INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Ron Artest had 23 points, five steals and a late stop on Paul Pierce to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 99-98 victory Saturday night over the Boston Celtics.

Pierce hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to pull the Celtics within a points after they trailed by as many as 13.

A Pacers shot-clock violation turned the ball over to Boston one possession later. The Celtics tried to set up a play for Pierce in the halfcourt after a timeout, but Artest’s suffocating defense forced Walter McCarty into a bad pass and prevented Pierce from getting in position for a catch and shoot.

Pierce finished with 24 points after picking up three fouls in the first half. Ricky Davis added 21 on 9-of-14 shooting for the Celtics (22-27), 0-3 since John Carroll took over as interim coach Jan. 27.

Al Harrington had 27 points and eight rebounds for the Eastern Conference-leading Pacers (35-13), who went without scoring leader Jermaine O’Neal for much of the game.

He left in the second quarter what team officials described as a neck strain.

The All-Star forward appeared to grab his right shoulder after blocking a shot from the Davis with 5:47 left.

The play gave O’Neal 700 blocks for his career, making him only the fourth Pacer to reach the milestone.

Indiana opened the game on 72-percent shooting and briefly flirted with the team record for most points in a quarter. They finished with 43 – two short of the record established against San Antonio on Jan. 2, 1991.

Boston, which trailed 59-53 at halftime, went on a 6-0 run in the third quarter capped by McCarty’s 3-pointer to pull a tie at 66-all with 5:22 to go.

Notes: The Pacers activated Kenny Anderson, on the injured list since Dec. 24 with a sprained right calf. Jamison Brewer was placed on the injured list Saturday with a sprained right big toe.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Brewer’s injury happened in Friday’s practice. … Czech native Jiri Welsch was a teammate of Pacers center Primoz Brezec on the Olimpija Ljubljana team in the Slovenian League.

AP-ES-01-31-04 2307EST