2nd year point guard Rajon Rondo led the Boston Celtics to their NBA best 22nd win of the year as they beat the Orlando Magic 103-91 Sunday night in front of 18,624 at the TD BankNorth Garden.
Rondo, the former Kentucky Wildcat, matched his career high with 23 points. He also had 4 steals, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Paul Pierce had 24 points and Kevin Garnett had 21 to go along with 12 boards and Ray Allen, the final member of the Parquet Posse, added 22 points as the Celtics had four players with 20 points or more for the first time in 8 years.
The Celtics led by as many as 20 points in the game but twice the Magic, who are one of the teams to beat the Green this season, cut the Boston lead to 10 in the final quarter.
Orlando was paced by Dwight Howard, who had 23 points and 14 boards, Hedo Turkoglu, who had 19 points, and Rashard Lewis who chipped in with 15 points. The loss was Orlando’s 7th in the last 9 games.
The Celtics will leave for a four game western trip that starts the day after Christmas. Wednesday they play the Kings in Sacramento then face the Seattle SuperSonics on Thursday, the Utah Jazz on Saturday and finish up in LA against the Lakers on Sunday night.
