BOSTON – Ray Allen couldn’t miss early, and he was in the perfect place at the end.

Allen capped another great shooting night by grabbing a critical offensive rebound with 12 seconds remaining to help the Boston Celtics hold off Monta Ellis and the Golden State Warriors 107-103 on Friday night.

Allen made his first seven shots and finished with 27 points. He also pulled down three rebounds, none bigger than the one he grabbed off Kevin Garnett’s miss with the Celtics holding a two-point lead.

“That was the best part of the day for me,” said Allen, who wasn’t sure he could play Friday because of a sore right knee. “I’m glad I’m able to do things like that for the team, just knowing I can get in there.”

Paul Pierce also scored 27 for the Celtics, who let an 18-point lead slip to one late in the fourth quarter and struggled to put away the pesky Warriors.

Ellis scored 28 of his 41 points in the second half as Golden State rallied and gave the short-handed Celtics a scare right to the end.

“We played a great game,” Ellis said. “We made some mistakes, but we had a chance to win.”

The Warriors’ chances ended when Allen hit two foul shots after he snatched his only offensive rebound of the game. Earlier, he hit five straight 3-pointers.

Jeff Green added 21 points and Rajon Rondo had 16 assists for Boston.

David Lee had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Dorell Wright scored 11 for the Warriors, who took advantage of some shoddy defense by the new-look Celtics.

Boston was without forward Glen Davis (knee injury) and then lost guard Von Wafer in the second quarter with a strained right calf. Several of Boston’s recent additions got significant playing time and the Celtics struggled on defense.

“It was a good test,” Allen said. “We showed some resiliency. We should have never been in that predicament.”

The Warriors picked apart the porous defense during a 14-4 run at the end of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 88-81, then Ellis opened the fourth with two free throws after drawing a foul while attempting a 3-pointer.

“I just thought our intensity level went up,” Golden State Coach Keith Smart said. “We became the aggressors.”

The Celtics struggled to pull away and the lead dropped to 100-96 with 4:06 left on a 3-pointer by Ellis, who was alone in the corner for a pass from Stephen Curry. Ellis got open again and hit another 3 that made it 100-99 with 3:16 to go, but Pierce gave Boston some brief relief with a three-point play.