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C's beat Grizzlies 116-96 for 14th straight home win

CSNNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

BOSTON – While the Boston Celtics remain one of the NBA’s best feel-good stories because of their success and style of play, what’s still yet to be determined is whether they should be among the game’s elite teams.

Those teams will see a wounded, battered team like the Memphis Grizzlies and do all they can put them away quickly, playing with a show-no-mercy mindset.

It’s still up for debate as to whether the Celtics have that within them, but performances like Wednesday’s 116-96 beating of the Memphis Grizzlies will go far in the continued evolution of this Celtics team from being a playoff-bound team into one that could be poised for a long, deep playoff run.

Beating Memphis not only extended Boston’s winning streak at home to 14 straight (that hasn’t happened since 1990-1991 season when the Celtics ran off 18 straight wins at home), but also showed what they could do against a team that will fight to the bitter end regardless of who suits up for them.

Memphis is very much the embodiment of ex-Celtic Tony Allen, whose grit-and-grind style of play has become the franchise’s identity. He finished with 12 points.

But with so many Memphis players banged out and unable to play, and the Celtics showing absolutely no mercy at all, Wednesday’s blowout became an inevitable outcome.

However, it took the Celtics a while to establish control of the game.

In fact, it was a nip-and-tuck affair for most of the first half as Memphis managed to cling to a slide lead after the first and second quarters of action.

Boston’s control began in the third, shortly after Grizzlies guard Mario Chalmers went down with a leg injury and was unable to return to the floor.

That was just one of the many breaks Boston would get as they finished the third with an 18-4 run and led 83-67 going into the fourth.

Playing the role of difference-maker for the Celtics in the third was Isaiah Thomas who scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the third.

To put Thomas’ third quarter in perspective, the entire Grizzlies team accounted for just 12, third-quarter points.

It was about as dominant a quarter of basketball we have seen from the Celtics recently, and this team has had some pretty strong showings.

Boston also got a strong game from Evan Turner who had 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds off the bench.

For Memphis, which was playing several key players such as Marc Gasol (foot, out for the year), Zach Randolph (knee, day-to-day) and Mike Conley (foot, day-to-day), some of their younger players made the most of their increased minutes with JaMychal Green tallying a double-double in the first half before finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Also, Jarell Martin had a strong game off the bench with 16 points and six rebounds.

One of the keys to Boston’s turnaround in the third quarter was the job they did in keeping Memphis off the offensive glass.

In the first half, the Grizzlies had a 17-2 advantage in second-chance points. But in the second half, Boston limited Memphis to just five second-chance points while scoring 12 of their own.
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Celtics win 14th straight at home, beat Grizzlies 116-96

ESPNBOSTON

BOSTON -- Isaiah Thomas scored 16 of his 22 points in the third quarter, when the Boston Celtics turned a three-point deficit into a 16-point lead before coasting to their 14th straight home victory, 116-96 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

The Celtics have not lost in Boston in more than two months, a span that has seen them climb from ninth in the East into the conference's No. 3 seed.

Two nights after surprising the East-leading Cavaliers -- despite being without four starters -- Memphis sustained a collapse that was exacerbated by the loss of guard Mario Chalmers in the third quarter to what the team called a right foot injury. Chalmers did not appear to sustain any contact before pulling up and then needing assistance off the court, unable to put any weight on his leg.

JaMychal Green had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies. First-round draft pick Jarell Martin, who had scored eight points total in his NBA career, had 15 of his 16 points in the first half.

Chalmers hit a 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter to give Memphis a 55-52 lead going into halftime. But the Celtics scored the first five points of the third, then went on a 14-1 run near the end of the quarter to open an 18-point lead before Vince Carter made a pair of free throws to make it 83-67.

TIP-INS

Grizzlies: F Zach Randolph missed the game with a sore right knee. The Grizzlies were also without center Marc Gasol, who will miss the rest of the season with a broken right foot.

Celtics: F Jared Sullinger missed practice on Tuesday and Wednesday with a skin infection but started the game. Kelly Olynyk, who has been out the last 10 games with a separated shoulder, returned to full activity on Tuesday but was not dressed for the game.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Houston on Friday.

Damn. Who at CSNNE is responsible for editing their game wrap up? EX:
"For Memphis who was playing several key players". They then go on to list all the key players who were not playing.
There are a few more grammatical errors. I read Blakely all the time and don't recall anything like this. I don't believe it's him but I could be wrong.

Ktronic,

I have also noticed many more grammatical errors in many print articles in recent months. Seems that print writers/editors are sloughing off more and more in many papers.

Not fun or good, but a lot of other higher expectations have also been lowered in our society.

Aside for the obvious writing errors, wonder why they mentioned nothing about the Grizz beating the Cavs with the same depleted line up just a couple days prior?

Stevens made adjustments and got the job done.

Tyrone Lue looked to the king for help and didn't.

And imagine this....watching first half game film at halftime.........
Boston wasn’t battling hard enough for loose balls to that point, which is why it found itself facing a 55-52 deficit at the half. Looking to adjust, the C’s sat down during the break and emphasized their miscues during a brief film session.

“We came in, we watched the plays where we were giving up 50/50 balls, and that’s not us,” said Marcus Smart. “We’re the team that’s getting those balls, so we had to come in and regroup ourselves.”

Added Stevens, “I would say that we were just slow to react, for whatever reason. And that happens sometimes; you have to be able to adjust on the fly. Sometimes you have whole nights that are like that, and those usually don’t end well.”


and to add this also......

NBA's best records since Jan. 22:
Warriors 18-2
Spurs 17-4
Celtics 17-5

We might not be elite.........but we sure are looking like it record wise.

beat

You are your record, as Doc used to say.  I think Beat's W-L depiction since 1/22 says who we are.  Yeah, we've played some teams that had injuries, but injuries are part of the game.  That's why you have, or work like hell to develop, your bench.  Memphis, last night, showed they have been doing that.  A couple of their players stepped up big time.  Not big enough to win, but they are VERY depleted, down 3 starters.

UGLY first half.  UGLY.  Gotta give credit to Dave Joerger and The Grindfather, Tony Allen, for pumping up their energy level and taking it to us.  They ended up getting blow torched, but they went down fighting, and you have to respect that.  

Despite a butt-ugly first half, we ended up shooting 47% on the game.  This team makes excellent halftime adjustments.

Mario Chalmers was 1-7.  Made my night.  I've hated him for years.
Lance Stephenson with 2 points on 1-8.  It just keeps getting better.
Vince Carter can still shoot and really went off on us.  That's because none of those shots were clutch, had-to-have baskets.

I thought Jonas had a great game.  Not statistically so much, but he was everywhere.  A couple of real man-sized rebounds.

PUT ME IN, COACH!!  Mickey with 3 blocks in the same possession, all kept in bounds.  They got the ball back after he blocked a shot, took it to him again and he sent it back again.  I know he's only 6'8" but he's still triggering my drool reflex.  Amir with another disappearing act.  Amir, you have to play well for Danny to be able to trade you and your $12M contract in the off-season and the way Mickey is coming in and making noise that's what's gonna happen.

This win means nothing other than it adds another 1/2 game onto our lead over Miami.  We cannot look at this game and say "nice win" because their front court was D-league.  Ryan Hollins is their starting center, for Pete's Sake?!  C'mon.  He is so one-dimensional he's a single dot on a piece of paper.

14 straight wins at home.  Not even the Championship team of 2008 did that.  On one hand, that's pretty impressive.  On the other hand they won a championship anyway, so maybe it's not as important as all that.  Still, I'd rather have that kind of confidence heading towards the playoffs with a very good chance of at least one home court series (Atlanta, in 5th, is only 2 games back).

Houston tomorrow. Let's hope Sully doesn't get completely over his skin rash. He'll be so close to D12 it will be able to jump from Sully onto Howard and infect him. It'll be a real Mastodon Mambo, Cowens' favorite kind of game. Bradley and Smart on Harden. My prediction is that Smart will pick up a ton of fouls. Harden is treated like an endangered species by the refs and is very crafty on his fakes.


bob



.

14 straight at home......................NEVER happened before in the new place.

Since we have had virtually zero roster turnover we have done well.


Stevens has done extremely well..........and on the flip side we have an active college coach A HOF one (I can't understand why he's there) to boot that would not make an adjustment even if he had to take a leak.

http://brobible.com/sports/article/jim-boeheim-pissed-pants/

beat

This game was looking like a classic trap game but this team seems to find a way to avoid those trap games.

A couple of months ago we all bemoaned the very average home record but the Celitcs continue to evlove and mature as a team right before our very eyes.

I still do not know if they have enough talent to beat  Toronto and Cleveland during the playoffs but there is no doubt that the Celtics will compete at both ends of the court.

dboss

One of the more impressive stats of the night was the back to back to back blocks by Mickey.

Best shot blocker on this team since Mr Russell.  He will continue to get a few cameo apperances but  right now his  rim protection skiills are the best on the team.  

Brad is playing it safe but I think Brad is making a mistake by not playing him more minutes.The Celts are winning but there are still a lot of games where Mickey's skills could help us win right now.

dboss

KO is missed but Boston still wins. They will be better when he returns.

IT has the quickest stop and go action in the NBA. He literally comes to a stop and then blows by people. Wow....

Dboss

Wake up. When was the last time we saw a Celtic make 3 blocks in a row?

Dboss

We have got to star giving Mickey some court time every game, everytime he is in, he shows why he was the leader of blocked shots in college basketball last year and that was the best big man class in years. Sully and Mickey can compliment each other, he will only add to our defense. AB, Smart, Crowder, Turner, Jerebko all very good tenacious fundamental defenders....now add Mickey's strengths to that D.

Yes Cow, please let's add Mickey's D to our roster of pit bulls. His moments on the court are among my most favorite to watch. Something quite special there. Amir, not so much.