Kevin Garnett and the Celtics got the best of James Harden and the Rockets Friday. (AP)

Paul Pierce scored 23 points while Jared Sullinger had 14 points and 11 rebounds off the bench as the Celtics withstood a late charge from the Rockets to win their fifth straight, 103-91, Friday night at TD Garden. Kevin Garnett added 17 points and eight rebounds and Courtney Lee had 14 points for the Celtics, who improve to 19-17 on the season.

James Harden had 21 and Jeremy Lin added 12 points for the Rockets, who had to settle for a season split of their series with the Celtics. Houston beat Boston, 101-89, on Dec. 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Early on, it was a game of runs. The Celtics jumped out to an 8-4 lead before the Rockets responded with a 13-0 spurt, as Jeremy Lin and James Harden hit 3-pointers in the spurt. But the Celtics came back with a 14-2 run of their own as Jeff Green and Courtney Lee hit consecutive threes. Boston took a 24-21 lead after 12 minutes.

Sullinger took over in the second quarter and led a bench effort that dominated for the second straight game. Sullinger had 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half. Those were the same numbers posted by Celtics starters combined until Pierce hit a three with 1:27 left in the second quarter. The Celtics bench had a season-high 36 points in the first half, outscoring the Houston reserves, 36-9, and taking a 53-45 halftime lead.

While the Celtics were held without a free throw in the first half, the Rockets self-destructed at the line, converting just 5-of-12 from the charity stripe. The Rockets finished the game a miserable 12-of-29 from the line.

Pierce came out on fire in the third quarter scoring eight of Boston’s first nine points in a 9-0 run that stretched the lead to 17. Pierce finished the third with 11 points and the Celtics led 78-66 going into the fourth.

The Rockets finally heated up in the fourth quarter and took advantage of Celtics sloppiness and a key foul. Sullinger picked up his fifth foul with 10:01 left and the Celtics leading 83-69. Houston scored the next 12 points thanks to several turnovers. The run was finished off when Harden fed Parsons for a one-handed dunk over Pierce with 7:22 left in the fourth, cutting Boston’s lead to two, 83-81.

But it was Pierce to the rescue. Pierce ended the Rockets’ 12-0 run with a basket with just under seven minutes left. Moments later, he was fouled on his layup and converted the three-point play to put Boston up, 92-82, with 5:51 left. A Garnett fadeaway jumper with 4:42 put the Celtics up, 94-82.

The Celtics continue their five-game homestand on Monday night against the Charlotte Bobcats. For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics.

As crazy — sorry, Linsane — as the worldwide Jeremy Lin phenomenon has become in the NBA, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo made a profound statement against the Harvard graduate: How do you like them apples?

Rondo amassed 20 assists, 18 points and 17 rebounds for the first time since Wilt Chamberlain recorded a double triple-double in 1968, leading the C’s to a 115-111 overtime win over Lin’s Knicks on national television.

“I saved the [box score], just as a witness that I was here, and I actually got to see this up front and center,” said Kevin Garnett. “The thing about Lin is I think everybody who’s at the point guard position is going to be excited to play the kid, and Rondo was nothing short of that today. I could see it. I could tell. I’ve been around him long enough to know when he’s motivated and when he’s more than motivated, and tonight was one of those nights.”

It takes a lot to impress Garnett, but Rondo’s performance was one that’s never been seen before in KG’s 16-plus NBA seasons. It was also more than a subtle reminder where Lin ranks in the point guard pantheon.

“He’s just unconventional, but like I said before the game, he’s one of the best in the league, and so you saw a stat line tonight — there aren’t many guards, maybe no guard, who can put up something like that,” said Lin. “We didn’t do a good job of containing him, and he obviously controlled the tempo of the game.”

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You can count the number of times Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce both played well in the same game this season on one hand, but two of those occasions occurred this weekend. In a related story, the Celtics won their fourth straight game, 115-111 against the Knicks in overtime on Sunday afternoon.

Rondo recorded his league-leading fourth triple-double of the season — and second in three games — totaling 18 points, a season-high 20 assists and 17 rebounds. According to Elias, Rondo is just the third player in NBA history with at least 15 points, 20 assists and 15 rebounds in a single game, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson in that exclusive category. Pierce added 34 points, seven rebounds and three assists as the Celtics improved to 19-17 and moved to 1.5 games up on the Knicks (18-19) for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Absent for much of the game, Jeremy Lin (14 points, 5 assists, 6 turnovers) led a fourth-quarter charge to help the Knicks take the lead twice in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Pierce made a game-tying 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds to play, and Carmelo Anthony missed a jump shot at the end of regulation to force overtime.

And then Rondo put the finishing touches on the Knicks in overtime, as the Celtics made 45 field goals in the game, and Rondo had a hand in 27 of them.

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Despite his team emerging victors by an ugly 88-87 margin in an overtime game, Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant sounded more impressed by the Celtics than his own squad when asked if the two once great and now aging championship clubs mirrored one another.

“I don’t know,” said Bryant, who finished with 25 points on 24 shots. “They’ve got three Hall of Famers and a fourth one coming. That don’t look too familiar to me over here.”

Not only did Bryant sound off about his own teammates, but he pulled no punches on the topics of Rob Gronkowski, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lin (particularly priceless stuff), among other subjects thrown his way. The following are highlights from the Black Mamba’s postgame interview.

Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant called Ray Allen and the Celtics "old school." (AP)

ON THE CELTICS

“We know each other so well. The unit we had on the floor, and their unit — we’ve played against each other so many darn times. We know what’s coming before it happens.”

[Asked again about the rivalry:] “It’s always a brawl in every fight. It’s ugly. It’s physical. I’ve enjoyed competing against them. I like all of them personally. On the court, that personal stuff goes out the window. It’s been fun.”

[And again:] “It’s a throwback in the sense that we’re old school. Ray [Allen] is old school. Paul [Pierce] is old school. Kevin [Garnett] is old school. And so is Rajon [Rondo]. How we prepare for the game, how much the game means to us, you can see the emotion that they pour into it, how much they put into the game, you don’t really see that too much from the young guys nowadays.”

[And again:] “It’s been great. It’s been a dream come true growing up and watching it. Here I am part of it. It’s great. The only difference between us and the ‘80s is that guys over there in the other locker room I actually know and like. That’s the big difference between this time around and the ‘80s.”

[And again:] “They’ve been playing extremely well. They’ve won nine out of their last 10 games coming into tonight, so they’re figuring things out obviously. Us, we’re still searching. It’s a whole new system. We’re trying to figure things out still. You kind of see it on the court. You kind of see things that are kind of botched plays every now and then, miscommunication now and then, because we’re kind of practicing things on the fly. But all in all, we’ll be Ok. Both of us will.”

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Wake up with the Celtics and your daily dose of Irish Coffee …

After last night’s Twitter barrage from Shaquille O’Neal‘s trek around Boston as Shaqeeta and the Celtics’ team Halloween party hosted by Ray Allen, how could we not rate their costumes? Here goes …

1. Shaquille O’Neal as “Shaqeeta”

2. Jermaine O’Neal as “Mr. T”

3. Rajon Rondo as “Tiger Woods”

4. David Ortiz as “Wolverine”

5. Ray Allen as “Retro Ray”

6. Marquis Daniels as ”Reverend Daniels” 

7.  Kevin Garnett as “DJ Lance Rock” (from “Yo Gabba Gabba!“)

8. Paul Pierce as “The Frog”  (from “The Princess and the Frog“)

 9. Delonte West as “V” (from “V for Vendetta“)

10. Glen Davis as “Big Baby”

Over the weekend, Celtics Blog’s Jimmy Toscano provided us with a look back through the eyes of the Celtics at the ghost of Halloween past. He treated us to some sweet morsels …

• Ray Allen: “I went anywhere that had those little Smarties candies in the plastic. You got so many of them. That’s what I ended up eating all the time. Then I got older and we just started throwing eggs at people’s houses.”
• Glen Davis: “I was thinking about being Kazaam. That would be funny.”
• Nate Robinson: “Then we used to snatch kids’ bags sometimes back in the day. Like kids that we knew would go out. I was young. I was like 10. I remember one time my friend snatched a kid’s bag and the dude’s dad chased him for so long. We were laughing.”
• Kendrick Perkins: “Got to be Snickers. Snickers, man. Ain’t nothing else. Nate’s a weirdo saying Candy Corn.”
• Shaquille O’Neal: “My thing with Halloween was every time I used to go out, people used to look at me like, ‘You’re too big to be trick-or-treating.’ So I stopped at age 10, seriously.”

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