BOSTON — The Atlanta Hawks have improved since losing to the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last spring. Too bad for them that the defending champions haven't changed much at all.

NBA finals MVP Paul Pierce hit a fallaway jumper with 0.5 seconds left to lift Boston to a 103-102 victory over Atlanta last night, handing the Hawks their first loss of the season and their first since the Celtics ousted them en route to their unprecedented 17th title.

"A great player hit a great shot," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "I hate for the game to end — not like that. That game was played beautifully on both ends of the floor, by both teams, and they made a great play at the end."

Pierce scored 34 points, Kevin Garnett had 25 with 12 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists for the Celtics. Joe Johnson scored 28 for Atlanta, finding an open Marvin Williams for a 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left before Pierce answered at the other end, faking out a pair of defenders and sinking the game-winner.

"The last play was drawn up: Get the ball to Pierce; get the hell out the way," Garnett said. "Superman's in the booth. Let's go home. That was the play, and if you don't believe that ask Doc Rivers and he'll say the same exact thing."

The Celtics beat Atlanta in Boston for the eighth straight time, including all four in their first-round playoff series last spring when they took advantage of the home-court advantage to oust the Hawks in seven games. Atlanta came in with a perfect 6-0 record last night with hopes of making a statement.

"I think we've grown a lot since last season, thanks to the Celtics," Woodson said. "They put us in that mode, that frame of mind, that you've got to come out every night and dig in and play."

Boston's Ray Allen scored 17 points, eight during an 18-2 run in the second quarter that turned a 44-28 deficit into a tie game at halftime. There were 12 lead changes in the third quarter, and the Celtics never led by as many as two baskets until Garnett hit a jumper from the top of the key, before laying in an alley-oop that made it 92-88 with 3:33 left.

Boston still led by four when Johnson hit a pair of free throws and then made a fallaway jumper from just outside the lane to tie it 99-99 with 35 seconds left.

Pierce picked up a foul driving to the basket and made two free throws, then Johnson drove and kicked it out to Williams for a 3-pointer from the right side to give Atlanta a 102-101 lead.

BLAZERS 104, HEAT 96

MIAMI — Rudy Fernandez scored 25 points, including a spinning jumper with 44.9 seconds left, and Greg Oden had three points and two rebounds in 16 minutes after missing six games with a sprained right foot as Portland held off Miami.

"We won and I got to play a full game, which is good for me," said Oden, who was injured in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 28 and missed six games. "I feel good."

LAKERS 93, HORNETS 86

NEW ORLEANS — Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher each scored 20 points, and Los Angeles, which never trailed, saw its 23-point lead whittled to three before Bryant hit a 3-pointer over James Posey to make it 86-80 with 1:08 left. Los Angeles improved to 7-0.

"I just wanted to shoot it in his face," Bryant said of the late 3-pointer. "I knew I was due. I knew Posey was going to sit on my arm, so I just had to back him up and try to shoot it. I knew it was going to be a tough shot because I had Posey draped all over me."

PACERS 98, NETS 87

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — T.J. Ford had 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and Indiana turned 18 turnovers into 25 points to win its third straight game with a victory over New Jersey, which lost its third straight game with point guard Devin Harris sidelined because of a sprained ankle.

"He (Ford) has shown what we have been missing the last couple of years," said Pacer forward Jeff Foster, who added 16 points. "He gets in the lane and causes havoc for other teams."

MAGIC 109, THUNDER 92

OKLAHOMA CITY — Dwight Howard recorded his first career triple-double with 30 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks and scored Orlando's first nine points after halftime to open a 32-point lead in beating Oklahoma City, playing without Kevin Durant (sore left ankle).

"I wish he would have had one more rebound. It would have looked really even on the stat sheet — 30, 20 and 10," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You can't dominate a game much more than that."

WIZARDS 95, JAZZ 87

WASHINGTON — Caron Butler had with 27 points and nine rebounds, and Antawn Jamison added 21 points and eight rebounds as Washington beat Utah to avoid the first 0-6 start in franchise history.

"Pat Riley says there's winning and there's misery. Well, for us there's relief and there's misery. So we got relief," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "And hopefully it's a sign of what we can do on a nightly basis."

KNICKS 132, GRIZZLIES 103

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Wilson Chandler scored a career-high 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting, Jamal Crawford added 25 points, and New York made a franchise-record 19 3-pointers in cruising past Memphis.

"We were just hot. It just happens," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It was just one of those nights where the basket looked huge for everybody."

76ERS 106, RAPTORS 96

TORONTO — Elton Brand scored a season-high 25 points, Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala each had 18, and Philadelphia, which was held under 90 points in its last three games — all losses — snapped the losing streak by beating Toronto.

"We haven't really been having fun," Iguodala said. "We've just been thinking, 'How can we play with each other, how can we win?' That's when you make mistakes, when you start thinking a little bit too much. Tonight we were a little bit more free, we were shooting the ball with more confidence."

BUCKS 82, SPURS 78

MILWAUKEE — Richard Jefferson scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half, Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 17 rebounds, and Milwaukee used a 21-2 run straddling the third and fourth quarters to beat San Antonio.

"I told him before the game when you're struggling like that, you just have to be aggressive," coach Scott Skiles said of his one-on-one meeting with Bogut. "And he was aggressive from beginning to end."

ROCKETS 94, SUNS 82

PHOENIX — Tracy McGrady scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half to lead Houston past Phoenix in a game that featured a scoring landmark for Shaquille O'Neal and a third-quarter pushing skirmish that drew two ejections and seven technical fouls.

O'Neal scored 18 points to move past John Havlicek into 10th on the NBA career scoring list. With 26,402 points, O'Neal needs 267 to pass Dominique Wilkins into ninth place

KINGS 103, CLIPPERS 98

LOS ANGELES — Beno Udrih had a career-high 30 points and seven assists, and Sacramento, playing its second game without leading scorer Kevin Martin (sprained left ankle), never trailed in beating Los Angeles for its fourth win in five games.

"It's a win because of fortitude," said Kings coach Reggie Theus. "I thought this was just absolutely a team victory in every way. Twenty-five assists and holding them to 44 percent shooting is just tremendous."