Los Angeles - Speedy Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics raced into the record books by running their latest victims out of their house.

   Rondo erupted for 18 of his 26 points in the third quarter, and the surging Celtics matched a franchise-record with their 18th straight victory, 124-105 over the visiting New York Knicks on Sunday night.

   "You get to playing well, and you get to believing you can win games, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "It's been that way for us the whole year, even before this streak. "We believe we can win."

   The Celtics tied the 1981-182 squad, and their remarkable 26-2 record equaled the NBA-best start with two losses, set by the 1967-68 Philadelphia 76ers and the 1969-70 Knicks en route to winning league championships.

   The defending champions can break the mark on Tuesday night with a win over visiting Philadelphia. The Sixers ended the Celtics' streak on March 26, 1982.

   "It's not one of the things we're thinking about," said Celtics sharpshooting guard Eddie House, who contributed nine points off the bench. "Our goal was never to set a record or a winning streak.

   "This is just part of it. We're just thinking about continuing to get wins, so we can have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs."

   Ray Allen had 18 points, Paul Pierce, 17, Kendrick Perkins contributed 12 with 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who shot a sizzling season-best 65.8 per cent (50-76) from the floor in the wire-to-wire win.

   "We're scoring the ball well of late, but to get 124 points with 22 turnovers makes me feel like if we don't turn the ball over we can score 140 or 150," Pierce said. "We still have a lot of room for improvement."

   The Celtics roared to a 40-21 cushion after the opening quarter and padded it to 23. But Knicks Nate Robinson scored 17 of his 23 points in the second stanza, bringing the visitors to within 66-58 at halftime.

   Rondo, however, took charge in the third, making all nine shots, mostly on a variety of drives against the Knicks' porous interior defense.

   "I think eight of (my 12 baskets) were layups, so I make my layups," said Rondo, who finished 12-of 14 from the floor.

   Ahead 69-63, the mercurial guard made six straight layups to spark a 14-4 run and push the lead to 81-67. He added three more baskets, giving Boston a 98-87 advantage.

   "Rondo was unbelievable in the third quarter," said Celtics All-Star forward Garnett, who finished with 12 points and a season-best eight assists. "He took the game over by himself. He had almost a perfect game. He was in a zone."

   Boston began the final frame on an 11-2 run to put the game away. Allen drilled back-to-back jumpers, Brian Scalabrine buried a three-pointer and Leon Powe had the final two baskets to open up a 109-89 cushion with 8:36 left. The Celtics cruised home the rest of the way.

   Quentin Richardson scored 29 points, Chris Duhon had 20 with 10 assists for the Knicks (11-16) who dropped their fourth in a row.

   "They're a great team, they're the world champs," Richardson said. "You can't get down big against them and try and keep fighting back. At some point it's going to be very tough."

   Elsewhere:    Cleveland Cavaliers 102, Oklahoma City Thunder 91    LeBron James scored 31 points, and Mo Williams had 20, leading the visiting Cavaliers (23-4) to their 22nd win in the last 24 games.

   Kevin Durant netted 26 points, while Russell Westbrook had 22 and a career-high tying 11 assists for the Thunder, which dropped to a league-worst 3-25 record.

   Dallas Mavericks 97, Washington Wizards 86    Jason Terry scored 25 points and German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki had 23 as the visiting Mavericks rolled to their 13th win in the last 17 games.

   Antawn Jamison scored 22 points and Caron Butler added 18 for the Wizards (4-21) who matched the franchise-record for worst start set in 1966-67 when the club was known as the Baltimore Bullets.

   Atlanta Hawks 85, Detroit Pistons 78    Mike Bibby poured in a season-high 27 points, Joe Johnson added 19 and the Hawks regrouped after nearly blowing an 18-point cushion to hold off the visiting Pistons.

   Rodney Stuckey and Rasheed Wallace topped Detroit (14-11) with 20 points apiece.