• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Szczerbiak, Allen lead balanced attack to lift Celtics

Jan 6, 2007 - 5:06 AM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Wally Szczerbiak led the balance for the Boston Celtics.

Szczerbiak scored 26 points and Tony Allen contributed 20 as the Celtics raced to a 128-119 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Ryan Gomes, Delonte West and Brian Scalabrine scored 16 points apiece for the Celtics, who placed seven players in double figures in winning for just the second time in nine games.

"To me, this is one of our best team wins because you can go through every guy who played and at some point, they contributed in this game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "It was just a fun game for us."

Scalabrine also hit a back-breaking 3-pointer with 7:16 remaining, giving the Celtics a 113-102 lead.

"It was a great team effort," Szczerbiak said. "We had seven guys in double figures. We came out and they tried to give us a knockout blow in the first quarter, but we stood strong. Then our bench came in and played great. Scal was phenomenal with 16 big points off the bench. I think everyone played their role and played aggressively. We did a good job and came away with a good win because (Memphis) was playing real well."

Pau Gasol and Mike Miller each scored 24 points for the Grizzlies, who shot 56 percent (45-of-80) from the field.

"They did a great job," Miller said. "They chased me off the (3-point) line. In situations like that, you have to get the other guys shots. They did a good job of shadowing and were tough on the point guards. They made our fours and fives work."

The Grizzlies are 2-2 since coach Mike Fratello was fired and replaced by Tony Barone on an interim basis.

"Our goal was to try to be more aggressive and take them off the dribble," Tony Barone said. "We did not do that well tonight."

Memphis used a 13-6 run to close the first half to tie the game at 58-58.