Hill sparks Magic to 4th straight win

Grant Hill scored 21 points and Dwight Howard had 18 points and 12 rebounds as the Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics 87-79 on Sunday night for their fourth straight victory.

Tony Allen led the Celtics with 21 points and a season-high nine rebounds, while Delonte West added 13 points and Al Jefferson had 12 points and seven rebounds.

The teams combined for an awful night of ball-handling and even worse shooting. They had 40 total turnovers (23 for Orlando, 17 for Boston), while the Magic shot 37.5 percent from the field compared with Boston's 31.5 percent.

Carlos Arroyo fouled West on a 3-point attempt with 5:46 left, then got a technical arguing the call. West made three of the four shots, but the Celtics were still down 76-67.

Five players scored during an 8-2 Magic run over a 2:17 span in the fourth quarter that gave them a 75-62 lead with 6:51 left. Boston never led in the game.

Orlando starts a four-game road trip Wednesday at Golden State.

The Celtics played their eighth straight game without Paul Pierce, who is resting a sore left foot, and have won just two of their last 10.

Orlando went almost 2:30 without a point at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but still had a 67-60 lead when Arroyo hit the second of two free throws. It followed an exchange in which the Magic turned the ball over twice in 3 seconds. Allen stole the ball but lost it out of bounds on the fast break, and then Orlando threw it away again on the inbounds.

The Magic took a 54-38 lead into halftime despite going 4:17 in the second quarter without a field goal. The Celtics were called for 10 fouls in the period, sending Orlando to the free throw line 19 times. Hill hit six of those free throws in a 15-5 run near the end of the quarter.

Notes:@ Allen was slow to get up after taking a flagrant foul from Darko Milicic with 3:26 left in the fourth quarter. Milicic swung an elbow and Allen came up clutching his chest, but the Celtics guard finished the game. ... Orlando is now 1-2 on Sundays, while Boston is 0-1. ... The Magic were 1-for-5 from 3-point range, and the Celtics shot 4-for-18.