Los Angeles  - Paul Pierce didn't like looking up at the Orlando Magic in the standings, so he and the reigning league champions did something about it.

Pierce had 27 points with 10 rebounds and Glen "Big Baby" Davis scored a season-high 16 as the Celtics rolled to their seventh straight win by clamping down on the Magic for a 90-80 victory on Thursday night in a showdown between two of the league's elite teams.

"This was a very big game for us. We wanted to make a statement on the road," Pierce said.

"You hear about the way that Cleveland and Orlando have been playing, and it's important for us to get some of those wins. Hopefully, we'll get two more against them and win the season series. That's going to be big."

Kevin Garnett scored 16 points and Ray Allen had 12 for Boston (36-9), which jumped past Orlando and idle Cleveland (32-8) atop the Eastern Conference.

After starting the season with a sparkling 29-2 record, including a franchise-record 19-game winning streak, the Celtics went into a tailspin, losing seven of nine.

However, they appear to have regained their form.

"You can see us trending in the right way now, far better than when we had the 19-game winning streak," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

"We won a bunch of close games we had no business winning. Now we're starting to play together and play for each other. You can see it; you can feel it in the locker room."

Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu scored 22, Rashard Lewis had 20, and Jameer Nelson finished with 17 for Orlando (33-9) which had its own seven- game winning streak snapped after posting its lowest point total of the season.

"We couldn't get good shots from them," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, whose club shot an icy 38 per cent from the field. "Their defence had us locked up and we couldn't get any ball movement.'

Dwight Howard, who set a record by becoming the first player to receive more than 3 million votes when the All-Star starters were announced hours earlier, finished with just
11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling with 2.5 minutes remaining.

"We just have to step up to the challenge when we play a great team like the Celtics," Howard said. "They play with a lot of intensity, they play hard, and we've got to be able to match it."

With four days off, the well-rested Magic appeared to have an edge against the road-weary Celtics, who beat Miami 24 hours earlier.

"A lot of people thought it was to their advantage, but sometimes I think that's not an advantage," Rivers said.

"You come in, you're rusty a little bit, and we played last night. To me, in a lot of ways we were game-ready."

The Celtics were fresher, racing out to a 44-36 half-time lead. The gap grew to as many as 16 points midway through the third quarter before the Magic made it interesting.

Nelson ran off five straight points to pull the hosts within 83-75 with three minutes remaining. However, Davis answered with a 15-foot jumper.

After Nelson's steal and layup cut it to eight again, Davis hit two free throws, Pierce made both of his, and the Celtics stayed in front in the final minute.(dpa)