Los Angeles - Quiet in the first half, Paul Pierce made noise in the second.

Pierce erupted for 17 of his 24 points in the third quarter, and the Boston Celtics rolled to their ninth straight victory, 107-88 over the visiting Orlando Magic on Monday night in an early season showdown of Eastern Conference powerhouses.

"I got into early foul trouble," Pierce said. "I came out and wanted to be aggressive in the second half and we came away with the win."

Ray Allen scored 21 points, Rajon Rondo had 16 with 12 assists, and Kevin Garnett contributed 15 points with nine rebounds for the Celtics (17-2), who shot 54 per cent (40-74) from the field to improve to 10-1 at home.

"It was one of those nights where we had great balance on both ends of the floor," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "When you have that combination, you're probably going to have a really good night, and we did."

Rashard Lewis had a game-high 30 points for short-handed Orlando (13-5), which played without starting guards Jameer Nelson (hip flexor) and Frenchman Mickael Pietrus (torn right thumb ligament). Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu had 19 points while Dwight Howard finished with 14 and 15 boards.

"I thought our guys played hard; we just got totally outplayed," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Winners of four in a row overall and six straight on the road, the Magic was looking at this game as a measuring stick against the reigning NBA Champions.

"Of course nothing in the NBA is settled in December, but we want to see where we're at compared to them," Magic Anthony Johnson said prior to the match-up. "It's a measuring-stick game for us and we really want to play well."

Orlando played Boston evenly in the first half, but the Celtics eventually pulled away and made road kill out of the South-east Division leaders, thanks largely to Pierce's third-quarter heroics.

Boston built an early 15-point cushion, but with Pierce on the bench with three fouls, the lead was sliced to 48-46 at half-time.

However, Pierce took over on the offensive end in the third period, hitting a variety of mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket.

At the other end, the Celtics' league-best defence clamped down as the hosts opened up a 77-65 advantage, heading into the final quarter.

"We were taking advantage of the match-ups," Pierce said. "We saw something that was working and we continued to go with it. My teammates did a good job of setting me up.

"Defensively, our emphasis was to come out aggressive in the third quarter," he added. "We know they made a run in the second quarter, so we wanted to pick up our pressure."

Boston maintained a double-digit lead and extended it to 92-75 on a three-pointer by Eddie House with 6:50 left to play, en route to the victory.

"Yeah they smacked us, and you've got to acknowledge that," Johnson said. "I'm acknowledging that they outplayed us tonight. But with two healthy squads I feel very good."

Elsewhere:

Miami Heat 130, Golden State Warriors 129 (OT)

Chris Quinn hit the tying three-pointer with 7.1 seconds left in overtime, and rookie Michael Beasley stole the inbound pass and made the game-winning free throw, lifting the Heat to an improbable come- from-behind road victory over the Warriors.

Trailing 129-126 with 13 seconds remaining in the extra five- minute session, Quinn's three-pointer from the right corner levelled the game.

On the ensuing play, Beasley intercepted a lazy inbound pass by Andris Biedrins.

After having his shot blocked by the Warriors centre, Beasley recovered and drove to the basket, where he drew the foul and made the first of two free throws with 3.6 seconds left.

Jamal Crawford, who poured in 40 points in his Warriors' home- debut after being acquired from New York on November 21, went for the winner, but his runner rolled off the rim as time expired.

League top scorer Dwyane Wade led Miami (9-9) with 37 points and 13 assists. Shawn Marion had 21 with 15 rebounds, Udonis Haslem added 21 with 13 boards, and Beasley finished with 19 points.

Corey Maggette tossed in 29 points, while Biedrins had 17 with 15 rebounds for the Warriors (5-13), who fell for the seventh straight time.

Charlotte Bobcats 100, Minnesota Timberwolves 90

Jason Richardson scored 25 points, Emeka Okafor had 24 with 10 rebounds and the Bobcats trimmed the visiting Timberwolves.

Gerald Wallace added 15 points with nine boards for Charlotte (6- 11) while Raymond Felton finished with 14 points and 14 assists

Randy Foye led Minnesota (4-12) with 23 points while Mike Miller had 19 and 10 rebounds.