Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Paul Pierce had 23 points and 10 boards to lead the Boston Celtics over the Memphis Grizzlies, 100-96, at TD Banknorth Garden.

Kevin Garnett added 23 points, five boards and five assists for the Celtics, who head into Saturday night's titanic clash against the Detroit Pistons with eight straight wins. Tony Allen added 20 points for Boston, which improved to an NBA-best 28-3 this season.

Detroit and Boston are the best two teams in the league. The Pistons, who beat the Celtics earlier this year in Boston 87-85, enter Saturday night's game at home with an 11-game win streak, having beaten the Toronto Raptors on Friday night 101-85 to improve to 26-7 this year.

Boston's Ray Allen hit a pair of free throws with 9.3 seconds left to avoid going scoreless for just the second time in his career. He ended 0-for-9 from the field in over 35 minutes of action. The only time he was held without a point in his career was during his rookie season on February 26, 1997 against Atlanta when he was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

"It wasn't one of our best games," said Pierce. "We were up and down. We talked about it at the end of the game. We've got to learn from games like this. Against the good teams we know we can't go out and play like this. Sort of a lull, we turned it on and turned it off but we just have to learn from it and know that we're preparing for something bigger than the regular season so it's got to be every night."

Rudy Gay scored 21 points to lead the Grizzlies, who have lost six of their last seven games. Mike Miller added 16 points and eight boards and Juan-Carlos Navarro had 20 points for Memphis, which has lost 12 of its last 14 games.

"I thought the whole game was a missed opportunity," said memphis head coach Marc Ivaroni. "I thought we were in perfect position to come in here and have a shot at it and I think we did until we made some miscues and that's the way they've won this year. They are great, definitely a good team, 28-3 now, so kudos to them."

Memphis led 24-22 after one quarter and held a 37-34 edge midway through the second before the Celtics took over. Tony Allen led a 7-0 surge by scoring the first five points of the run, which was capped by a pair of James Posey free throws with 4:29 left in the half. Tony Allen's three-pointer during the run put the Celtics ahead and Boston went into halftime with a 47-45 edge.

Memphis tied the game at 49-49 1:49 into the third quarter when Pau Gasol hit a jumper, but Boston answered with six straight points to kick start a 19-6 run that put the team in the driver's seat. Pierce scored seven points during the surge, ending it with a three-point play with 3:57 left for a 68-55 cushion.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit to 68-61 heading into the fourth and Navarro's three-pointer with three minutes elapsed drew Memphis within 78-73.

However, Boston answered with a 13-4 run to put the game out of reach. Glen Davis ended the run with dunk at the 5:20 mark for a 91-77 cushion.

Memphis made it interesting down the stretch, but never made it a one- possession game.

Gasol ended with 12 points and eight boards.