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Celtics beat Knicks for 10th straight time in Boston

Feb 4, 2012 - 5:39 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Ray Allen scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Boston Celtics take down the New York Knicks, 91-89.

Paul Pierce ended with 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Celtics, who have won 10 in a row at home against New York. Kevin Garnett tallied 15 points and eight boards.

Rajon Rondo had seven points, seven assists and five rebounds in his return to the lineup for Boston, which has won three straight. Rondo missed eight games with a right wrist injury.

Carmelo Anthony ended with 26 points and six assists for the Knicks, who haven't won in Beantown since a 101-77 victory back on November 24, 2006.

Tyson Chandler donated 20 points and 11 rebounds for New York, which has lost two in a row to fall to 8-15 on the season. Amare Stoudemire added 16 points and 11 boards.

"We need to find ways to be consistent all the way through the game. We're not there yet," Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Allen's three-pointer with 4:24 to play gave Boston an 82-79 lead. The crowd erupted even more when an angry D'Antoni was issued a technical foul. Allen made the technical free throw to make it a four-point contest.

An Iman Shumpert jumper cut the gap to 85-83, but Allen responded with a three-pointer to make it a five-point game.

Chandler made it a one-possession contest with a layup. However, Allen made a layup of his own at the other end to make it 90-85 with 1:57 left.

The crowd was quickly silenced when Shumpert and Chandler hooked up on an alley-oop play. Landry Fields then made a nice steal along the sideline before going in for an easy layup, cutting the gap to 90-89 with 1:26 to play.

New York had a chance to take the lead after Pierce missed a 21-foot jumper. Anthony was off the mark with a layup, but Boston knocked the ball out of bounds. A wide-open Shumpert followed with a missed three-pointer.

The Knicks stayed alive due to Pierce having a three-pointer waved off. Pierce lost control of the ball briefly before getting it back and firing up a shot as the shot clock expired. It was called a good three-pointer on the floor, but replay showed different. Pierce failed to get the shot off prior to the shot clock expiring.

Thus, New York took over with 16.1 seconds remaining. Anthony was off the mark with a 22-foot jumper. Pierce made just 1-of-2 from the foul line at the opposite end to give Boston a 91-89 lead with 5.2 ticks left.

The Celtics played good defense in the final seconds and forced Steve Novak to throw up a wild shot as time expired.

"Both teams were just fighting for it," Pierce said. "Was like a summer game where whoever won the game would make the NBA."

New York led by as many as seven in the first quarter and took a 28-27 edge into the second.

The Knicks' lead grew to 11, 48-37, on Chandler's layup and Jared Jeffries' three-point play with 2 1/2 minutes to go until half. New York took a 55-49 margin into the locker room.

The margin reached 12 early in the third, but the Celtics scored the final seven points of the frame. Chris Wilcox made two free throws and a layup to make it a 72-69 contest heading to the fourth.

Each team led by as many as five in the final stanza.

Game Notes

New York defeated Boston, 106-104, in a much-anticipated matchup on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden...The Celtics went 10-for-20 from beyond the arc, while the Knicks went 3-for-15 from three-point range...Boston turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 23 New York points...Garnett grabbed his 10,000th career defensive rebound early in the second quarter. He became just the third player in NBA history to reach that mark.