Paul Pierce scored 36 points and Ray Allen added 22 for the Celtics, who ran their winning streak to 11 games and improved to an NBA-best 40-9.

Al Jefferson had a monster game with 34 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota (16-30), which pulled to within five on his slam dunk with 5:20 remaining but never got any closer.

The loss was the third straight for the Wolves, who wrap up their two-game road trip Tuesday at Indiana.

Despite Garnett's absence, the Celtics shot to an early 7-2 lead.

Sebastian Telfair got the Wolves even with a layup and free throw and Randy Foye gave the visitors their first lead with a fastbreak layup that made it 11-9 with 8:37 to play in the opening period.

The last five points of the quarter belonged to Boston, which took a 29-24 lead after one.

The Celtics went on a 9-0 run early in the second to push the lead to 13, as Eddie House hit a three-pointer and Tony Allen canned two free throws to make it a 41-28 game with 7:51 to play in the half.

Ray Allen's three-pointer and a fastbreak layup by Glen Davis swelled the advantage to 17, completing a 16-3 run.

Rajon Rondo picked off a careless Kevin Love pass for a layup and free throw to make it an 18-point game with 1:56 left in the half and the Celtics took a 62-44 lead into the locker room.

Except for Jefferson, no Wolves player had more than four points during a dismal second quarter in which they shot just 27.8 percent (5 of 18).

Boston increased its lead to 21 early in the second half, but Minnesota went on a 10-0 run to make it an eight-point game and Foye hit two free throws to bring the Wolves to 77-71 with 2:15 to play in the period.

Led by Pierce's seven points, the Celtics outscored Minnesota 10-2 the rest of the way, though, to take an 87-73 lead into the final 12 minutes.

The Wolves got it down to five on Jefferson's slam with 5:20 to play, but Pierce scored the next seven Boston points to enable the Celtics to hold on.

Foye backed up Jefferson with 21 points for the Wolves and Gomes had 17.