It's safe to say that Paul Pierce is more than comfortable playing at Madison Square Garden.
After hitting the game-winning shot in front of a sellout crowd to lead the Celtics past the Knicks on December 17th, Pierce scored 21 and helped lead his team on a 24-4 run to close out the game as the Boston Celtics defeated the New York Knicks, 96-86, at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
Boston (50-19) scored the final ten points of the game and outscored New York, 33-17, in the fourth quarter. The Celtics trailed by 15 points, 54-39, with 9:56 left in the third quarter, in which Boston outscored New York, 26-18.
Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who made 37-of-80 field goals to shoot 46.3 percent. Ray Allen scored 15 points despite making only 5-of-16 shots and Rajon Rondo added 13 points and 12 assists.
Carmelo Anthony finished with 22 points and five rebounds for New York (35-35), which was held to 40.5 percent shooting. Amar'e Stoudemire had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but neither he nor Anthony made a field goal in the fourth quarter. Chauncey Billups scored 21 points and Ronny Turiaf totaled 11 points for the Knicks.
Boston returns home to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. EDT.