It wasn't the 30 three-point shots that bothered Doc Rivers. It was the fact that only six of them went in Thursday night in a 99-89 loss to the Boston Celtics.

"Mike Miller and Pat Garrity can shoot a three anytime they want to," Rivers said. "Everyone else, I would prefer they put the ball on the floor and try to drive."

Miller and Garrity got into foul trouble early and Grant Hill is still out with his foot injury.

"That just leaves me," said Tracy McGrady, who led the Magic with 22 points -- none in the fourth quarter. "It's real tough because the defense was just keying on me the whole game."

Antoine Walker scored a season-high 33 points for the Celtics, hoisting 16 three-point shots of his own, just four short of the NBA record. The combined 60 three-point attempts for both teams was also four short of the league record.

But the Celtics hit a decent percentage (.357). The Magic were tossing up bricks.

"We did a good job of penetrating and drawing the defense, then hitting people out by the three-point line," said Boston Coach Jim O'Brien.

The Orlando Magic continue to show as much muscle as the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Soft in the middle and mushy on the outside, the Magic lost their third consecutive game at home Thursday night. Following losses to Charlotte and Detroit, the Magic got thumped 99-89 by the Boston Celtics before an announced crowd of 14,519 at TD Waterhouse Centre.

Fans booed toward the end of the game as the Magic were unable to sustain a run to stay within striking distance. They trailed by as many as 13 points and never got within seven points of the Celtics after the 3-minute, 44-second mark of the final quarter.

"It was frustrating for us," guard Tracy McGrady said. "Fans obviously didn't like what they saw."

Their defensive liabilities again came into play as the Magic just escaped allowing 100 or more points for the fifth time in six games, reflecting a soft defensive look that is the worst statistically in the NBA.

The Magic, losing three games in a row at home for the first time since November 2000, fell to 7-9.

MIAMI - For Paul Pierce, Tuesday night was about overcoming obstacles. There was the Celtics' recent run of ragged play - of which he was an integral part - and there was early foul trouble that kept him on the bench for 12 minutes in the first half.

And then there was the Miami nightlife.

Pierce scored 33 points against the Heat, hitting the winning hoop on a slick drive as time ran out. And he did it a day after feeling more run down than road kill.

MIAMI - A day after rescuing the Celtics from an early deficit, Eric Williams was kept out of practice. Williams came off the injured list Tuesday and paced a 17-2 first-quarter run that took the C's off a 13-4 Miami hook. He came to yesterday's workout with ice already on his sore left knee.

``We don't know if Eric will be able to play back-to-back games for us,'' coach Jim O'Brien said. ``We'll have to see. To me, the fact that he can't practice (yesterday) really hurts what we're trying to accomplish, because he really is a leader from the standpoint of that defensive mindset. Not having him available to us hurts us.

IAMI - When the Celtics raced onto the American Airlines Arena floor Tuesday night in Miami, celebrating a last-second win and the end of a four-game losing streak, you could almost hear the commercial voice-over. ''Boston, you've just returned to the .500 mark and beaten a struggling Miami team, extending its losing streak to nine, what are you going to do now?'' In all honesty, the Celtics could reply, ''We're going to Disney World.''

IAMI - The Celtics met up with two NBA wise men last night: Hall of Famers Bob Cousy and Jack Ramsay.

As father-in-law to Jim O'Brien, Ramsay talks regularly with the Boston coach, offering insights and observations.

''I think the Celtics are like a lot of other NBA teams, where it all has to be done right every night,'' said Ramsay. ''There's no margin of error

TONIGHT: Boston Celtics, 7:30

WHERE: TD Waterhouse Centre.

RECORDS: Magic 7-8, Celtics 6-6.

BROADCAST: TV -- Sunshine Network. Radio -- 580 AM (WDBO) in Orlando, Spanish-language coverage on 1440 AM (WPRD).

PROBABLE STARTERS: Magic -- F Mike Miller (6-8), F Horace Grant (6-10), C Steven Hunter (7-0), G Tracy McGrady (6-8), G Darrell Armstrong (6-1). CELTICS -- F Antoine Walker (6-9), F Paul Pierce (6-6), C Tony Battie (6-11), G Joe Johnson (6-8), G Kenny Anderson (6-1).

MAGIC UPDATE: They are coming off painful, back-to-back losses at home to Charlotte and Detroit, two average teams. They spent the past two days at practice working to correct their defensive problems, which are dragging them down.

CELTICS UPDATE: Boston won a big one Tuesday night in Miami when Paul Pierce hit a winning shot at the buzzer. It snapped a four-game losing streak. The Celtics had started well this season, relying heavily on the Walker/Pierce combination and outside shooting.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Magic have been promising a more inspired defensive performance. The McGrady/Pierce matchup will be worth watching closely.

ETC.: The Magic have beaten the Celtics the past six games in Orlando. A victory by the Magic would push them past the Celtics in the Atlantic Division. . . . The Magic are averaging eight points more per game than the Celtics. . . . Watch for Don Reid to start seeing playing time again, especially if the Magic continue to struggle around the basket. . . . The Magic's game Saturday in Washington has been moved to 6:30 p.m. for national television (NBC, WESH-Ch. 2).

MIAMI - Paul Pierce was as surprised as anyone when the left side of the lane opened up. With 3.5 seconds left in last night's game, the Miami defense did not collapse around him, as it had the majority of the game. So he drove to the basket for a layup. The outstretched arm of Alonzo Mourning sliced through the air a split-second too late, and time expired.

Just when you thought this nightmarish November couldn't get any worse . . .

On the verge of its first win in three weeks, the Heat found an excruciating way to prolong its worst stretch in more than a decade.

After Eddie House's two free throws put Miami ahead with 3.5 seconds left, Paul Pierce drove past Eddie Jones for a layup to give Boston an 84-83 win Tuesday and send the Heat (2-11) to its ninth straight loss.

``A loss like this is enough to take the drive and determination away momentarily,'' center Alonzo Mourning said. ``The true test is how we come back from this to avoid feeling this pain. Nobody would have thought in their wildest dreams . . . we would be in this position.''

Said coach Pat Riley: ``I know we will win another game. We have to stop the bleeding by getting a win. I didn't think we would be anywhere near where we are.''

Pierce, who scored 33 points, took the inbounds pass at the top of the key, blew past Jones, took two dribbles and hit a layup just before the buzzer. Mourning tried to help but was late.

MIAMI -- The Boston Celtics' practice at American Airlines Arena ended with coach Jim O'Brien demanding three "perfect" defensive stops from both the starters and the second unit.

When there was some uncertainty about whether one group had achieved perfection, O'Brien was not amused. "There's no debate here," he said, rattling off very specific criteria for textbook Celtics defense. With a four-game losing streak to stop, O'Brien was not in a playful mood.