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Celtics Crush Heat 88-62

Kevin Garnett scored twice before Miami made a basket, and the Boston Celtics held the Heat to an NBA-record low 17 field goals, coasting to an 88-62 victory Sunday.

The matchup of the NBA's best team and its worst was even more lopsided than anticipated. Boston was up 27-4 after 10 minutes and Celtics coach Doc Rivers started subbing for his starters just 7:10 into the game. Boston's backups finished the first quarter, handled most of the second and all of the fourth as no starter played more than 25 minutes.

Leon Powe had 17 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, and Garnett finished with 12 points, five assists and eight rebounds in 21 minutes.

Ricky Davis had 14 points and six rebounds and Chris Quinn had scored 14 with eight assists for the Heat (13-60), who lost their third straight and sixth out of seven as they solidify their hold on the worst record in the NBA. Miami coach Pat Riley skipped his fourth game to resume his college scouting tour, and assistant Ron Rothstein ran the bench.

The previous record for fewest field goals in a game came against Miami in April 1999, when Chicago managed only 18.

The Celtics, who are 58-15 with nine games in the regular season, already have their highest win total since 1986-87, when Larry Bird led the defending NBA champions back to the finals. The year before, Boston won 67 games and the last of its 16 titles.

The Celtics scored 11 of the game's first 13 points, then took a 27-4 lead as Miami made just one of its first 15 shots. Davis made a three-point play and Blake Ahearn followed with a 3-pointer to help the Heat avoid their worst quarter of the season.

Miami shot 17.6 percent in the first quarter, and made their last two shots to finished at a season-low 28.8 percent.

This program aired on March 31, 2008. The audio for this program is not available.

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