Just two days after absorbing a home-court drubbing by Cleveland, the Milwaukee Bucks were facing the Boston Celtics on the road.

"After a game like that, this probably wouldn't be the opponent I would pick to play against," the Bucks coach said before Tuesday night's game at TD Garden. "No offense to any other team, but this will be a difficult test for us."

The Celtics did provide that test, and the Bucks were up to it for most of the night until Boston pulled away in the fourth quarter behind the play of Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett to grab a 98-89 victory.

Rondo scored all 11 of his points in the final quarter and finished with 13 assists and nine rebounds as the Celtics (17-4) won their eighth straight game.

Kevin Garnett scored 25 points and added nine rebounds, and Paul Pierce added 15 points.

Andrew Bogut paced the Bucks (9-11) with 25 points and 14 rebounds, and Ersan Ilyasova added 19 points and eight rebounds.

The game featured an interesting matchup of point guards with Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings facing Rondo.

"A lot of young point guards are coming into our league and playing well," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "That's good for our league.

"There was a void for quite a long time. Now they're coming in by droves. They're both very quick, but Jennings obviously is more of a scorer, even though he runs the team very well. I'm impressed with the tempo he plays at.

"He's really not a shot-first point guard although people think that, probably because of the 55 (point game). Even in that game, he scored 18 in a row and the next three times down he threw great passes. He understands that. It's good to see."

Jennings had 17 points, four assists and three rebounds while playing 39 minutes.

The Bucks started fairly well, getting strong contributions from Bogut and Ilyasova to stay close to the Celtics. Ilyasova made a nice interior pass to Bogut for a basket that brought Milwaukee within 17-15.

After not reaching double figures in three consecutive games, Bogut had 10 points with 2:02 left in the first quarter when he scored on a hook shot. He finished the quarter with 12 points.

Jennings' runner from the baseline tied the score at 26 and he was fouled and converted the three-point play to give the Bucks a 27-26 lead after one quarter.

Pierce led the Celtics with nine points in the period.

Jennings missed seven of his first eight shots but still was directing the Bucks offense and staying in the flow of the game. He scored inside off a pass from Hakim Warrick to tie the score at 31, and Warrick sank two free throws for a 33-31 Milwaukee lead.

Pierce drew his third foul when he charged into Ilyasova with 4:17 left in the second quarter. The Celtics regained the lead at 41-40 on a fast-break layup by Ray Allen, leading to a Bucks timeout with 2:47 remaining.

Boston went on an 8-0 run before the Bucks countered with a three-point play by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and a three-pointer by Carlos Delfino to get within 47-46.

Garnett made two free throws before Jennings scored with 1.5 seconds to go, cutting the Bucks' deficit to 49-48 at halftime.

The Celtics started quickly in the second half behind Garnett, who sank three jumpers to help them build a 61-56 lead.

Boston extended its margin to 69-60, and the Bucks lost guard Luke Ridnour to an injury with 3:23 left in the period. Ridnour suffered an injury to his left elbow in a scramble for a loose ball, and Skiles got a technical foul for arguing on the play after seeing his player hurt.

The Bucks made an 11-2 run to end the quarter and tie the score at 71, with Delfino hitting a bank shot at the buzzer.

The teams traded blows in the fourth quarter as Rondo repeatedly attacked the paint and Bogut answered. Rondo drew a fifth foul on Jennings with 5:11 remaining and Boston leading, 85-84.

Rondo sank 3 of 4 free throws and a jumper as Boston took a 93-86 lead. A three-pointer by Allen with 1:59 left applied the finishing touch as Boston extended its lead to 96-88.

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