NEW YORK — First it was Kobe, and then King James lit up Madison Square Garden. And at the end of one difficult week the New York Knicks were hurt by Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

Pierce scored 26 points, Allen finished with 22 and the Boston Celtics won 110-100 last night to put a fitting end to one grueling stretch for New York.

Kevin Garnett also had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Boston, which rebounded from its 110-109 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. The Celtics won the season series against New York 3-1 and have won nine of the last 10 in the rivalry.

"It was a big win," said Pierce. "For one, I thought we were mentally and physically drained coming into this game, especially after the tough loss. It took us a while. We got off to a slow start but this team continues to find ways to win."

Al Harrington scored 27 points, and David Lee had 18 points and 18 rebounds for New York, which absorbed its third straight loss against one of the NBA's elite teams.

"They're world champions and we're not and we're trying to get to be really good and I thought for a long time we played really well," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Our defense was good, I thought our energy was there."

Allen took over in the fourth quarter of the back-and-forth contest. After Danilo Gallinari scored to give New York an 80-79 lead, Allen scored Boston's next 11 points. His drive with about 6 minutes left put Boston in front 90-86.

"I really thought that stretch where Ray got it going got us out," coach Doc Rivers said. "That was huge for us."

It was an appropriate finale for a difficult week for the Knicks, who lost to three of the NBA's best teams and surrendered a couple of the greatest performances in Madison Square Garden history over a matter of days. Kobe Bryant scored 61 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 126-117 victory Monday, and LeBron James had 52 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 107-102 win Wednesday.

PACERS 107, MAGIC 102

Danny Granger scored 14 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and host Indiana beat Orlando to snap a three-game losing streak.

HAWKS 102, BOBCATS 97

Marvin Williams scored 29 points and went 18 for 20 from the free-throw line as visiting Atlanta beat Charlotte.

HORNETS 101, RAPTORS 92

Peja Stojakovic scored a season-high 28 points and host New Orleans tied a franchise record with 15 3-pointers, snapping its four-game losing streak.

THUNDER 102, TRAIL BLAZERS 93

Kevin Durant scored 31 points as host Oklahoma City snapped a three-game losing streak.

CLIPPERS 126, GRIZZLIES 105

Zach Randolph had 35 points and 10 rebounds, while Ricky Davis added a season-high 24 points as visiting Los Angeles snapped a seven-game losing streak.

NUGGETS 124, WIZARDS 103

The Nuggets welcomed back starters Kenyon Martin (11 points) and Chauncey Billups (16) as visiting Denver beat Washington.

JAZZ 111, KINGS 107

Deron Williams scored 34 points on a badly bruised thigh and hit the go-ahead layup with 20.2 seconds to play, leading visiting Utah over Sacramento.

SUNS 115, WARRIORS 105

Grant Hill scored a season-high 27 points and host Phoenix pulled away in the final 3 1/2 minutes to beat Golden State. Corey Maggette scored 25 points and Stephen Jackson 24 for the Warriors.