Boston, MA -- (Sports Network) - Paul Pierce scored 29 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and hit some clutch free throws down the stretch as the Boston Celtics rebounded from an early 14-point deficit to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-89, and move within one win of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals.

Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and raked in 16 rebounds for the Celtics, who won again at home and lead this conference semifinal series three games to two. Game 6 is slated for Friday in Cleveland.

Rajon Rondo had 20 points and 13 assists for Boston, which has yet to win on the road in the postseason, but has won seven straight at home, where it was 35-6 during the regular season.

LeBron James scored 35 points on 12-of-25 shooting, but only had two points in the third quarter when the Celtics took control. Delonte West added 21 points for the Cavs, who shot a miserable 3-of-16 from behind the arc (18.8 percent) and 28-of-41 from the free-throw line (68.3 percent).

Boston, which whittled a 14-point deficit in the second quarter down to three by halftime, took that momentum into the third quarter and pulled away. The Celtics took their first lead of the game on a Rondo layup that pushed them ahead 48-46 with 10:52 left in the third.

The Cavs briefly regained the lead, and the game was tied at 55-55 before Pierce drained a three at the 5:28 mark, setting off a 14-3 Boston push. Pierce closed the run with a vicious dunk, bringing the crowd to its feet and giving Boston a 69-58 lead with 1:46 remaining in the quarter.

James, meanwhile, all but disappeared after exploding for 23 points in the first half. He didn't score his first second-half point until a jumper with 44 seconds left in the third quarter that cut the deficit to 71-61, and the Celtics outscored the Cavs 29-17 in the quarter, and took a 72-63 lead into the final 12 minutes.

"Defensively they turned up the pressure. They got into the passing lanes. We had some unforced turnovers," said James. "They got to a lead. Can't get outscored by 12 on the road and turn the ball over like we did in the third quarter. As a team we didn't turn the ball over a lot, but when we did they made us pay for it."

The Celtics seemingly tried to give the game away late in the fourth quarter, but missed free throws and missed opportunities doomed the Cavs.

A James Posey turnover gave West an easy layup, cutting the Boston lead to 88-82 with 1:56 left, then Pierce missed a point-blank layup. Wally Szczerbiak had a chance to make things really interesting, but his wide-open three from the wing banged hard off the iron.

James drew a foul with 55 seconds left and Cleveland trailing by seven, but missed the front end. His make on the second free throw pulled Cleveland within 91-85, then Ray Allen lost his dribble, another turnover corralled by West, who was fouled.

His free throws made it a 91-87 game with 45.5 seconds left, and the Cavs locked down on the defensive end, forcing a long Garnett jumper that missed. Cleveland couldn't come up with the rebound, though, and Allen tipped it back to Pierce, who took the foul and sank two at the line with 15.6 ticks left to push Boston ahead 93-87.

After West and Pierce traded pairs from the line, the Cavs had possession trailing 95-89 with 11.6 seconds left. West couldn't get the ball inbounds in five seconds, however, and the resulting turnover effectively ended the game.

Pierce made one more at the line to produce the final score, capping his 11- of-13 night at the charity stripe.

"We know we got our work cut out for us as we go out here on the road and try to close it out, which is the most important thing to us right now," said Garnett. "It's a good win for us to take the lead right here, it's a good home win, so enjoy it tonight, but starting tomorrow we got to work on somehow someway closing out this series."

Perhaps riding the momentum of consecutive wins in Cleveland, the Cavs came out strong in the first quarter of Game 5. James shook out of his shooting doldrums early, pouring in 11 points on an 18-9 Cleveland run to start the game. Boston trimmed the deficit to 23-18 by the end of the frame.

James and the Cavs kept pouring it on in the second quarter, and looked like they were headed back to Cleveland with a chance to clinch. A spurt of eight straight points by James pushed the Cleveland lead from six to 14, with his jumper boosting the Cavs to a 43-29 lead with 3:50 to play in the half.

Those would be the last points of the half for James, however, and the home team soon wrestled the momentum away from the Cavs as well.

Rondo canned consecutive threes, part of a 14-3 Celtics run to close the half that cut the deficit to 46-43 at the intermission.

"I just took my confidence and shot the ball," said Rondo of his treys. "The shot clock was running down on the first one, KG (Garnett) found me and I got the seams lined up and shot it. The second one was in a transition fast break and I just hit one so I thought why not shoot the second one."

Game Notes

The Celtics shot 12-of-16 from the field in the third quarter...Szczerbiak finished with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting...Allen finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting for Boston...Garnett blocked three shots, and Rondo rejected two...James shot 0-for-5 from three-point range...Cavs guard Daniel Gibson suffered a left shoulder contusion. He will have an MRI Thursday in Cleveland and be re-evaluated.