BOSTON — Ray Allen landed the final blow in a memorable duel with Ben Gordon last night, shooting the Boston Celtics back into their first-round series.

Allen made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2 seconds left and finished with 30 points, leading Boston to a 118-115 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Gordon nearly carried Chicago to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. He scored with 12.3 seconds left to tie it, the final hoop of his playoff career-high 42 points. Then Boston set up a play for Allen, who took a pass from Rajon Rondo and connected from the right side.

Allen scored 28 points after getting some advice from coach Doc Rivers at halftime.

"Doc said going into the half, 'Be aggressive, but let it come to you,' " Allen said. "I never think I'm not in my rhythm. It can be a grind as a shooter. As a scorer you're always trying to find something."

Allen said he doesn't like "being made a fuss over." But that was unavoidable after he broke out of his shooting slump. He scored just four points on 1-for-12 shooting and missed the final shot in Chicago's 105-103 overtime win Saturday.

"It felt like we were at UConn in the summertime playing pickup," said Gordon, a former University of Connecticut guard along with Allen.

The next two games of the series are scheduled for Chicago on Thursday night and Sunday.

SPURS 105, MAVERICKS 84

SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker wasn't about to let the Dallas Mavericks leave San Antonio with two wins.

Parker walked off the court with 38 points, a comfortable lead and a roaring crowd cheering him back to the bench with a Game 2 victory minutes away.

Unlike the first game, Dallas was unable to pester Parker and the Spurs breezed to a blowout win over the Mavericks last night. It evened the series and handed Dallas one of the worst losses in the history of the playoff rivalry.

"You want to make sure I'm in attack mode every single play," Parker said. "Even if it's not to score, to penetrate for my teammates or make great cuts."

He did it all against the Mavericks, who head back to Dallas for Game 3 on Thursday night. Dallas was trying to send the Spurs to consecutive home playoff losses for the first time since 2002, but couldn't contain San Antonio's speedy point guard.

Parker had 27 points in the first half and finished 16-of-22 from the floor. It was a marked difference from Game 1, when the Mavs let Parker score 24 but made him a non-factor in the second half, when he made just two field goals.

"First of all you have to meet the challenge," Mavs guard Jason Terry said of guarding Parker. "We had four or five different guys on him."

Terry had 16 for Dallas, and Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd had 14 points. Josh Howard scored just seven points after torching the Spurs for 25 in Game 1.