SAN ANTONIO — Kevin Garnett finally came back for Boston, but could only watch and writhe on the bench as the Celtics won a nail-biter.

Playing sparingly in his first game in a month, Garnett sat out a thrilling fourth quarter that ended with San Antonio missing six consecutive free throws to help Boston escape with an 80-77 win last night.

Ray Allen scored 19 points and Glen David hit a short fallaway with 2:10 left that wound up being the winner for Boston, which avenged a loss at home to San Antonio earlier this year.

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 25 points but missed four free throws in the final minute when San Antonio needed only two to tie the game.

Garnett scored 10 points and had four rebounds in just 15 minutes after coach Doc Rivers promised not to work his All-Star forward too hard in his return from a strained right knee.

"I felt really good," Garnett said. "Doc and I talked about strategy and minutes, and he said he'd go by the way I felt."

Tim Duncan had 15 points for the Spurs who, like the Celtics, are fighting to hold on to their high playoff seeding. The loss cut San Antonio's lead over Houston to one game for the No. 2 seed with the Rockets coming to town tomorrow.

The Spurs missed six consecutive free throws in the final 2:32, starting with two Michael Finley misses that would have given San Antonio the lead.

"If you miss six free throws in a row down the stretch, it's probably going to affect a tight game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We wished we would have made free throws. They made mistakes; we made mistakes. That's what the game is made of."

BOBCATS 102, RAPTORS 89

Gerald Wallace and Boris Diaw scored 30 points each to lead visiting Charlotte over Toronto, which got 35 points from Chris Bosh and 27 from Andrea Bargnani, but lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

PISTONS 108, CLIPPERS 90

Antonio McDyess scored 24 points, Tayshaun Prince had 23 points and 12 assists, and host Detroit, missing four of its top five scorers, used just eight players most of the night to beat Los Angeles for the 13th straight time.

ROCKETS 107, TIMBERWOLVES 88

Ron Artest scored 20 points and host Houston started the third quarter with a 14-3 run for a 62-40 lead in rolling past Minnesota, which has lost 16 of 19 since Al Jefferson's season-ending knee injury Feb. 8.

HORNETS 96, GRIZZLIES 84

Chris Paul had 32 points, David West 29, and host New Orleans broke open a close game, using a 17-1 run for a 96-80 lead with 1:19 left to play in turning back Memphis.

JAZZ 101, THUNDER 94

Deron Williams scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half and added 11 assists, leading visiting Utah past Oklahoma City despite losing Mehmet Okur, who got poked in the eye in the second quarter and had to leave the game.

NETS 96, HEAT 88

Vince Carter had 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists helping host New Jersey beat Miami and the NBA's leading scorer Dwyane Wade, who returned to the lineup after missing one game with a hip flexor injury. He scored 27.

KINGS 121, KNICKS 94

Kevin Martin scored 30 points, Beno Udrih added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and visiting Sacramento beat New York for its first victory of the season over an Eastern Conference team after 29 losses.

MAVERICKS 94, PACERS 92

Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and made an 18-foot stepback shot with 1.1 seconds left as visiting Dallas beat Indiana when Danny Granger's 20-footer was partially blocked by Ryan Hollins at the buzzer.

NUGGETS 116, WIZARDS 105

J.R. Smith scored a season-high 40 points, Chris Andersen had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks and host Denver beat Washington to increase its Northwest Division lead to 1 1/2 games over idle Portland with its fifth straight win.

WARRIORS 119, 76ERS 111

Brandan Wright scored 25 points, Monta Ellis added 21 and host Golden State used a 21-8 run after a 3-minute power failure during the third quarter at Oracle Arena to beat Philadelphia.