Paul Pierce scored 18 points and Rajon Rondo had 16 and 13 assists to help the Boston Celtics to a 99-82 victory over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Kevin Garnett added 14 points and Ray Allen scored 13 as Boston (54-23) won its second straight game and tied Idle Miami for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Rookie Evan Turner scored 21 points off the bench for his third 20-point outing of the season for Philadelphia (40-38).

The Celtics scored the first nine points of the second half to take a 63-50 lead and led comfortably for most of the second half.

Philadelphia pulled with 64-60 on Elton Brand’s basket with four minutes left in the third quarter, but Boston outscored the 76ers 17-7 over the next seven-plus minutes, rebuilding an 81-67 lead on Glen Davis’ hoop.

Brand added 12 points and Jrue Holiday tallied 11 for Philadelphia (40-38), which has a precarious hold on sixth place in the East.

Boston shot 52.6 percent and limited Philadelphia to 39.3 percent shooting.

Turner played 33-plus minutes and made 9 of 14 shots while serving as the first guard off the bench in place of injured Lou Williams (hamstring).