After Kevin Garnett put the game away with a late jumper, teammate Paul Pierce jumped on his back for a ride. The way the "Big Ticket" carried the Celtics in the fourth quarter, the rest of the team should have jumped on, too.
Boston improved to an NBA-best 27-3 with a tough, 97-93 victory over the Houston Rockets last night at a sold-out TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics are only the sixth team in NBA history to win 27 of its first 30 games, the last being the 1995-96 Bulls, who won a league-record 72 games. Garnett (26 points) scored 11 in the fourth quarter and nailed a clinching 19-footer with 22.2 seconds left.
"My gas was high," Garnett said. "You play the best in the league, you can't go in with low gas. You have to go in with high octane. I fed off this building. These fans in here were like the spark plug. That was it. I didn't think about nothing I was doing.
"I had open shots. I took them at times. When I thought I hesitated, I missed them. In the fourth quarter, I went for it."
Said Celtics forward James Posey: "Everybody jumped on his back and he carried us to a win."
Garnett made 11 of 15 shots and had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks in 35 minutes. The 6-foot-11-inch, 220-pounder also played a role in limiting Yao Ming (7-6, 310 pounds) to 2 points on 1-for-3 shooting and two rebounds in the fourth quarter.
"Yao Ming definitely didn't want to come out and guard [Garnett], and we took advantage of the matchup," said Pierce, who had 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Said Houston coach Rick Adelman: "I've com peted against Garnett many times. I know what kind of player he is. I know what kind of impact he can have on a team."
Boston finished the first quarter with a 30-16 lead after shooting 53.2 percent. The Celtics went into halftime with a 53-42 advantage after leading by as many as 20 points. Yao had only 6 points on 2-of-11 shooting through two quarters.
"I hurt the team by shooting only 2 of 11 on field goals," said Yao, who finished with 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Yao, however, scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the third quarter as Houston trimmed its deficit to 76-68.
The Rockets opened the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 79-78 lead on a 3-point play by Rafer Alston. It was Houston's first lead since 7-6. By the 8:30 mark of the fourth quarter, Celtics centers Kendrick Perkins and Scot Pollard (season-high 10 points) had fouled out. From that point, Garnett had to defend Yao. But Yao also had to guard Garnett.
"I knew at some point we were going to go with the [small] lineup of Posey at [power forward], and I anticipated me being at the [center]," Garnett said. "I've been playing for some-odd years in the West. You can't really stop [Yao]. You have to make him take tough shots and [make him] do some of the things he doesn't want to do.
"I met him early and tried to keep a body on him, contest the shots. I knew at some point Doc [Rivers] was going to go with that lineup. So, I just prepared myself."
Garnett nailed a 16-foot jumper over Yao with 5:33 left to give Boston an 87-84 lead. Garnett's tough defense on Yao led to a miss with 2:56 remaining. Garnett followed with a 22-foot jumper with 2:41 left to give Boston a 91-87 lead. Then he hit 1 of 2 free throws to push the Celtics up, 92-89, with 2:04 left.
Garnett later hit a 13-foot jumper with 1:16 remaining to give Boston a 94-89 advantage. An Alston jumper kept Houston within reach at 94-91 with 1:02 remaining. But Garnett sealed the game with a 19-foot jumper with 22.2 seconds left.
"It just seems like you always need that little bit of fire," said Ray Allen, who had 13 points. "You catch a little fire and [Garnett] knocks down some shots for us. That was the difference."
Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com
