Rajon Rondo had 15 points, 18 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the playoffs, and Eddie House scored a career-high 31 points on Wednesday to lead the Boston Celtics to a 112-94 victory over the Orlando Magic and level the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Dwight Howard had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Rashard Lewis had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic, who stole Game 1 and home-court advantage on Monday night, despite blowing almost all of a 28-point lead.

Game 3 is tonight in Orlando.

Rondo had 12 assists without a turnover at the half and finished one assist short of his career high. The only time the 6'1" point guard has had more than 18 assists was the triple-overtime Game six of the first-round series against Chicago in which he played 57.5 minutes.

Ray Allen scored 22 points and Kendrick Perkins had 16 and nine rebounds for the defending NBA champions.

Lakers 111 Rockets 98

At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, and Pau Gasol added 22 points and 14 rebounds as Los Angeles levelled the Western Conference semi-final series with Colorado at a game each.

Ron Artest, one of two players ejected in the game, scored 25 points and Carl Landry added a career playoff-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half only to trail most of the second half.

Game 3 is tonight in Houston.

Houston's Yao Ming finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds after picking up three fouls in the first half.

Emotions boiled over in the second half, with Derek Fisher and Artest getting ejected and five technical fouls assessed, including one to Bryant.