Celts near clincher

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Kevin Garnett added 21, and the Boston Celtics moved closer to wrapping up the top record overall by avenging last weekend’s loss in New Orleans with a 112-92 win over the Hornets on Friday night in Boston.

Eastern-conference leading Boston opened its advantage to six games over the idle Detroit Pistons with 10 games left. The Hornets had a five-game winning streak halted.

Chris Paul paced the Hornets with 22 points and 10 assists.

Pacers 123, Nets 115: At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 26 points and the Pacers beat New Jersey to halt a two-game losing skid and boost their playoff hopes.

Troy Murphy had 21 points and 17 rebounds for Indiana. Vince Carter scored 33 points for the Nets.

Suns 107, 76ers 93: At Philadelphia, Amare Stoudemire scored 22 points, Raja Bell had 20 and Phoenix avoided its first three-game losing streak of the season with a win over the 76ers.

Hawks 106, Bulls 103: At Atlanta, Mike Bibby scored 30 points and the Hawks held on after nearly blowing a 22-point lead to beat slumping Chicago.

Raptors 103, Knicks 95: At Toronto, Chris Bosh had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Rasho Nesterovic added 18 points, and the Raptors beat New York.

Spurs 99, Timberwolves 84: At San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 16 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Spurs picked up their sixth straight win with a victory over the Timberwolves.

The Spurs, who were in fifth place in the West, moved into second place and sit just percentage points behind New Orleans.

Magic 103, Bucks 86: At Milwaukee, Dwight Howard had 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Magic to their franchise-record 24th road victory with a win over the Bucks.

Mo Williams finished with 18 points and five assists for Milwaukee.

Jazz 109, Clippers 91: At Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 34 and Deron Williams had 32 points to overcome the loss of the three other Utah starters and lead the Jazz past struggling Los Angeles Clippers.

The Jazz duo was nearly unstoppable as Utah finished its five-game homestand with a 4-1 mark and has now won 32 of its last 33 against the Clippers in Salt Lake City.

Wizards 114, Kings 108: At Sacramento, Calif., Antawn Jamison had 25 points and 12 rebounds for Washington, which used a big third quarter to defeat Sacramento.

After trailing by 16 points early in the third quarter, Washington rallied to outscore the Kings 35-21 in the period and take a three-point lead into the fourth.

Around the league

Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O’Neal expects to return to the court soon. He wasn’t quite ready Friday. O’Neal sat out his 33rd straight game with a bone bruise on his left knee after saying during shootaround that he might play. … Injured center Greg Oden was reprimanded by the Portland Trail Blazers for playing in a pickup game at a neighborhood gym.