Ray Allen scored 25 points along with Paul Pierce’s 22 and the Boston Celtics used smothering defense to beat the Orlando Magic 92-88 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference finals opener.

Rasheed Wallace added 13 points as the Celtics built a 20-point lead, then held on late to snap Orlando’s 14-game winning streak. They held the Magic to 41 percent shooting — 22 percent from 3-point range — in displaying that rough and tough defense that was once their staple.

Vince Carter had 23 points and Jameer Nelson finished with 20 for Orlando, which cut the lead to two in the final seconds but simply ran out of time, looking rusty after a six-day layoff.

Boston did an effective job on containing Dwight Howard as he was limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds, nowhere near the dominant force the Magic need to win a title.

The Celtics went on a 22-5 run in the 3rd quarter to go ahead 65-45 and didn’t sweat it out til the 4th quarter.  The Magic rallied late to cut the lead to three with 26 seconds remaining in the fourth on a dunk by Howard.

After Pierce made two free throws, Carter was fouled driving to the hoop. He made the first, then missed the second intentionally as Nelson swooped in for the tip to make it 90-88. But Allen followed with two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to seal the Celtics’ victory.

Game 2 will be Tuesday night in Orlando.

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