The teams seemed destined to meet up again next postseason: They had matching 9-3 records entering Friday night's game that were tied for the second-best in the conference to Atlanta. Now the Magic, who already held bragging rights thanks to last year's playoff win, took the early lead in the race for this year's seeding.

"We're not a team that takes losing well," Garnett said. "We're still trying to figure it out."

Kendrick Perkins picked up his fifth foul - and a technical to go with it - with 7:25 left in third and played only 15 minutes in all. Wallace took most of his minutes, hitting from under the basket with 2:53 left to tie the game 78-all.

Carter made a 12-footer to break the tie with 2:33 to play and give the Magic the lead for good. Lewis made a pair of free throws with 59 seconds left, then Jason Williams stole the ball from Allen to clinch the victory.

The Magic scored 12 straight points after trailing 6-5, the Pietrus made a 3-pointer and a 19-footer at the end of the first quarter to make it a 16-point game. But Boston scored seven in a row to start the second, then went on a 12-3 run just before the half to make it a 41-40 deficit.

Orlando led by 10 in the third, and 66-59 heading into the fourth before Boston cut it to one point when Wallace had a steal, leading to Pierce's fast-break layup that made it 75-74 with 5:16 to play.

NOTES: The Celtics shot 33 percent in the first half. ... Carter passed Rick Barry and moved into 53rd on the career scoring list with a driving jumper with 9:34 left in the first half that made it 31-20.