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Pierce, Celtics roll past Nets

Mar 3, 2012 - 4:59 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Paul Pierce netted 27 points and dished out eight assists, as Boston rolled to a 107-94 win over New Jersey.

Rajon Rondo, who has been the subject of trade rumors, tallied 14 points, 13 assists and five steals. Kevin Garnett contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who beat the Nets for the 17th time in the last 19 meetings.

Chris Wilcox totaled 14 points and Mickael Pietrus scored 11 in Boston's third consecutive victory. The Celtics won despite playing without Ray Allen, who was ill.

"I think we are moving the ball a lot better and hopefully hitting our stride right here at home," Pierce said. "We are playing better basketball."

Brook Lopez had 28 points for the Nets, who failed to build on a one-point win at Dallas on Tuesday.

"We can't play with one arm, we got to be ambidextrous, we got to be balanced and I thought we were balanced in our last game," Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "We didn't have anything going well for us tonight left or right. We weren't very good offensively, we weren't very good defensively."

Pierce had nine points in the opening quarter, helping the Celtics grab a 29-20 lead after 12 minutes. Included in that was a 15-2 spurt, giving the Celtics a 17-6 lead.

A free throw from Lopez cut the margin to 34-30 with 7:02 left in the half, but the Celtics then embarked on an 18-1 push, started by a pair of Pierce foul shots and finished by two from the charity stripe from Pietrus.

Boston held a 58-40 halftime cushion, an 87-71 lead after three and New Jersey never got within single digits in the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

The Celtics turned 20 New Jersey turnovers into 22 points...Nets guard Deron Williams had 12 points and eight assists...Pierce missed just four of his 14 shots from the field...The Nets, who sit last in the Atlantic Division, have lost four in a row and nine of 10 games in Beantown.