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Celtics go for 10th straight win against Pacers

Dec 3, 2008 - 2:48 PM Indiana (7-10) at Boston (17-2), 7:30 pm EST

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Celtics are three wins away from replicating their 20-2 start from one season ago. Currently riding a nine-game winning streak, the reigning NBA champions are looking to extend that into double digits.

On Wednesday night, the Celtics will be looking for a bit of vengeance when they host the Indiana Pacers. Indiana dealt Boston its first defeat of the season more than a month ago, as Danny Granger's 20 points led five scorers in double figures en route to a surprisingly easy 95-79 victory.

The Celtics have lost just once more since then, re-establishing the dominance they held over the rest of the Eastern Conference last campaign.

The retooled Pacers have been erratic in Jim O'Brien's second season, but are coming off arguably their most emotional victory of the season. They erased a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to topple the mighty Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Troy Murphy's tip-in of Marquis Daniels' miss beat the buzzer to lift Indiana to a 118-117 victory.

The win snapped the Pacers' two-game skid and left them as the only team in the league to defeat both the Lakers and Celtics this season.

Tuesday's game was yet another proving ground for Granger, who has established himself as a premier scorer in his fourth pro season. He finished with 32 points, raising his season average to 24.7 per game - sixth in the league.