Celtics guard Rajon Rondo drives to the basket against Magic forward Rashard Lewis in the first quarter of last night’s game at Boston.

AP / Charles Krupa

BOSTON — Boston coach Doc Rivers is a big believer in the saying, “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.”

“We feel that we are a really good defensive team,” Rivers said. “We understand that’s who we are. We know that we can score and all of that stuff but … it has been proven historically in our league that you don’t win being an offensive team. You have to be a good defensive team. … You have to get stops in order to be a winner.”

After Boston (17-2) beat Orlando (13-5) last night, 107-88, to post its ninth win in a row, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said that he hasn’t seen a better defensive team in the NBA in the last 15 years than the Celtics.

There is a good reason why he said it.

It wasn’t only that Boston shut down Orlando’s high-powered offense, which entered the game averaging 100.4 points per game, by limiting the Magic to just 42-percent shooting from the floor.

But it is also because the Celtics are holding their opponents to an NBA-best 90.11 points per game, an NBA-best 40.8 field-goal percentage, and an NBA-best 17.50 assists per game.

Orlando simply did not have an answer for Boston’s swarming, in-your-face defense last night.

“I thought our guys played hard, we just got totally outplayed,” Van Gundy said. “Boston’s defense is great and I thought we struggled to consistently get good shots.”

Offensively, team captain Paul Pierce took over the game for the Celtics in the third quarter where he scored 15 of Boston’s first 20 points to extend the Celtics’ two-point halftime lead to 68-57 with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter.

“It wasn’t something that I just decided to do, we were taking advantage of the matchups,” Pierce said of his second-half outburst. “We saw something that was working and we continued to go with it. My teammates did a good job of setting me up. We ran set plays to get me the ball in a position where I could score and I took advantage of it.”

“Paul is a great player,” Boston guard Rajon Rondo said. “He had a rhythm. We called plays to get him going and he continued to carry us throughout the (rest of) the game.”

Ray Allen, off an assist from Pierce, then buried a 3-pointer and Orlando called a timeout.

After the timeout, Kevin Garnett went to the middle of the court, pounded his chest, and said, “This is our half.”

He was right. Boston outscored Orlando, 59-42, in the second half. Orlando never got to within 10 points of Boston’s lead after Allen’s 3-pointer, which came with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter.

Boston has now scored 102 points or more in four of its last five games.

“The way we move the ball, the way we space, the way we play on offense lately it’s really looking great,” Pierce said. “We’re shooting over 50 percent. We’re getting to the hundred point range. Everybody’s touching the ball. That’s the type of basketball we like to play.”

Not surprisingly with one of, if not the best center in the NBA clogging up the post in Orlando’s Dwight Howard (14 points, 15 rebounds), it was Boston’s outside shooters, Pierce (24 points, 7 rebounds), Allen (21 points), and Rajon Rondo (16 points, 12 assists), who celebrated his mother’s birthday before the game, who led the way as Boston shot 54.1 percent from the field, and outscored Orlando, 38-30, in the paint despite Howard’s presence.

“I thought it was one of those nights where we had great offensive balance, you know, to shot 54 percent, and great defensive balance,” Rivers said. “When you have that combination, you’re probably going to have a good night. And we did.”

Kevin Garnett (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Eddie House (11 points) also scored in double-figures for Boston.

Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 30 points.

“Rashard Lewis is having a pretty good year,” Pierce said. “He’s shooting the ball really well. He can post up. He can shoot the three…When a guy like him has it going it’s tough to stop him.”

Orlando played the game without starting point guard Jameer Nelson (strained right hip flexor) and starting guard/forward Mickael Pietrus (torn ligament, right thumb).

Orlando guard Anthony Johnson believes that the Magic can beat Boston when they get back to full strength.

“Once our starting five is matching up with their starting five and our bench is matching up with their bench, I’ll feel very good about it,” Johnson said. “Yeah they smacked us, and you’ve got to acknowledge that. I’m acknowledging that they smacked us tonight. They outplayed us. But with two healthy squads I feel very good.”

roblee@projo.com