"He's not forcing shots," Perkins said, "he's making the extra pass, and he's still scoring points. He's become a better defender, and he's more vocal this year on the court. He's in great shape, and I like the way P's playing."

Pierce leads the Celtics in scoring (21.9 ppg), field goal percentage (58.3) and 3-point percentage (59.1).

Pierce made 8 of 10 shots and scored 20 points in the first half to help the Celtics take a 47-38 lead. Pierce sank his last seven shots Friday against the Bulls, so he was a combined 15 of 17 during that stretch.

"The older I'm getting," the Celtics' 32-year-old captain said, "the wiser I'm getting." The Celtics finally swatted away the Hornets with 1:17 left when Kevin Garnett passed out of a triple-team to Pierce, who hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 95-86.

"He's playing on a team," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, "with a lot of guys and people overlook some of the little things that he's doing. He's been amazing."

The Celtics led, 62-50, in the third, but Peja Stojakovic's 3-pointer tied the game, 74-74, early in the fourth.

Ray Allen scored 17 points, Garnett had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Perkins and Rasheed Wallace each scored 12 as the Celtics shot 53.9 percent and improved to 3-0 at home.

Stojakovic led the Hornets with 26 points and Chris Paul contributed 22 points - but only three in the fourth quarter - and eight assists.

The Hornets made 13 3-pointers to Boston's six, but the Celtics outscored New Orleans, 56-26, in the paint.

"We're used to blowing people out and having a nice lead," Perkins said. "I thought it was a good test. We had to go down the stretch and execute down the stretch. When you get late in the season and playoffs, that's how it's going to be."

Facing the hoop

Rivers said Wallace may play on the block more as the season progress, but he's comfortable with Wallace and Garnett playing away from the basket.

"They're two bigs that shoot extremely well from the outside," Rivers said. "They do go to the post occasionally, and the combination of them both gives us a post player. Not one will ever be a guy who goes down every time. It's just not who they are. But if you combine the post possessions between those two and Perk, then we actually do have a lot of post plays."

Can't do it alone

Brian Scalabrine didn't get into the game, but he said he was ready to play with a heavy tape job after spraining his ankle by stepping on a camera operator in New York during the preseason.

"I won't take too many steps out of bounds now," Scalabrine said.

Scalabrine practiced Saturday and lost, 7-5, to new assistant coach Tyronn Lue one-on-one before the game.

"You guys know I ain't a one-on-one player," Scalabrine said.

Scalabrine used to play against Sam Cassell last season.