Final Score: Indiana 106, Boston 96

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Jamaal Tinsley poured in 29 points and dished out six assists to lead the shorthanded Indiana Pacers to a 106-96 victory over the Boston Celtics at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Tinsley, who missed last game with a sore wrist, shot a scorching 11-of-19 and James Jones had a career night with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The Pacers, with just eight players in uniform, won for the first time since Friday's melee in Detroit that resulted in suspensions to three of their top players.

"The big shot in the arm was getting Jamaal Tinsley back," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We didn't know Jamaal was going to play until 30 minutes before game time. This morning at shootaround he could barely hit the rim from 15, 16 feet."

The NBA Players' union announced earlier in the day that it is appealing the season-long suspension to Ron Artest, as well as the lengthy bans to Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson.

Paul Pierce, who has struggled against Artest -- the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year -- tallied a team-high 20 points despite a sluggish first half. Pierce shot just 5-of-14 and was held to 15 points by Artest in a 100-94 loss to Indiana on November 5.

"I don't know if we took them for granted," Pierce said. "It's very difficult to take. To me, this is one of the toughest losses I've ever been associated with."

Ricky Davis added 15 points with seven rebounds for the Celtics, who have lost five in a row against Indiana. Gary Payton recorded 14 points to go with eight assists in a losing effort.

The Celtics mounted a late rally in the third quarter to break even, but Tinsley kicked off a 16-6 burst midway through the fourth that enabled the Pacers to pull away for the victory.

Tinsley, Jones and Scot Pollard did all the scoring during the run that handed Indiana a 98-86 cushion with three minutes remaining.

Boston narrowed the gap with five straight points and got as close as 100-94 on a Pierce three with 40 ticks left. But Indiana made its free throws down the stretch to cement the win.

"That was an inspired effort by our player and an inspired effort by our crowd," Carlisle added. "I thought our players did our franchise proud and did themselves proud."

Tinsley netted 15 points and Jones had 13 to already establish a new career high as the Pacers overcame an early 11-point deficit for a 50-47 halftime lead.

Pierce, apparently not aware that Artest wasn't in the lineup, had just four points on three shots in only 14 minutes during the first half.

Indiana's lead grew to 12 points at 64-52 with 4 1/2 minutes gone by in the third period when Tinsley's layup capped a 14-3 run.

Pierce then started to heat up and scored eight points in the same span as Boston knotted things up at 66-66.

Game Notes

John Edwards played just two minutes for the Pacers, leaving seven players to share the bulk of the minutes. Of those seven, only rookie David Harrison failed to reach double figures. Fred Jones scored 16 while Austin Croshere and Pollard had 14 and 12, respectively...Indiana activated guard Anthony Johnson (hand) before the game, but he was also suspended five games for his role in Friday's incident. He is eligible to return December 3 against Sacramento...Pacers Forward Jonathan Bender was placed on the injured list with a sore knee.

11/23 22:59:39 ET