Saturday night in Dallas, Memphis fell behind 16 points by the end of the first quarter, and couldn't climb completely out of that hole. Gasol, Randolph and Conley scored well (combined for 68 of the team's 99 points). The rest of the team shot 13/40 FG/A. Obviously, that won't do. Monday night, the Grizz host the new-look Celtics. Boston is 0-3, after a Sunday night loss at Detroit.
The Celtics have guys who have been productive members of a rotation in other places (Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Brandon Bass, Courtney Lee, Jordan Crawford). With Rajan Rondo still out (recovering from torn ACL), where will they get easy buckets?
Sunday night, rookie Kelly Olynyk came off the bench to lead Boston with 15 points. He also tied Avery Bradley for the team lead with 8 rebounds. Bradley, who scored 13 points in the loss, was the only starter in double figures.
Since Memphis had Sunday night off, and Boston is in this back-to-back, I expect an ugly game. Memphis will score a little more efficiently this time, but maybe not as many as against Dallas.
I expect the final to be something like Memphis 90, Boston 76. The Grizzlies' three leaders will do just that. Randolph, Gasol and Conley will get around 18 apiece. The bench will get more playing time Monday night, since Memphis will be comfortably in control most of the game. Maybe Allen, Prince and guys off the bench will use this game to rediscover their shooting strokes.
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