Celtics strut their stuff

Hard to believe, but Boston's newest Big Three thinks it can play even better.

Paul Pierce scored 26 points, Kevin Garnett added 23 points and 13 rebounds, and the host Celtics shot 72 percent during an overpowering first half en route to a 119-92 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.

"We are just scratching the surface on what we can do," Pierce said. "We enjoy seeing the next player make a great play and no one cares who gets credit."

Boston improved to 3-0 overall and has won both its home games by an average of 24 points. Ray Allen scored 22 points and is shooting 63 percent since joining the Celtics.

"They (Garnett, Pierce and Allen) like each other," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They've all decided that they don't need anything individually and it is all about what's best for the team."

The Celtics barely broke a sweat in building a 77-38 halftime lead. Boston had multiple uncontested layups, dunks and an array of dazzling passes, outrebounded Denver 25-9 and dominated essentially every statistic on the box score.

Allen Iverson led the Nuggets with 22 points, but Carmelo Anthony was held to only 11 on 3-of-13 shooting. Denver dropped an emotional game on Tuesday in New York, 119-112, after blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and has lost three straight overall.

"It's a game we never had a shot in," Iverson said. "They jumped right on us and we were never able to take care of business."

Iverson appeared to be the only Nuggets player fazed by the huge early deficit. After Eduardo Najera picked up a technical early in the second quarter with Denver trailing 50-25, Iverson barked to referee Scott Wall, "We're down 25, isn't that enough?"

Rivers returned for Boston after missing a game because of the death of his father.

"Doc has been preaching to us about repetition," Garnett said. "We knew Denver could put up 150 points if they wanted to, but we want to be known as a defensive team."

Garnett, who also chipped in with 7 assists, gave Boston its biggest lead of the game at 91-50 when he converted an alley-oop dunk from Pierce with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

Clippers 104, Pacers 89: Sam Cassell scored 35 points to lead the Los Angeles Clippers (4-0) past host Indianapolis in a matchup of unbeaten teams.

Cassell was 13-for-20 from the field to tie his highest point total since he joined the Clippers in 2005.

Danny Granger led Indiana with 16 points.

Hawks 105, Suns 96: Josh Smith scored 22 points, rookie Al Horford led a dominant performance on the boards and host Atlanta beat another 60-win team from last season, holding off Steve Nash and the Phoenix.

Nash scored 34 points.

Sixers 94, Bobcats 63: Andre Iguodala scored 19 points, Willie Green had 14 and host Philadelphia jumped on Charlotte early and never let up, sending the Bobcats back to .500 after a brief undefeated streak.

Matt Carroll led Charlotte with 16 points.

Magic 105, Raptors 96: Hedo Turkoglu had 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, Rashard Lewis scored 24 points, and Orlando beat host Toronto.

Andrea Bargnani had 16 points for Toronto.

Spurs 88, Heat 78: Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tony Parker added 23, and host San Antonio kept Miami winless.

The Heat, still without a recovering Dwyane Wade, is 0-4.

The Spurs bounced back from their first loss of the season Tuesday night in Houston.

Shaquille O'Neal led the Heat with 17 points.