Paul Pierce started strong and finished better for the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

The Truth scored 19 points, including 10 in the first quarter and seven late as the Celtics evened the NBA Finals at 2-2 with a 96-89 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 at TD Garden.

The Truth was aggressive all night, and it paid off (Getty Images).

No. 34 was the engine early and after Boston's bench seized the lead in the fourth quarter, Paul put the finishing touches on the win by dominating the final three minutes. But Paul wasn't about to pat himself on the back after the game.

"For one, it really isn’t about me," Paul said, opening his press conference by deflecting credit. "I wanted be aggressive but that wasn't the most important thing for us on the list 'getting Paul Pierce going'…today the story was all about our bench. I'm not going to take nothing away from them. They came out here and got the job done, starters were solid, but we couldn't pull away. The bench came in and got it done."

While the Celtics bench, which outscored LA's reserves 36-18, will get some well-deserved credit for the Game 4 victory, it was Paul who ignited the team in the opening moments, seemingly awakening a Celtics squad that had been in hibernation.

He did so by attacking. Rather than settling for jump shots, No. 34 drove the lane at will in the first quarter.

His first drive to the bucket came just 37 seconds into the first and drew a foul on Andrew Bynum that sent Paul to the line where he sank 1 of 2. Even though the play gave the Celtics only a single point on the scoreboard, it also showed Boston something they could expose.

"Doc just told me to be aggressive at the start of the game, put me in a couple of pick and rolls early to try to get to the lane, be aggressive and that's about it," The Truth said. "I knew once I got in the pick and roll with the big men, I had an advantage and I just tried to take advantage of it."

ROLL WITH ME
The Pick and Roll quickly became the catalyst to the Celtics offense in the first quarter.

Paul used another pick and roll to drop in his first bucket of the night less than a minute later, following a Ray Allen layup to give Boston a 5-2 lead.

"The guys were setting great picks between Perk and Kevin," Paul said. "I was cutting off the ball, I think that was big and the guys just got me open."

After Pau Gasol scored on two consecutive trips to give the Lakers the lead, Paul attacked the interior again, taking a seamless pass from Rajon Rondo to the hole for two more as Boston took a 7-6 lead.

"Coach gave me a few calls there. A lot of times, in this series, we ran a lot of plays through Kevin and Rondo, high pick and roll," No. 34 said. "We hadn't run a lot of pick and rolls with me in it. But coach said today we were going to do more with me in the pick and roll, have me slashing toward the basket. I don't complain about the way the offense is going and what we've been able to accomplish. At the end of the day it's about winning games."

With Paul's help, the Celtics went to work on making that happen. Following a Lakers miss, Allen grabbed a long rebound and heaved an outlet pass to Garnett at the other end of the court. Garnett faked a post move on his defender and saw The Truth streaking toward the paint. So KG delivered a pinpoint, behind the back, bounce pass to Paul for the layup to give the Celtics a 9-6 lead as the TD Garden crowd erupted.

LA fought back to take the lead but Paul twice tied it back up, first with a 1 for 2 trip to the free throw line to make it 12-12. He knotted it again after a Ron Artest bucket. On the other end, No. 34 made Artest look foolish on a shot fake to set up a step-back jumper tying the game at 14 with 3:35 left in the quarter.

At that point Paul had 10 of Boston's 14 points and the Celtics finished the quarter ahead by three, 19-16. To go along with his 10 first quarter points, The Truth dished out a pair of assists and grabbed four rebounds.

"He was aggressive and we did a better job of going to him," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "On the first play of the game, we set it up to go to and him and he got fouled. You could see then that he was aggressive and he was going to drive tonight.

"I thought he drove tonight and that's one thing, I even talked about it after the last game, I told him 'There are some great driving lanes for you. You have to take them.' He did that. We can't forget he is our best scorer and I think we do at times, so I have to do a better job there and everyone does."

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM
After his first quarter outburst, Paul scored just one bucket between the second and third quarters and only got two shots.

The lack of opportunities for No. 34 in the middle of the game is something Rivers said he regrets, even after his team won the game.

"I was kicking myself in the third quarter," Rivers said. "I thought we went away from him a little too much. I thought we oppressed him a little too much. There was a lot of dribbling and everyone that was struggling was trying to get it going themselves and I kept reminding them that Paul had it going, let's try and get it back to him. I didn't want to burn a timeout then, but if I could rethink it, I probably would have because we went away from Paul for too long. He had it going."

Though The Truth didn't get many looks, he didn't complain. The Celtics trailed by three after two and as much as eight in the third. But they cut the Laker lead down to two by the end of the third. To start the fourth, the bench came in and, for the first nine minutes of the final period, brought sustained energy, stole the lead and pushed it all the way up to 11.

"The bench came in and they got the job done tonight. It was fun to be on the sideline in the fourth quarter," Paul said. "To start the fourth, Doc was like 'One minute and I'm putting you in the game. You're not sitting too long, so just be ready.' Then you look up, we tie the game, then go up two or three, then they pushed the lead to seven.

"I didn't get in the game until three minutes because the bench went out there, between Baby, Nate, TA with the great defense, Rasheed and then Ray out there as a starter to settle them all down. It was beautiful to watch, just being a cheerleader on the sideline."

But when the Lakers began a comeback, Rivers went back to his starters.

THE CLOSER
Though he could have been cold after not taking a shot in the third and sitting out for more than nine minutes in the fourth, Paul, instead, brought the house down.

On the Celtics' very first possession after his return, No. 34 took control. Off a Ray Allen miss, Kevin Garnett grabbed an offensive board an outleted to Paul at the top of the key to reset the play.

After dribbling the clock down, The Truth cut toward the paint. Taking a pick from Garnett, he faked a drive then took his patented step right and buried a Pull up jumper from just outside the key to give the Celtics an 87-69 lead. The key, Paul said after the game, was going back to the pick and roll and his teammates encouraging him to finish what he started.

"When I came in the game, [Rondo} said he was just going to give me the ball and we were going to go pick and roll," The Truth said. "Coach said also we were going to pick and roll with Kevin and myself. Those guys just [told me] attack. Be aggressive. Don't look to pass. I think when I'm passive a lot I turn the ball over or things don't go my way. But when I play on my instincts and attack, be aggressive, I'm a much better player."

After Kobe Bryant sank a jumper of his own to trim the Boston lead back down to six, No. 34 went on the attack. The play once again started with Paul at the top of the key, but this time, The Truth drove left on Artest. He used his speed to get around Artest and Pau Gasol, setting up a one-on-one at the bucket with Bryant.

Paul drove hard and as contact was made, he flipped the rock up and in for the layup and drew the foul on Bryant. The Truth sank the subsequent free throw and two more in the final seconds to earn the save in Boston's Game 4 victory.

"We like the way the game was played today, real physical, real grind it out type of game," Paul said. "Both teams in the 80's pretty much. That's the type of game we like. We don't really want to get into a scoring duel with the Lakers when they're trying to go out here and score 120 points. When the game is in the 80's and 70's, that means that both teams are in the halfcourt playing tough, grind it out defense. We were able to do that for the most part."

To watch Paul talk more about Boston's Game 4 win in his post game press conference, click here.

NEXT UP
The attention now turns, for both squads, to a pivotal Game 5 in Boston on Sunday night. The winner will take a 3-2 lead and be looking to close out when the series shifts back to LA next week. The loser will face the unenviable proposition of two do-or-die games in a row.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers tips off at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday from the TD Garden and all the action can be seen on ABC.

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