BOSTON, April 23 (UPI) -- Kevin Garnett scored 19 points Wednesday and Boston sailed past Atlanta 96-77 to take a 2-0 lead in their conference quarterfinal series.
The top-seeded Celtics steadily pulled away during the middle two quarters, with Ray Allen knocking down three three-pointers and scoring 15 points.
Paul Pierce, playing despite lower back spasms, chipped in 14 and Rajon Rondo had 12.
Josh Smith and Marvin Williams both scored 13 to lead the Hawks, but they combined to make only six of 22 attempts from the field. Acie Law and Mike Bibby had 12 each.
Atlanta trailed by only four after one period, but the Celtics scored 10 of the first 14 points in the second quarter and the Hawks could never make a game of it after that.
The best-of-seven series moves to Atlanta on Saturday for Game 3.
