"We were getting what we deserved," Boston coach Doc Rivers said, "I love our team on paper but we tend to be frontrunners. When we get a good lead we relax and teams take advantage of it and then you're caught and it's tough to turn it back on."

Rondo scored 17 points and Ray Allen added 14 for the Celtics.

But the Magic put together an outstanding 12 minutes of offense and defense in the decisive quarter. The Celtics had seven turnovers and only four field goals in the period while the Magic had 12 baskets and two turnovers.

"One of the guys said, 'We're better than Orlando,' and I said, 'No, you're not,'" Rivers said. "They knocked you out of the playoffs last year. Orlando's better than us right now. Atlanta's better than us right now. LA (Lakers are) better than us right now."

The Celtics did make a late run with seven straight points that cut the lead to 94-89. But Rashard Lewis just beat the 24-second buzzer with a short driving shot that made it 96-89 with 18 seconds to go. "We did a good job just sticking with the game plan no matter what the score was," Jameer Nelson said.

The Celtics lost despite getting two important players back. Paul Pierce, their leading scorer, returned after missing two games with a strain on the top of his left foot and scored 13 points. Key substitute Marquis Daniels sat out the previous 29 games following surgery for a torn ligament in his left thumb and finished with eight points.

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