Garnett, Shaq Dominate Celtics' Win Over Raptors

Kevin Garnett had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Shaquille O'Neal added 16 points and nine boards, and the Boston Celtics avenged a loss to Toronto by beating the Raptors 110-101 on Friday night.

Still smarting after losing to Toronto five days ago, Boston pounded the ball inside to its aging, but very effective stars.

"Kevin's energy tonight was off the charts, and you knew it would be, if you know Kevin, because the last time we played them the guy in his position had a pretty good game," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "That's just Kevin Garnett."

It was the Celtics' third straight win after they lost consecutive games for the only time this season, the second coming at Toronto when Boston squandered a lead in the closing seconds of a 102-101 defeat on Sunday.

Amir Johnson had 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench in Toronto's win. On Friday, he was held to 11 points with six boards.

"Yeah, (Kevin and I) have this conversation all the time. The young guys can talk," O'Neal said. "He was actually talking that he was a player."

Glen "Big Baby" Davis had 10 of his 18 points in the final quarter for Boston. Paul Pierce finished with 18 points, Ray Allen 17 and Rajon Rondo collected 14 assists in his first game after missing three straight with a strained left hamstring.

Most of Rondo's dazzling passes led to layups and dunks. Boston outscored the Raptors 64-44 in the paint.

"We watched the tape and understand what our advantage is, and that's what we did," Pierce said. "We knew we could attack the inside. We were able to go inside against these guys."

Linas Kleiza led Toronto's balanced scoring with 18 points. The Raptors, which had won four straight, had six players in double figures. Jose Calderon had 14 assists and 12 points.

Rondo paid immediate dividends, getting eight assists in the opening quarter.

Raptors forward Reggie Evans was helped to the Toronto bench midway through the third quarter. Coach Jay Triano said after the game that Evans broke his right foot.

Triano agreed that the Raptors' youth was taught a lesson by Boston's elder players.

"It's part of the learning experience," he said. "It was a tough learning experience for them."

The Celtics had opened a 21-point edge early in the final quarter, but Toronto closed it to 99-93 on Kleiza's basket with 5:20 to play. Davis then hit a shot for Boston and Garnett tipped in his own miss, pushing the Celtics back up by nine with 41/2 minutes left.

"We tried, but we put ourselves in a bad position throughout the game," Toronto's Peja Stojakovic said. "It was a big point differential, especially against a team like Boston."

Pierce's 3-pointer made it 105-95 with just under three minutes to play. The Celtics were never threatened the rest of the way.

Boston led 58-52 at halftime and opened its big lead in the third quarter. The Celtics had assists on all but one of their 22 baskets in the first half.

The Celtics, who shot 59 percent in the quarter, outscored Toronto 28-15, holding the Raptors to 15.8 percent from the floor (3 of 19).

After Calderon nailed a jumper for Toronto to start the third-quarter scoring, Boston had the next 11 points, with Garnett's jam off Rondo's alley-oop pass the highlight. Garnett also had a dunk in the spree.

The teams traded baskets before Boston took control by scoring 14 of the next 17 points. The Celtics led 86-67 entering the final 12 minutes, but the Raptors made their charge.