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 Kevin Garnett scored 26 points with 12 rebounds, Paul Pierce had 19 and eight and Rajon Rondo had 16 assists for the Celtics.
Matt Bonner scored a season-high 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19 as a reserve for the Spurs, who won for the ninth time in 11 games. They lost to Denver on Tuesday, when Duncan, Michael Finley and Tony Parker all sat out; for Finley, it snapped a streak of 284 consecutive games.
Duncan converted a three-point play to give the Spurs a 90-87 lead before Ray Allen's basket cut it to one point and Garnett hit a pair of jumpers to give Boston a 93-90 lead with 1:36 to play. But Bonner hit a jumper from the foul line and Garnett missed, then Mason hit his 3 to make it 95-93.
The Celtics were inbounding the ball when Ginobili stole the pass and drew a clear-path foul, giving him two shots and the Spurs the ball. San Antonio extended its lead to 101-93 before Eddie House and Kevin Garnett hit 3-pointers to help cut the deficit to three points.
The Spurs scored the last five points of the first half to open a 60-52 lead, but the Celtics opened the second with 12 straight points to retake the lead.
Notes: Boston is 24-4 at home, with all four losses coming against the Western Conference. ... The Celtics are in a stretch where they play three of the top four teams in the Western Conference in four games, starting with the conference-leading Lakers on Thursday and, after the Knicks on Friday, No. 2 San Antonio and No. 4 New Orleans on Wednesday.
[Associated Press; By JIMMY GOLEN]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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