BOSTON – Ray Allen and the Boston Celtics take a lot of pride in their defense, so this one was a gem. For Milwaukee Bucks Coach Scott Skiles, it was embarrassing.

Allen scored 17 points in just three quarters and the Celtics set a franchise record for fewest points allowed in the shot-clock era, routing the Bucks 87-56 on Sunday.

“I think playing defense perfectly is our goal,” Allen said. “That’s what we shoot for, but a team can still score while you’re doing that.”

Not this time.

It was the lowest score against the Celtics since they beat the Milwaukee Hawks 62-57 at Providence, R.I., on Feb. 27, 1955. The Bucks, who joined the NBA before the 1968-69 season, set a franchise record for fewest points.

“That’s about as humiliating a defeat as you’ll ever see,” Skiles said. “They got us on our heels and took our competitive fight away from us. We pretty much just gave into it.”

Milwaukee was coming off 102-74 home win over Philadelphia on Saturday. When the Bucks flew east to Boston, they lost an hour to the Eastern time zone and then another hour to daylight savings time. And when the 6 p.m. EDT start arrived on Sunday, they plodded their way to all of nine points in the first quarter.

“You could see they were tired,” Boston Coach Doc Rivers said. “So, we took advantage and that was great, but a lot of it had to do with their schedule.”

The Celtics held the Bucks to just 38 points through three quarters — an NBA record, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. They clinched the new franchise low when Milwaukee’s Keyon Dooling missed a pair of free throws with 22 seconds remaining.

Earl Barron was the only player to score in double figures for the Bucks, finishing with 10 points. Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings led Milwaukee’s starters with eight points apiece. Guard John Salmons was shut out altogether in 21 minutes.

It was Milwaukee’s most dismal performance since an 88-58 loss to Seattle on Feb. 21, 2003 — the day after the Bucks traded Allen to the SuperSonics in a multiplayer deal for Gary Payton.

Eight years later, Allen had a light night for the Celtics, who also got Glenn “Big Baby” Davis back after missing four games with a strained tendon in his left knee. Davis finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Troy Murphy added 12 points and seven boards and Jeff Green scored 11 for Boston.

The Bucks, who had won three straight, barely avoided the NBA record for fewest points in a half. Two field goals by Bogut in the final minute of the second quarter pushed Milwaukee’s score from 18 to 22 — just three better than the league record for futility. It tied the Bucks’ franchise low and was the fewest scored in a half against the Celtics ever.

MAGIC 111, SUNS 88: Dwight Howard had 26 points and 15 rebounds, then watched the fourth quarter from the bench as Orlando took its first victory in Phoenix in nine seasons. The Suns’ Steve Nash sat out with a pelvis injury.

BOBCATS 95, RAPTORS 90: In Toronto, D.J. Augustin scored 23 points and Gerald Henderson had 18 to help Charlotte snap a five-game road losing streak.

PACERS 106, KNICKS 93: Tyler Hansbrough scored a career-high 29 points, Dahntay Jones added 18 in place of leading scorer Danny Granger, and the Pacers snapped a six-game losing streak with a win in New York. Chauncey Billups was back in the starting lineup for the Knicks.

THUNDER 95, CAVALIERS 75: In Cleveland, Russell Westbrook scored 12 straight points during a 5-minute stretch of the third quarter to awaken his listless Oklahoma City teammates. The Thunder improved to 19-6 against Eastern Conference teams.

NOTES: Heat center Zydrunas Ilgauskas was admitted to a South Florida hospital because of an infected foot and it’s unclear when he will return to the court. … Ending a long and often-vengeful fight, a Chicago court awarded Dwyane Wade sole “care, custody and control” of his two sons.