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Pierce paces Celtics with 30 points in win
Boston's Paul Pierce scored 30 points and Kevin Garnett reached a rebounding milestone as the Celtics welcomed Rajon Rondo back with a 91-89 NBA victory over the New York Knicks.
Ray Allen scored nine of his 14 points in the last five minutes as the Celtics nabbed their seventh victory in eight games.
Garnett totaled 15 points and eight rebounds, grabbing his 10,000th career defensive rebound in the second quarter.
He became the third player in NBA history to reach the mark, joining former Celtic Robert Parish (10,117) and Karl Malone (11,406).
Rondo, who missed eight games with a right wrist injury, had seven points with seven assists and five rebounds.
Allen gave Boston their first lead since the first quarter with a three-pointer with 4:24 remaining.
When Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni was called for a technical foul for arguing, Allen made the free-throw to put Boston up 83-79.
Another Allen basket made it 90-85 with 1:26 to play. Boston appeared to take a 93-89 lead when Pierce connected from three-point range, but a video review showed he didn't get the shot off in time to beat the shot-clock.
The Knicks, however, couldn't take advantage as Landry Fields missed a three-point attempt. After Pierce's free throw made it 91-89 with 5.2 seconds remaining, New York's Steve Novak was off-target from three-point range.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 26 points. Tyson Chandler fouled out with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Amare Stoudemire had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Knicks, who led by 12 early in the third quarter, have now lost 11 of 13 and fallen to 8-15 overall.
