Celtics beat Magic to take series lead

Ray Allen scored 25 points, Paul Pierce had 22 and the Boston Celtics used smothering defense to beat the Orlando Magic 92-88 last night in the opening match of the Eastern Conference finals.



Rasheed Wallace added 13 points as the Celtics built a 20-point lead, then held on late to end Orlando\'s 14-game winning streak.



Vince Carter had 23 points and Jameer Nelson finished with 20 for Orlando, which cut the lead to two in the final seconds but simply ran out of time, looking rusty after a six-day layoff.



Dwight Howard was limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds, nowhere near the dominant force the Magic need to win a title.



Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is tomorrow night in Orlando.