Magic Hands Celtics First Loss

The Boston Celtics knew they couldn't win all 82 games. They would've liked to get a little closer, though.

The Orlando Magic derailed the Celtics' perfect November with a 104-102 win Sunday night, holding Boston's All-Star scorers in check and improving to 9-2.

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen entered the game averaging at least 20 points. Only Pierce topped the mark Sunday, scoring 28 and keying several quick runs that brought Boston back from a 20-point deficit. Allen finished with 19, but had just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting before the fourth quarter, and Garnett had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Orlando was the first team to shoot better than 50 percent against the Celtics, and the first to lead Boston at the half and entering the fourth quarter.

So did the upstart Magic send the league a message?

"I don't know and I don't care,'' Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I think the key thing for us is just to stay on an even keel and understand some of the things we need to work on out of that game, even though we ended up winning.''

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 24 points and Rashard Lewis scored 22. Jameer Nelson had 18 points and six assists, Hedo Turkoglu scored 16 and Keith Bogans had 10.