With no Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce picked the perfect night to dish out a career high 14 assists to help lead the Celtics to a 102-98 win over the visiting Orlando Magic.
“I wanted to just be aggressive, looking to score, and when they collapse I just wanted to make the easy pass,” said Pierce.
Aggressive he was, shooting 9 of 14 from the field and hitting a clutch jumper with 7.6 seconds giving the Celtics a 100-96 lead.
Boston was without All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo due to a sore lower back.
The Celtics bounced back from a 118-110 loss to the Knicks on Tuesday night. With the win they are now 3.5 games up on New York for the division and if they finish with the same record Boston owns the tie breakers.
For Orlando they are now (4-6) in their last 10 and are hoping to hang on to the 6th seed and play the Indiana Pacers in the first round. The Magic don’t want to finish with the 7th seed because that would match them against the Heat.
Glen Davis starting in place of Dwight Howard is showing why he was a great pick up for the Magic. Davis lead Orlando with 27 points followed by Jameer Nelson’s 21 points and nine assists.
“I like how we fought today,” Davis said. “Shows that we have heart and we can continue to claw our way back into games.”
The Celtics shot 52% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc compared to the Magic’s 25% from long range.
“Our effort was great, we just can’t guard anyone,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.
Orlando will now travel and play the Utah Jazz Saturday night, tip off set for 10:30pm.
