Ray Allen’s last second heroics net Celtics’ 12th straight win

The Boston Celtics ran their current winning streak to twelve games despite the absence of Kevin Garnett on Tuesday night—but it wasn’t easy.  Ray Allen hit a three pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining to lift the Celtics to a 100-99 victory over the pesky Philadelphia 76ers.  While they definitely don’t want to play without Garnett longterm, the Celtics have now won eight straight and 12 of 14 without KG in the lineup dating back to last season.

Boston roared to a 32-20 lead after the first quarter and it looked as if they were en route to another easy victory.  Philadelphia responded with a 29-18 second period to head to the locker room trailing by a single point at 50-49.  After a highly competitive second half the Celtics were staring at the end of their current winning run, until Paul Pierce found Allen open in the waning seconds—and he calmly sank the baseline shot from just outside the 3 point arc.  Allen’s nonchalant explanation giving full credit to Pierce’s assist made it sound far less dramatic than it was:

"I got to my spot and [Pierce] made a great play. We end up doing what we need to do to win.”

Paul Pierce led all scorers with 29 points for the Celtics, with Allen contributing 23 and Rajon Rondo adding 20.  Glen “Big Baby” Davis had another solid game filling in for Garnett with 12 points and 11 boards.   The Sixers were led by 22 from Andre Igoudala and 21 from Andre Miller.  Starters Sam Dalembert and Thaddeus Young joined reserve Lou Williams in posting double digit points for Philadelphia who dropped under .500 at 23-24 with the setback.

The game was a classic “look-ahead spot” for the NBA champs as they get ready for a heavyweight rematch against the LA Lakers at the TD Banknorth Center in Boston on Thursday night.  As if the stakes needed to be any higher between these two franchises that basically hate each other, they’re currently neck and neck for the best record in the league.  Boston will enter Thursday’s clash with a 41-9 record, the Lakers' record currently stands at 38-9 off of a sizzling 61 point performance from Kobe Bryant on Monday night.  Then there’s the little matter of the team’s previous encounter this year—the Lakers defeated the Celtics at the Staples Center on Christmas day and in the process ended Boston’s franchise record 19 game winning streak.  In other words, the NBA couldn’t script a more meaningful regular season game than this one.