BOSTON - Paul Pierce and Ray Allen found their shooting touch. LeBron James can only hope he left his in Cleveland.

Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett added 13 with 12 rebounds, and Allen broke out of a seven-quarter scoring drought with 16 points to help the Boston Celtics beat the Cavaliers 89-73 on Thursday night and take a 2-0 lead in the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals.

One game after going 2-for-18 from the field and missing his last six shots, including a layup to tie the score with 8.5 seconds left, James missed his first three tries and finished with 21 points on 6-for-24 shooting.

"I'm a little shocked that he's 8-for-42, but this is what we work on. We work on trying to contain him," said Pierce, who was 2-for-14 in Game 1. "LeBron is what makes them go. And if we can somehow control him, we control their team. And with the help of the guys around me, we've been able to do that."

The Cavaliers shot 35.6 percent in the game, hitting just 11.8 percent in the second quarter as Boston turned an eight-point deficit into a nine-point lead.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Cleveland. The Cavaliers will need their crowd to pull them out of their funk because the Celtics are 6-0 in the playoffs in Boston.

James could benefit most of all. He went 3-for-8 from the field in the first quarter but was 1-for-11 over the second and third.

From early in the second quarter to early in the third, Boston outscored Cleveland 36-10.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 19 points for the Cavaliers.

Cleveland forward Ben Wallace did not return after going to the locker room just 3:40 into the game because of dizziness. He blamed allergies and said he expects to play in Game 3.