Pierce leads Celtics' rally from 24-point deficit in Game 4 victory over Lakers

Beating the team he grew up idolizing, Paul Pierce celebrated leading Boston back from a 24-point deficit to a 97-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the NBA finals Thursday.

"It's a dream if I can come out here and win on Sunday," said Pierce, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, when the Celtics erased most of the deficit. "It's definitely a great win, one that you're going to put up there in the library and break back out one day for your kids to watch. But I want nothing more than that ring right now and I'm not going to get overexcited."

The longest-tenured member of the Celtics, Pierce lived through …

Campaign redefining 'disability'

For years, Schaumburg-based Pro Financial Services has beenproviding sports teams with high-end disability insurance to covertheir star athletes in case of serious injury.

Now, the company is offering audience disability insurance aimedat others, such as surgeons, attorneys, entertainers and evencorporate executives. To help promote this new offering, ProFinancial turned to Hadrian's Wall/Chicago to develop a new printcampaign that debuts this month.

Each ad in the series carries a straightforward headline:"Disability Isn't Always What You Think." In each execution, afamiliar disability icon, such as the tag occasionally seen hangingfrom a car's mirror, has been …

The cultural GAAP

How do you work with foreign clients whose ideas of accounting and reporting are usually quite different from - if not virtually irreconcilable with - your own?

The client was from Damascus,Syria,and his father was very rich. Dad had sent him to Canada to learn how to do business here, and he ended up in the office of Regent-Yves Desjardins, senior partner at Martel Desjardins in Montreal. "The son had thought it might be a good idea to buy some property and flip it for a profit" says Desjardins. But since he knew nothing about Canada, he followed the advice of some developers and invested in a property outside Montreal that seemed made to order. Only later did he discover the …

India declares, gives England 41 to chase down 403

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni declared India's second innings at 251 for seven when opener Gautam Gambhir was …

Better blackjack starts with basics

For players who really want to make a difference in their casinoresults, who want to maximize their chances to win while minimizingtheir expected losses, there is little they can do that compares withlearning basic strategy in blackjack.

The average blackjack player spots the house and edge of about 2to 2.5 percent, leaving a game that's a little better than CaribbeanStud, Let It Ride or pai-gow poker, but not as good a bet as baccarator the best bets in craps. But the player who takes the time to learnand practice basic strategy slashes the house edge in a multiple-deck game to about half a percent, give or take a couple of tenths ofa percent depending on house …

Bulls beat Heat -- will city get day in the sun?; Jake and Elwood think we're already there

All those Miami Heat fans in all those white T-shirts, sitting ontheir hands as the Bulls completed a stunning four-game sweep of thedefending NBA champs -- it reminded me of the 1991 EasternConference Finals, when the young Bulls defeated the aging DetroitPistons, 4-0.

That Bulls team went on to win the NBA championship. This squadmight not equal that fate -- but like the 2006 Chicago Bears, theycould at least get to the championship.

Could be yet another strong showing for yet another Chicago team,further diminishing that horribly outdated "city of losers" tag.

A double tragedy?

Memo to those of you who contacted me wondering if it's truth …

20 sailors rescued off eastern China, but 11 others still missing

A Chinese fishing boat rescued 20 Indonesian sailors after their ship sank off eastern China, but 11 Chinese fishermen were still missing after their boat sank in a separate accident, state media reported Monday.

Xinhua News Agency said the 20 crewmen were rescued after their Panama-registered ship sank early Sunday off the coast of Zhejiang province. Their ship was going from Papua New Guinea to Jiangsu province …