Celtics hold on to take 1-0 series lead over Magic

ORLANDO—Ray Allen scored 25 points, Paul Pierce finished with 22 as the Boston Celtics held on to beat the Orlando Magic 92-88 in game one of their NBA semi-final series on Sunday.
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Rasheed Wallace scored 13 points as Boston built a 20-point lead, then blunted a late Orlando rally to snap the Magic's 14-game winning streak.

Vince Carter finished with 23 points and Jameer Nelson scored 20 for Orlando, which slashed the Celtics lead to just two in the final seconds.

But the Magic, who had a six-day break between series, eventually ran out of time.

Giant center Dwight Howard was held to 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The next game in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday back in Orlando.

First Posted 08:17:00 05/17/2010
Agence France-Presse