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Pierce, Allen carry Celtics past Knicks 91-89
The Associated Press



12:00:00AM (ET) Saturday,February 4,2012.

BOSTON (AP) — Paul Pierce scored 30 points and Ray Allen had nine of his 14 in the final quarter to lift the Boston Celtics to a 91-89 win over the struggling New York Knicks on Friday night.

Kevin Garnett finished with 15 points and eight boards for the Celtics, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Carmelo Anthony scored 26, Tyson Chandler had 20 with 11 rebounds and Amare Stoudemire had 16 with 11 rebounds for the Knicks. New York lost for the 11th time in 13 games.

Garnett grabbed his 10,000th career defensive rebound early in the second quarter, becoming the third player in NBA history to reach that mark. He's behind former Celtic Robert Parish (10,117) and Karl Malone (11,406).

Boston point guard Rajon Rondo returned after missing the previous eight games with a right wrist injury, but was ineffective, scoring just seven points and getting seven assists.

After Iman Shumpert's jumper from the right corner closed the score to 85-83, Allen nailed a 3 from the right wing. Following a put-back by Chandler, Allen caught the ball in the right corner, drove the baseline and hit a left-hander that rolled in, giving the Celtics a 90-85 lead with just under 2 minutes left.

But the Knicks battled back, closing the gap to one after an alley-oop layup by Chandler and a steal and breakaway layup by Landry Field's with 1:26 left.

Following a miss by Pierce, Anthony missed a drive, but the ball went out of bounds off Brandon Bass' hands, giving New York another chance.

But the Knicks turned it over. Pierce had what appeared to be an off-balance 3-pointer with 14.4 seconds left as the shot clock expired. But the officials overruled it following a reply review.

Fields missed a 3 from the left corner with 6 seconds left and Pierce grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He hit the first, but missed the second.

Steve Novak airballed a desperation 3 and Garnett batted the ball down the floor as time expired.

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Shootout...with the basketball as points were scored !

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