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Grizzlies-Celtics Preview

Mar 10, 2010 - 5:45 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Memphis (33-31) at Boston (40-21), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Boston Celtics' problems at home this season have been surprising. The Memphis Grizzlies' recent road renaissance is equally shocking.

While the Celtics look to buck both trends Wednesday night in Boston, the Grizzlies will be trying to extend the longest road winning streak in franchise history to seven.

Dominance at home had been a hallmark of the Celtics' recent success, with the team going 70-12 at the TD Garden in the first two seasons following the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

A defeat Wednesday would match that loss total in barely one-third of the games. Boston is 18-11 at home this season, and a win over the Grizzlies would match its longest home winning streak of the season - three.

The Celtics (40-22) needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Washington 86-83 in their last home game Sunday, but Boston was on the other side of a late surge two nights later.

Milwaukee outscored the visiting Celtics 14-7 on Tuesday night in the final 5:45 of its 86-84 victory. Boston got subpar contributions from some of its biggest stars, as Allen scored three points and was 0 of 3 from the field in 34 minutes, while Paul Pierce shot 3 of 13 and missed a potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer.

"I loved the shot," Pierce said. "I thought I got to my spot. Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. That's the way the ball bounces sometimes. We gave away some possessions there in the fourth quarter. ... So we have to do a better job, especially in fourth quarters, of knuckling down."

Late meltdowns have been a recurring problem for the Celtics during their mediocre stretch since Christmas. They blew double-digit leads in the final 12 minutes of losses to Orlando and the Los Angeles Lakers in late January.

Boston was in much better shape the last time it faced the Grizzlies, winning 110-105 at Memphis on Dec. 14 for its sixth straight victory in the series. The victory was the Celtics' 11th in a row overall and improved them to 20-4, but they're 20-18 since.

The Grizzlies (33-31) have been involved in two other streaks lately. Their 107-101 win over New Jersey on Monday snapped an eight-game home losing streak, but they've won all six of their road games since the All-Star break - five of them against Eastern Conference opponents.

Memphis had gone 8-33 away from home in each of the previous three seasons.

The team needs more victories if it hopes to close its four-game deficit behind eighth-place Portland in the West, and having Zach Randolph on the floor should help. He's expected to return Wednesday after missing the game against the Nets due to back problems.

The Grizzlies struggled at times without their power forward, but Mike Conley and Rudy Gay each stepped up with 21 points while Marc Gasol added 19.

"What you can't make up for is having that dominant post player that makes a team have to double or account for him all the time," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins told the NBA's official Web site, "whether it's in the post or on the offensive glass. There were a lot of times we missed shots that Zach would have been in a position possibly to get an offensive rebound. We missed that."

Randolph is averaging 24.8 points and 14.0 rebounds during Memphis' road winning streak.