BOSTON (NBA.com exclusive) --  The New Orleans Hornets rode the Peja Stojakovic train for as long they as they could, but it couldn't quite get them the first guest victory of the year at TD Garden.

That's because it ran smack into Kevin Garnett.

With a late surge led by Stojakovic jumpers (26 points, 11 in the fourth), the Hornets seemed poised to steal the game. But a lack of inside scoring (26 points in the paint) limited them as the Celtics beat the Hornets, 97-87, behind late maestro work from the stars.

After Stojakovic poured in 11 consecutive points to open the fourth, the Hornets were down two with six minutes to go. But after Stojakovic missed a heat-check jumper and fumbled a pass out of bounds, the Hornets -- who would only score seven more points -- had nowhere to go. The Celtics had Garnett and Paul Pierce.

"It went through KG and Paul and it really was a two-man game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We basically said if they switch, post them; if they don't, Paul, turn the corner."

First, Garnett made back-to-back turnaround jumpers. Then, after hits from Pierce and Ray Allen, Garnett sealed the deal with three consecutive assists, each to a different teammate for a jumper. Unlike the Hornets, who were only in the game because of hot perimeter scoring, the Celtics had cleared space for those late jumpers by working inside-out and thoroughly dominating the paint (56 points in the middle).

"That's what I'm in there for," Garnett said. "I'm in there trying to wreak havoc on defense and then trying to make it easy for everybody else."

Not that anything is anywhere near perfect for Boston. It was all just enough.

"So far this year, we've done a great job of each game building and improving. This was not one of those nights," Rivers said. "We absolutely didn't improve tonight. We just won a game."

For much of the first half, the Hornets' offense looked discombobulated. They lacked fluidity, had more turnovers (11) than assists (10), were forced into jumpers and never looked like a team poised to make a big run. The Celtics have been every bit as good as their reputation on defense for much of their first three home games, and little the Hornets did proved very effective.

Getting David West the ball in the post didn't work (1-for-4 in the half). Nor did briefly posting Hilton Armstrong against Kevin Garnett or Bobby Brown trying to shoot his team into a lead (3-for-9 in nine first-half minutes). New Hornet Emeka Okafor, acquired for Tyson Chandler in the offseason, struggled the most against the Boston front line.

In less than three second-quarter minutes, Okafor had the proverbial chair pulled from under him by Garnett in the post, had his shot blocked by Perkins and committed an offensive foul, the latter resulting in a trip to the bench.

"The one thing I told our guys, I said, 'That is truly a team over there,' " Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "They talk to each other on the floor. They communicate extremely well. They cover each other's back. We are a team right now that has a bunch of individuals that are playing."

And yet with their bigs contributing little (West finished 4-of-14 for 10 points), New Orleans was still in the game. The nine-point halftime deficit of the Hornets was the smallest of any Boston opponent at TD Garden this season. The Hornets had a good half from Stojakovic (10 points) to thank for that. And after 14 third-quarter points from Chris Paul -- an MVP-caliber turnaround after a five-point first half -- the lead was cut to three.

But even with a 2002-esque performance from Stojakovic in the fourth, the seeds of defeat were already sown. Home games have been the Celtics' to lose, and though there's plenty left to do, they are at least sending opponents home with a much longer laundry list than their own.