Celtics give Magic blue Christmas

Dwyane Wade scored 30 points to help Miami snap New York’s three-game winning streak. Phoenix rolled past the Clippers, 124-93.

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Boston Celtics left the floor with the smallest of grins, hands raised in triumph, leaving the Orlando Magic’s fans listening to a somber song by Elvis.

Blue Christmas.

Not for the guys in green.

Rajon Rondo had 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and Boston bullied the Magic with strong defense in an 86-77 victory Friday.

“We are a physical team,” Rondo said. “We try to get stops the right way.”

Ray Allen added 18 points and Tony Allen scored 16 in place of the injured Paul Pierce for the Celtics, who rolled to their 14th win in the last 15 games. Pierce is out with a right knee infection and could miss two weeks.

They looked fine without him.

The only big blow for the Celtics came in the final minutes, when Kevin Garnett jumped to block a shot by Vince Carter, landing awkwardly and tumbling to the ground. He hobbled back to the bench holding his back and didn’t return.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Garnett mostly had a bruise on his head. Garnett said he was fine.

“If he grew some hair, it wouldn’t hurt so much,” Rivers joked.

Carter finished with 27 points, and Rashard Lewis had 19 points for the Magic. Orlando had no answer to Boston’s relentless pressure, which held Dwight Howard to five points and Orlando to a season low in points.

Even with all that, the Magic had a chance.

Lewis’ 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining — the same play Garnett went down — cut Boston’s lead to 78-75. Carter made the pass to avoid Garnett on the play, a familiar theme throughout.

“I know he was the guy I saw flying at me,” Carter said. “It was a lot of green in there, put it that way.”

Ray Allen then connected with a jumper and made a pair of free throws to seal the win, perhaps cementing the Celtics (23-5) as the top contenders to dethrone the defending Eastern Conference champions.

The teams have each won a game on the other’s court this season and have two games left against each other.

“This was definitely a benchmark game for us because we have been talking about this game for a long time,” Ray Allen said. “We did what we had to do and took care of the game.”

Heat 93, Knicks 87

NEW YORK — Dwyane Wade had 30 points and nine rebounds, and the Heat spoiled New York’s return to Christmas competition, snapping the Knicks’ three-game winning streak.

Michael Beasley added 13 of his 19 points after halftime for the Heat, who opened a comfortable lead by limiting New York to 31 points across the middle two quarters. Then Miami held on after the Knicks finally got on track in the final minutes. Jermaine O’Neal finished with 11 points and eight boards, making a jumper with 51 seconds left after Miami’s lead had been sliced to three points.

Danilo Gallinari scored 26 points and David Lee had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Knicks, who had a six-game home winning streak snapped and lost for just the third time in 10 games overall. They were playing in their NBA-leading 45th Christmas game.

Suns 124, Clippers 93

PHOENIX — Amare Stoudemire led seven Phoenix players in double figures with 26 points and the Suns beat the Clippers for the sixth straight time.

Jared Dudley and J.R. Richardson each added 18 for the Suns in their most lopsided victory this season. Dudley, scoreless in Phoenix’s home loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, made 4 of 5 3-pointers.