Marquis Daniels (AP)

All along, Marquis Daniels has said he didn’t want to play with any fear when he returned from his thumb injury.

More than two months have passed since Daniels underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. On Sunday against the Magic, he stayed true to his word.

Daniels was greeted by a standing ovation when he made his debut with 4.3 seconds left in the first quarter — “I appreciate that,” he said. “Thank ya’ll. Thank you everybody.”

Doc Rivers told Daniels he was looking for him to be aggressive, and Daniels listened. He shook off a careless foul he committed as Mickael Pietrus shot a 3, and had confidence in his own shot. He knocked down his first attempt (a turnaround jumper) just 46 seconds into the second quarter.

“It’s always a good feeling to make your first shot,” he said with a laugh. “The basket started looking wider, so it was just a good feeling just to make the first one.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Celtics had this game in their grasp. They led by 11 points at halftime. All they had to do was hold on for another 24 minutes.

That task proved too difficult. The Magic went on a 19-0 run in the third and outscored the Celtics 36-11. It was the least amount of point the Celtics have scored in a quarter all season (previous low was 12 against the Heat on Nov. 29).

Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, and Paul Pierce went scoreless in the third, while Vince Carter, Dwight Howard, and Rashard Lewis combined for 26.

The Celtics got back within eight late in the fourth and flirted with a few runs, but their third-quarter hole was too deep to overcome. They lost 96-89 to the Magic.

Turning point: Lewis tied the game 60-60 off a three-pointer with 4:36 left in the third. The Magic took the lead off Carter trey, 63-60, immediately following a timeout. Kevin Garnett was whistled for an offensive foul on the next possession, and the Magic continued to extend their lead from that point on.

Player of the Game: The trio of Carter, Howard, and Lewis stepped up in the second half to drive the Magic to a come-from-behind victory. Howard also grabbed 10 rebounds during that stretch.

•Paul Pierce scored 13 points (5-11 FG, 1-5 3PG, 2-2 FT) in 30 minutes after coming back from a foot injury. Marquis Daniels looked impressive in his return from thumb surgery in December. He scored eight point (4-7 FG) in 13 minutes.

•Howard dominated the match up against Perkins. Despite being called for five fouls, Howard still posted a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Perkins, on the other hand, added just two points and three rebounds in 22 minutes.

•The Magic won the regular season series 3-1. Last season the Celtics split the series 2-2.

The Celtics blew a nine-point halftime lead to let the Magic take over in the third quarter. They trail 76-62.

The Magic went on a 19-0 run to tie the game at 60 apiece and outscored the Celtics 25-2 in the final seven minutes of the quarter.

Dwight Howard scored nine points in the third and Rashard Lewis added eight. Kevin Garnett scored all six of his points in the quarter but both Ray Allen and Paul Pierce went scoreless.

The Celtics committed eight turnovers as they lost control of their lead.

J.R. Giddens recovery is ahead of schedule, but he isn’t rushing himself back on the court.

Giddens underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus he suffered while assigned to the Maine Red Claws. Even though he predicts he could return earlier if needed, he is planning on taking the full six weeks before he is cleared to play.

“I’m actually having a speedy recovery,” he said before the Celtics-Magic game. “I think if I was one of the major players on the roster, I could probably be back playing within a week-and-a-half. But I’m probably just going to take six weeks off, so probably another five weeks [from now]. I’ll start weight training next week, but everything’s good. I’ll probably start jogging, shooting free throws now.”

After having 25 percent of his meniscus removed, he doesn’t feel any soreness in his knee except for the two spots where he received what he called “baby stitches,” which he expects to have removed today. He has been lifting weights and doing exercises to improve his range of motion and strength.

Giddens will continue his rehab during the All-Star Break. He originally planned to attend the festivities in Dallas with his family to celebrate his February 13th birthday. (They live a few hours away near Oklahoma City.) Now he will stay back to get healthy.

“I’m trying to stay focused and make sure that my body’s right,” he said. “So I’m just going to stay up here in Boston, kept it very low-key, and make sure I’m rehabbing, trying to get back as soon as I can because I’m already ahead of schedule. I wouldn’t want to do anything like put myself back a week or so. You never know with injuries, people getting hurt, so I just want to try to stay fresh and get stronger day by day.”

WALTHAM – Marquis Daniels may suit up against the Magic on Sunday, but Doc Rivers is still undecided if he will play.

“If Marquis dresses, I still don’t know if he’ll play tomorrow,” Rivers said after practice. “I’m not sure.”

While the Celtics ran contact plays during practice, Daniels, who has been out since early December with a thumb injury, did not get as many hits in as Rivers would have liked. Daniels had previously said he was looking forward to getting his first real hit (he just preferred it didn’t come from Kendrick Perkins or Glen Davis).

But if it were up to him, he would be getting back on the court on Sunday.

“Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be ready to go,” he said. “Whatever minutes I get, I’ll be ready to go out there and perform.”

After practice Daniels tweeted, “1st game back 2morro, thumb is feeling pretty good so anxious to play I don’t think y’all understand”

WALTHAM — Paul Pierce (left foot sprain) practiced on Saturday and expects to play on Sunday against the Magic. Doc Rivers said it will be a game day decision based on the fact that Pierce looked hesitant on live plays, but Pierce says he is ready to go. He categorized his recovery as “not quite one-hundred percent but it’s good enough for me to play.”

“I think it’s my decision,” he said. “[Doc] asked me if I could play tomorrow and I told him yeah. I got out there and did some of the drills we had going on today.”

As for Wednesday’s contest against the Hornets and All-Star Weekend (Pierce is slated to participate in the Three-Point Shootout and All-Star Game), he will determine how much he can play after Sunday’s game. Considering he has been able to walk around on his foot and has not required any extra tape or a boot, he hopes he won’t have to miss anything and still be ready for the upcoming West Coast road trip.

For him, it’s a matter of healing. But he won’t push himself either.

“If things don’t work out, then they’re not going to work out,” he said.

The Celtics may have won the game, 96-87, but it wasn’t pretty. The Nets tested the C’s for the majority of the game and led, 73-72, heading into the fourth quarter.The Celtics allowed the Nets to shoot at an astonishingly high percentage in the first half (63.3 percent, compared to their league-worst season average of 42.2 percent). The C’s were also outplayed in the paint.

But the Celtics were carried by their backcourt and bench — a game-high 26 points from Ray Allen, 17 from Rajon Rondo, and a combined 30 from Rasheed Wallace, Eddie House and Glen Davis led the Celtics to avoid a humiliating loss against the worst team in the NBA.

Player of the game: Eddie House scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter and took back the game for the Celtics. House had shot 0-for-4 from the field, including 0-for-3 from 3-point range, heading into the final quarter.

Turning point: House hit a 3-pointer with nine minutes left in the game to put the Celtics up 77-75. The C’s forced a turnover on the next possession, and Bill Walker drew a foul to push the lead to four. This gave the C’s the edge and control over the ballgame.

- Ray Allen led a balanced attack throughout the game, scoring 11 points in the first half and another 15 in the second.

- Brook Lopez won the battle of the bigs against Kendrick Perkins. He posted 19 points and six rebounds in 41 minutes. Perkins scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds in 26 minutes.

- The Celtics committed a pair of careless turnovers down the stretch. They were called for a 24-second violation shortly followed by an eight-second violation. Earlier in the game, officials rescinded a fourth-quarter trey by House and ruled that a 24-second shot clock violation had occurred.

- The Celtics will face the Magic on Sunday in Boston. The Magic lost on Friday night to the Wizards.