Associated Press BOSTON — Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers could see that Kevin Garnett was looking and feeling spry. ADVERTISING Running the floor and looking strong on the glass, the 35-year-old Garnett matched his season-high with 24 points and grabbed
Associated Press
BOSTON — Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers could see that Kevin Garnett was looking and feeling spry.
Running the floor and looking strong on the glass, the 35-year-old Garnett matched his season-high with 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Celtics to their fourth straight win, a 98-80 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
“He was feeling good. It’s a still a kids’ game. He was having fun,” Rivers said of Garnett, a 14-time All-Star. “He was having a ball playing today and you don’t want to tell him you have to come in because the lights are on, so we let him play in the dark a little bit.”
Garnett was 9 of 12 from the field, including his third 3-pointer of the season on three tries. He hit one in Friday’s win over New York.
“He’s shooting it well,” Rivers said, before joking about Garnett’s recent 3-point success. “Gives us another option at the end of the game — don’t tell him that.”
Paul Pierce scored 21 points, moving nine behind Hall of Famer Larry Bird for second place on the club’s all-time list, and Ray Allen added 12. Rajon Rondo had 14 assists and reserve Chris Wilcox chipped in with 12 points.
Boston took charge with a 21-7 run early in the fourth quarter that turned a six-point lead to 90-70 on Garnett’s jumper.
Relying on a combination of reserves and two of their usual stars — Garnett and Pierce — the Celtics controlled the glass and outran the Grizzlies for transition baskets.
“I thought we put together some really good runs and got the ball moving,” Pierce said.
Rudy Gay paced the Grizzlies with 21 points and seven rebounds, and O.J. Mayo scored 15 points for Memphis, which has lost six of eight.
The Celtics led by six points at halftime and pushed it to double digits (53-43) on Pierce’s two free throws midway into the third. Boston relied on some hot long-range shooting in the third quarter, hitting 5 of its first 6 from behind the 3-point line to keep Memphis from coming back until Gay scored three consecutive baskets late in the period.
“The key to the game was that we didn’t get back on defense. They had 26 fast break points on us and that was huge, and they controlled the glass,” Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. “We turned them over but we couldn’t get the easy transition buckets. They got back on defense and forced us to play half court, and they did a good job defensively.”
Allen hit three shots from beyond the arc and was fouled on one, hitting the free throw that made it 62-51. Pierce and Garnett also hit 3s, with Garnett’s bringing a loud ovation from the crowd.
“I can shoot 3s,” Garnett said. “Everyone’s acting like I’m 50 and out here on one leg. I don’t shoot 3s because we have one of the all-time greatest 3-point shooters in the history of the league (Allen), we have Paul Pierce who has won 3-point contests, we have other guys who can shoot 3. That ain’t my role here. My role is to get those guys open and shoot it, dunk it, pass it, whatever to get us going. But, I can shoot 3s.”
The Grizzlies knew they were in trouble.
“They got on a run right before the end of the quarter,” Memphis guard Mike Conley said. “Ray Allen hit that corner 3 and we couldn’t recover.”
Heat 95, Raptors 89
MIAMI — LeBron James took a hard foul and clearly was not happy. So the next time he saw the ball, he made sure no Toronto player could reach him.
James’ steal and dunk with just more than two minutes left gave Miami some breathing room, and the Heat held on to defeat the Toronto Raptors 95-89 on Sunday. James finished with 30 points and Dwyane Wade added 25 for the Heat (18-6), who won for the 10th time in its last 12 games and moved within one game of Chicago (20-6) for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
“We stuck with our principles,” James said. “And that’s to defend.”
Chris Bosh scored 12 points against his former team, which saw a 15-point edge trimmed to three in the final minutes but never surrendered the lead. Mario Chalmers added 11 for Miami.
DeMar DeRozan scored 25 for the Raptors, who got 17 apiece from Jerryd Bayless and Linas Kleiza.
“I liked our disposition,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “I liked the way we approached it. I liked the way we competed.”
Kleiza’s 3-pointer with just under five minutes left got Toronto within eight, and another 3 from Bayless as the shot clock expired on the next Raptors’ possession cut the Miami lead to 85-80 — the closest the game had been since early in the third quarter.
Bayless scored again to get the Raptors within three and cap a 12-0 Toronto run. And after Bosh missed a fadeaway from the right baseline, Bayless tried a 3-pointer to tie. It bounced off, and with the game in the balance, James went to work.
He was fouled by James Johnson and made two free throws with 2:20 left, not before letting anyone around him know he wasn’t pleased with the physicality of the play. The next time James touched the ball, he didn’t give the Raptors a chance to foul him — his steal and two-handed slam with 2:07 left gave Miami an 89-82 edge and all but ensured the win.
“Good back-to-back plays for our team and I was happy I was able to make them,” James said.
James — who leads the NBA in first-quarter scoring this season (9.1 points a game) — got off to another big start, making his first five shots and scoring 12 points in the opening quarter. He’s now shooting just under 60 percent in first quarters this season.
