Los Angeles  - The Orlando Magic blew out of the gate, but nearly blew the game late. Dwight Howard collected 16 points with 22 rebounds, J.J.Reddick sank four free throws in the final 13 seconds and the Magic survived a late charge to beat the Boston Celtics 95-90 in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"The last 16 minutes was a debacle," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We were sort of trying to run out the clock, and you can't do that in games like this. Especially in the playoffs, teams are going to keep fighting and keep coming back.

"You play these games to win, and that's it. We won. Right now, the series is 1-0."

Boston again hosts Game Two on Wednesday.

Rashard Lewis scored 18 points, Frenchman Mikael Pietrus had 17 and Turkish native Hedo Turkoglu chipped in with 15 for Orlando, which nearly blew a 28-point third-quarter cushion.

"We just have to learn how to keep a lead and win," Lewis said. "But at the end of the day it's still a victory whether you win by one or you win by 20."

Orlando finished the first half on a 26-6 run to go up 54-37 at the break. An 11-1 burst at the start of the third period pushed the lead to 65-37 with just three minutes gone.

But the Magic went flat and the defending NBA champion Celtics stiffened their defensive intensity to storm within 91-87 on two free throws by Paul Pierce with 1:36 remaining.

"We got complacent as a team, stopped doing what we did to get the lead and against a good Celtics team you can't do that," Howard said. "I'm not happy with the way we ended the game. That's not Magic basketball."

After empty possessions by both clubs, the Celtics missed an opportunity to close to within a basket, when Howard forced Pierce into missing a driving layup with 13.6 seconds left.

On the ensuing play, the Celtics fouled Reddick, who made both foul shots, giving the Magic a 93-87 advantage. Pierce nailed a three-pointer with 6.6 ticks remaining, but Reddick made two more from the stripe to seal the victory.

"We knew they were going to make a run," Lewis said. "We just had to keep our composure."

Pierce scored 23 points, Kendrick Perkins grabbed 16 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo overcame a slow start to finish with 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for Boston, which surrendered home-court advantage.

"We can't wait until we're down 25, 26 points to wake up," Pierce said. "There's no excuses for us not to be ready.

"It's like a boxing match and you get hit with a hook and an upper cut, then you decide to fight. We can't do that. We have to take the fight to them from the start."

Houston Rockets 100, LA Lakers 92 Chinese superstar Yao Ming had 28 points, 10 rebounds and the Rockets surprised the Lakers to grab the opener of their Western Conference semifinals playoff series.

"We're hungry to win, particularly the first game," Yao said. "We respect them to come back strong in Game Two, but tonight we really played a strong defence."

The Lakers host Game Two on Wednesday night.

Ron Artest added 21 points and Aaron Brooks had 19 for the Rockets, who led virtually the entire game to steal home-court edge away from the top seeds.

"I can't say enough about our team attitude," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman, whose club was swept 4-0 in the regular-season by the Lakers. "Our guys were very determined."

Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, while Spanish-native Pau Gasol had 14 with 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who appeared out of synch from a week layoff after eliminating the Utah Jazz in five games.

"It's no surprise at least to me over the outcome of this game, I don't know if we can play much worse, to be honest with you," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It's not as bad as it seems, though. We're OK. We feel confident will come back and give a better effort on Wednesday."

The Rockets survived a scare when Bryant drove into lane and banged knees with Yao. The 7-foot-6 giant dropped to the court in pain clutching his right knee as Gasol picked up the loose ball and dunked it home, pulling the Lakers with 85-79 with five minutes left.

Yao was helped towards the locker room, but stopped at the tunnel to stretch out the knee. He limped back on court to hit a jumper at the 3:17 mark and added six free throws to help finish off the Lakers.

"I just felt so bad at the moment, I felt I needed a few minutes to let the sore go away," Yao said. "But I knew I was fine."