Los Angeles -  Newly-acquired Stephon Marbury went back to work and it worked out well.  Sharpshooting Ray Allen scored 30 points, and Marbury had eight, along with two assists off the bench in his Boston Celtics' debut Friday night, helping the reigning NBA Champions edge the visiting Indiana Pacers 104-99.

The Celtics signed Marbury earlier in the day after the two-time All-Star cleared waivers following a contract buyout agreement with the New York Knicks on Wednesday.

Without benefit of a practice with his new team, Marbury hit 4-of- 6 shots in his first action since January 11, 2008.

"It felt great, but I didn't have any legs left," said the smiling but winded Marbury of his 13-minute stint. "You could do all the training you want, but if you're not on the basketball court it's totally different."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers was pleased with Marbury's first outing, especially as the game wore on.

"He still had his timing, which you usually don't have sitting that long," he said. "You could see in the first half, he just couldn't get his legs under him.

"In the second half, he was terrific. You could just see his basketball IQ. It just really worked tonight, and it's going to keep getting better."

Glen "Big Baby" Davis had 18 points, including six in the final 90 seconds, Paul Pierce added 16 despite a dislocated right thumb and Rajon Rondo handed out a career-high-tying 17 assists for the Celtics (47-13) who were without Kevin Garnett (right knee sprain) for the eighth straight game

"Coach threw Steph into the fire, and he looked really good tonight for no practice and first time out," Pierce said. "It's a good stepping stone for him to come out and get his confidence up."

TJ Ford led Indiana (25-36) with 23 points while Troy Murphy finished with 20 and 13 rebounds.

Elsewhere: Phoenix Suns 133, Toronto Raptors 113 Shaquille O'Neal had a season-high 45 points on 20-of-25 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, powering the Suns to the blowout.

Denver Nuggets 90, LA Lakers 79 Chauncey Billups and JR Smith scored 22 points apiece, and the Nuggets beat the league-best Lakers for the first time in the last 10 regular-season and playoff meetings.

Kobe Bryant scored 29 points for the visiting Lakers (48-11) who had won their previous six games, but shot a frigid 29.8 per cent from the field.

Cleveland Cavaliers 97, San Antonio Spurs 86 LeBron James had 30 points with 14 rebounds, and the visiting Cavaliers rolled the Spurs, 24 hours after Cleveland's Ben Wallace suffered broken right leg.

Frenchman Tony Parker, averaging 38 points the last two games, had just 11 for San Antonio (39-18) which had its four-game winning streak snapped as Tim Duncan (right quad injury) and Argentine Manu Ginobili (right ankle stress reaction) remain sidelined.

Washington Wizards 113, Chicago Bulls 90 Antawn Jamison had 27 points to lead eight players in double figures as the Wizards routed the visiting Bulls.

Philadelphia 76ers 108, New York Knicks 103 Andre Miller scored 25 points, Thaddeus Young added 23 and the Sixers held off the Knicks after nearly blowing a 22-point first-half lead.

Larry Hughes led host New York (24-34) with 25 points.

Portland Trail Blazers 102, Minnesota Timberwolves 82 Brandon Roy scored 19 points, Spanish-native Rudy Fernandez had 18, and the Trail Blazers snapped a five game road slide, while sending the T-Wolves to their eighth straight loss.

Detroit Pistons 93, Orlando Magic 85 Richard Hamilton had 31 points, and the Pistons ended their season-high eight-game slide without All-Star guard Allen Iverson (stiff back).

Dwight Howard topped Orlando (42-16) with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Atlanta Hawks 91, Miami Heat 83 Joe Johnson scored 24 points, Al Horford had 21 with a career-best 22 rebounds and the host Hawks stopped a modest three-game skid.

New Orleans Hornets 95, Milwaukee Bucks 94 Tyson Chandler's tip-in with 3.3 seconds left, lifted the Hornets to their third straight win.

David West topped New Orleans (35-22) with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Chris Paul handed out 20 assists. Richard Jefferson paced Milwaukee (28-33) with 22 points.

Dallas Mavericks 110, Oklahoma City Thunder 108 (OT) German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki scored 41 points, Jason Kidd had all 10 of his in overtime, including two game-sealing free throws, and the Mavericks handed the visiting Thunder their seventh straight loss.

Jeff Green had 28 points for Oklahoma City (13-45) which lost the league's fourth top scorer Kevin Durant to a right ankle sprain in the opening quarter. X-Rays were negative, though.

Sacramento Kings 98, LA Clippers 86 Kevin Martin scored 20 points, Bobby Jackson had 18 and the Kings won for just the third time in the last 20 games.

Charlotte Bobcats 112, Golden State Warriors 109 Raymond Felton had 26 points, Frenchman Boris Diaw added 22, including a key three-pointer down the stretch, rallying the visiting Bobcats (23-36) to the road win.

Stephen Jackson led Golden State (28-38) with 33 points.