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Celtics Beat Blazers

Ray Allen impressed teammate Paul Pierce with his shooting. For Allen, satisfying himself proved to be a tougher task.

Allen scored a season-high 35 points, Kevin Garnett had 26 and the Boston Celtics rebounded from their first consecutive losses of the season with a 100-90 win over Portland on Wednesday night.

Allen, who scored 26 points in the second half on 9-of-13 shooting, wasn't about to get caught up in the excitement of his scoring.

"Every time I leave here I feel like I've left something out there on the table,'' he said. "I feel that way right now. There were some shots I should have knocked down.''

The 12-year veteran had Pierce enjoying his work, though.

"It was great to watch. When you've got a hot player like that who's done it so many times throughout his NBA career, you just try to ride the hot hand,'' Pierce said "We just tried to get him the ball as much as we could. He made plays off the ball, on the ball and finished it with the shot.''

The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics, who had lost three of their last four games and two straight at home, also got 12 points from Pierce and 10 from Eddie House. Boston had lost its last two games, both to Washington.

Brandon Roy led the Northwest division-leading Trail Blazers with 22 points. Travis Outlaw and Jarrett Jack each had 17.

Portland, which lost for just the third time in 21 games overall, fell to just 6-12 on the road.

The surprising Trail Blazers may have come into the game hoping to compete with Boston instead of working like they have so far this season.

"I don't think we believed we could beat them,'' Roy said. "We've been playing to win lately, but tonight I think we just came in to give them a good game. The next time we play them we have to believe that we can actually beat them.''

Allen scored 12 points, including eight straight in the third quarter, helping the Celtics take a 74-69 lead after three.

Portland tied it at 56 before Kendrick Perkins' free throw moved the Celtics ahead for good. House followed with a 3 from the right corner before Allen took over, scoring off drives to the basket three times and hitting a pair of free throws to give Boston 68-63 lead.

After the Trail Blazers cut it to 71-69, Allen completed his quarter with a reverse layup. He then opened the fourth with a jumper from the right baseline on Boston's first possession and Tony Allen had a breakaway dunk, giving the Celtics a 78-69 advantage.

Portland cut it to 80-75 on Outlaw's 3 with 7:55 to go, but Ray Allen hit a key 3, followed that with a turnaround jumper and added a 3 with 50 seconds left to help Boston seal the win.

Ray Allen capped his second half with four free throws in the final 31 seconds.

"They showed why they're the best team record-wise in the league right now,'' Portland coach Nate McMillan said.

Portland led 45-43 at halftime.

This program aired on January 17, 2008. The audio for this program is not available.

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