Celtics beat Magic with balanced offense

Paul Pierce had 24 points to lead balanced scoring from the Celtics' starters, and Boston raced to a 103-91 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

Rajon Rondo added 23 points and Ray Allen 22 for the Celtics (22-3), who have the best record in the NBA and avenged an earlier loss to the Magic. Kevin Garnett had 21 points to go along with 12 rebounds.

The Celtics led by as many as 20 in the third quarter. But the Southeast Division-leading Magic, who handed the Celtics their first loss on Nov. 18, twice cut the lead to fewer than 10 in the fourth quarter.

Both times, Allen responded with 3-pointers to put the Celtics back up by a dozen.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 23 points and 14 rebounds for his 25th double-double of the season. Hedo Turkoglu scored 19 points and Rashard Lewis added 15 for Orlando, which has dropped seven of its last nine games.

The crowd chanted "brick" when Howard shot his free throws in the fourth quarter. For the game, he was 5-for-16 from the stripe.

The Celtics, who improved to 14-1 at home, used an 11-1 run at the end of the first half capped by a Rondo 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 49-42 lead. Pierce led the Celtics with 12 points in the half, and Allen, Garnett and Rondo all had 10.

The Celtics' momentum carried into the second half, with their first possession producing a perfectly executed alley-oop dunk from Allen to Garnett.

Midway through the third quarter, the Celtics hit five 3-pointers — one by Rondo and two each by Pierce and Allen — and used a 15-3 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 72-52.

Notes: The Celtics begin a four-game trip the day after Christmas, their longest so far this season. ... Turkoglu's 3-pointer with 3 seconds left in first quarter gave him 6,000 in his career. ... Garnett was charged with a technical foul for arguing an offensive foul call with 4:40 left in the first half.