Celtics Lose Ray Allen To Injury: Despite the loss of former UConn Husky Ray Allen to a hyperextended thumb and the return of Chris Paul to the New Orleans Hornets, the Boston Celtics were still able to pick up an 89-77 win in New Orleans. Paul Pierce led the way for the Green with 30 points while Kevin Garnett had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Eddie House and Leon Powe came off the bench to score 12 and 11 points respectively.  David West led the Hornets with 15 points and former UConn Husky Hilton Armstrong added 14. CP3 had 13 points in his return to the Hornets lineup. The Celtics head to Dallas tomorrow night to take on the Mavericks before the All-Star break. [ESPN.com]

It’s been a busy week at Madison Square Garden where the New York Knicks saw Kobe Bryant put up 61 on them and LeBron James put up 52.

There wasn’t any of that by anyone on the Boston Celtics tonight but the Celtics hit 14-of-18 shots in the 4th quarter to propel them to a 110-100 win. With the win the Celtics to improve to 42-10 which is good for second best in the Eastern Conference.

Paul Pierce led the way for the visiting Celtics with 26 points while former UConn Husky Ray Allen had 22 points and 6 assists.  Kevin Garnett had a good game as well with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  Leon Powe came off the bench to score 13 points and Rajon Rondo narrowly missed a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.

The Knicks were led by Al Harrington with 27 points and 5 steals. David Lee had a monster night on the glass pulling down 18 rebounds to go along with 18 points.  Chris Duhon added 15 points while Nate Robinson chipped in with 13.

The two teams exchanged baskets in the first quarter that saw the Celtics take a 1 point lead. In the second, it was more of the same that ended up with the Knicks leading by 2 at the half. The two teams exchanged the lead briefly but the Knicks pulled ahead by four at the end of the 3rd quarter.

After Danilo Gallinari put the Knicks up 80-79, Ray Allen scored the next 11 points for the Celtics who were holding a 4 point lead at 90-86. Then Eddie House pushed that lead to nine with 5 points of his own and the  Knicks would get no closer than 8 points the rest of the way.

The Celtics get the day off tomorrow after back-to-back games but will be back on the court Sunday afternoon at 1 PM when the San Antonio Spurs come to the TD BankNorth Garden.

Boston Celtics @ New York Knicks 2.6.09 box score

Lakers end Celtics 12-game winning streak: For the second time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers ended a Boston Celtics winning streak as they won 110-109 in overtime at an electric TD BankNorth Garden. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points and added 10 rebounds while Pau Gasol had 24 points and 14 rebounds. Former Rhode Island Ram Lamar Odom had 20 points. Former UConn Husky and the newest NBA All-Star Ray Allen led the Celtics with 22 points. Paul Pierce added 21 points and Kevin Garnett had 16 points before fouling out. Rajon Rondo added 16 points and 12 assists. If the two teams meet in the NBA Finals, the Lakers would hold home court advantage. No rest for the Celtics as they head to New York to take on the Knicks tomorrow night. [NBA.com]

Celtics Win 12th Straight: Former UConn Husky Ray Allen hit two 3-pointers in the final minute but none was bigger than the one he hit with .5 seconds to give the Boston Celtics an 100-99 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Playing without Kevin Garnett for the second straight game, Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points and had 7 rebounds and 6 assists with Allen adding 20 points. Rajon Rondo chipped in with 20 points and 8 assists while Glen “Big Baby” Davis had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with 22 points while Andre Miller had 21. The next game for the Celtics will be an NBA Finals rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at 8 PM on TNT. [ESPN.com]

Celtics Win 10th Straight: The Boston Celtics got 56 points from the Big 3 that led them to an 86-78 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Detroit. It was the 10th straight win for the Green. Kevin Garnett led the way with 22 points and 9 rebounds while Paul Pierce had 20 points. All-Star snubs Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and 8 points respectively with Rondo adding 12 assists.  Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 19 points each. Former UConn Husky Richard Hamilton came off the bench to score 14 points. The Celtics return back home on Sunday at noon to take on Kevin McHale’s much improved Minnesota Timberwolves team. [ESPN.com]

“Lucky” Not So Lucky: The Boston Celtics have fired their mascot “Lucky” aka Damon Blust. “Damon Blust who played the role of “Lucky” the Celtics mascot is no longer employed by the team. We appreciate his many efforts in entertaining Celtics fans as well as his work in the community while a member of the Celtics organization.” Lucky had recently appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien“. [Inside Track]

Celtics win 9th straight: Eddie House had a career-high 8 three-pointers on his way to 28 points to lead the Boston Celtics past the Sacramento Kings 119-100 in front of a packed house at the TD BankNorth Garden. Rajon Rondo stated his case for an All-Star reserve spot with 24 points and 9 rebounds while Kevin Garnett and Glen “Big Baby” Davis both had 14 points. Ray Allen added 12 and Tony Allen had 10. John Salmons led the Kings with 22 points and Jason Thompson had 21. Kevin Martin chipped with 18 points for the Kings (10-37). The Celtics (38-9) trailed by 2 at the end of the 1st but put a 40 point second quarter to take control of the game. The Celtics now head to Detroit for a matchup with the Pistons on Friday night at 7 PM. [ESPN.com]

This game was over in the 1st quarter when former UConn Husky Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce scored 30 of the Boston Celtics’ 38 points pushing them to a 124-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks in front of another packed house at the TD BankNorth Garden.

It’s the 8th straight win for the Celtics (37-9) after going 2-7 in their previous nine games.

Allen, Garnett and Eddie House all led the Celtics with 23 points. House tied his career-high of 7 three-pointers. Rajon Rondo made his bid for the All-Star Game with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 14 assists and 4 steals. Pierce finished with 8 points.

The Celtics made 16-of-27 (59.3%) three-pointers in the game and shot 50.8% (50-of-93) from the floor.

The Mavericks (25-19) were led by Jason Terry’s game-high 27 points. Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard both added 18 points.

Believe it or not the Mavericks actually led in this game at 12-10. But after that it was all Celtics.They were leading 15-14 before a 12-0 run put the game out of reach.

Any chance of the Mavericks coming back in the 3rd quarter was negated by Garnett who had 10 points in the quarter.

The Celtics are back in action on Wednesday night when they will host the Sacramento Kings at the TD BankNorth Garden at 7:30 PM.

7th straight win for the Celtics: Paul Pierce had 27 points and 10 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics to a big 90-80 win over the Orlando Magic in Orlando. Kevin Garnett had 16 points as did Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Former UConn Husky Ray Allen added 12 points for the Celtics (36-9). The Magic (33-9) were led by Hedo Turkoglu who had 22 points. Rashard Lewis chipped in with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Jameer Nelson had 17 points. The leading vote getter in the NBA All-Star Game Dwight Howard had 11 points and 11 rebounds. The game was so big that Tiger Woods made an appearance at Amway Arena. The Celtics will enjoy some time off until Sunday when the Dallas Mavericks come to the TD BankNorth Garden for a 1 PM tip. [ESPN.com]

6th straight win for the Celtics: Eddie House scored 20 of his 25 points in the second quarter to help the Boston Celtics to an easy 98-83 over the Miami Heat in Miami, FL. Ray Allen led all scorers with 27 points while Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Paul Pierce had 14 points and 8 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists to go along with 7 points.  Dwayne Wade led the Heat with 25 points and Daequan Cook had 20 points. Rookie Michael Beasley added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat. Kendrick Perkins returned to the Celtics lineup after missing 5 games with a shoulder injury. The Celtics are back in action tomorrow night against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in Orlando. [ESPN.com]