well. We allowed them to shoot the ball really well. When you look up, they had 31 points in the first quarter, then we come in at halftime and they'd shot 50 percent. That's not a good sign for our ballclub. We know the signs when we're playing well. They just fed off of that. We cut it to 10, 9, 8, but just never got over that hump and they pushed the lead up."

BUMPS AND BRUISES
Game 5 was an intense game that was full of hard fouls on both sides, as the Boston Globe described:

"The hits keep coming for Celtics Paul Pierce. The latest came with 7:30 left in the third quarter in last night’s loss to the Magic in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. Pierce took a hard foul from Magic center Dwight Howard and remained on the floor for almost a minute, clutching his left shoulder."

But Paul didn’t have any harsh words for Howard afterward, saying that it was all a part of postseason basketball:

"I think that’s just playoff basketball," said Pierce. "Both teams are getting hard fouls. That’s just part of the game. You’ve got to expect it."

Game 5 is now in the rear view mirror and the Captain remains optimistic. The Celtics are focused on finishing it Friday:

"It is what it is," Paul said. "We're not a team that's going to look around and say, 'Woe is me.' We've got a job to take care of. Our goal is to win one more game and end this series, regardless of who we put out there."

With Glen Davis and Marquis Daniels both suffering concussions and Rasheed Wallace fighting off back spasms, it might be a makeshift bench for Game 6. But Paul said that doesn't matter either.

"That means guys just have to come together," the Truth noted. "One guy goes down, or two guys go down, it's got to come from everybody. We've just got to be ready to step up. We've been in situations where we've had guys down throughout the course of the year and we played without certain players. We know how to play. The goal is to win another game at home."

NEXT UP
History is still on the side of the Cs. In 93 instances when a team has taken a 3-0 series lead, Orlando is just the 10th to ever force a sixth game.

Paul and the Cs will try to close the series against the Magic in Game 6 at the TD Garden on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST and the game can be seen on ESPN.

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