Kevin Garnett guides Boston Celtics to a 98-80 win over Memphis Grizzlies - NBA Recap
Kevin Garnett is in the twilight of his career, however the 14 times All-Star still possesses many of the skills he used to display in his hay days.
On Sunday night, the 35 year old power forward guided the Boston Celtics to their 13th win of the season by matching his season high 24 points on a near perfect shooting, 9-for-12 from the floor, and 9 boards.
"He was feeling good. It's a still a kids' game. He was having fun," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of Garnett, "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”
Paul Pierce was also phenomenal and finished with 21 points on a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe, 6 boards and 6 dimes. Ray Allen and reserve Chris Wilcox both amassed 12 points apiece while JaJuan Johnson netted 10 points
in the 22:06 minutes he spent on the court.
Celtics were accurate with their shooting and netted 49.3% from the floor and 90.5% from the charity stripe. They committed 20 turnovers in the game but that did not hurt them much in the end.
Rudy g*y paced the Grizzlies with 21 points on 4 for 4 from the free throw line and 7 boards. OJ Mayo had 15 points whereas Sam Young and Dante Cunningham both sealed 10 points each.
"The key to the game was that we didn't get back on defence. 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”
The C's started aggressively and after dominating the proceedings in the first 24 minutes, ended the first half with a lead of 8 points 43-35. Third frame was a competitive one as both teams scored 26 points each. The first half
deficit though never allowed Grizzlies to get ahead of the opponents. Boston were still up by 8 points 69-61 by the end of the frame.
The Greens changed gears further in the deciding quarter and rattled a decisive 21-9 spurt in the opening minutes to gain complete control of the game; ahead by 20 points 90-70.
Grizzlies succumbed to the pressure of the mammoth deficit and failed to make any sort of a comeback.
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