Boston Crushes The Grizzlies; LeBron James Goes Off In Miami

The Grizzlies should’ve just hit up a Super Bowl party early because Boston slapped them around all afternoon, winning their fourth-straight game 98-80 behind a throwback (24 points, nine rebounds) from Kevin Garnett and yet another, ho-hum 21 points from The Truth. Boston’s defense was suffocating, holding Memphis to under 37 percent from the field and under 20 points in every quarter outside of the third. And with Rajon Rondo (14 assists, his first game with double-digit assists since Jan. 13) really back, they had one of their best bucket-getting halves of the year (the second frame) … Even though the early afternoon start killed their first half shooting (Ray Allen began 0-for-6. He probably felt the early start more than anyone. You know Ray. To get his whole routine in, Jesus probably had to be there at like nine a.m.), the Celtics had one of their best team games of the year. Chris Wilcox had so much energy that we thought he might’ve actually made a facial expression at one point. He also hit the glass like a maniac, and scored 12 points in 11 minutes. Mickael Pietrus hit two corner threes from the same exact spot during a five-minute span in the third. JaJuan Johnson was even scoring in the lane (10 points). So then Avery Bradley wanted to get into it with a pull-up jumper from 17 feet… and he missed the rim and nearly put a hole in the glass … What’s going on with Garnett? He’s 3-for-3 on triples this week alone, after making only four in his first four years with the Green … Meanwhile the Grizzlies were doing a fabulous job of saving their energy on defense for celebrating the Super Bowl. If their goal was to give up open threes and easy layups, they would’ve aced it. Had they wore pennies instead of jerseys, we would’ve never guessed that was the same “Grit ‘N Grind” team from last year. And on the other end, only Rudy Gay (21 points) did anything … We love how the Celtic broadcasters – especially Tommy – were praising Tony Allen by saying that he’s brought that “Celtic attitude” of great, aggressive defense to Memphis. It’s not that the C’s don’t have a culture that bleeds unselfishness and toughness, but Tony has been like that his whole life. He played that way back in Chicago, back when Will Bynum used to bring him in off the streets. It didn’t take Boston to bring it out of him. But we’d expect nothing less from Tommy … The Celtics are now 13-10, still 3.5 games back of Philly. But they’ve won eight of their last 10, have found their legs and now have Rondo back. Can they catch the Sixers? … DeMar DeRozan could only carry the Raptors for so long. Midway through the third quarter, the flood gates opened in Miami’s 95-89 W over Toronto. Mario Chalmers‘ back-to-back threes halfway through the third capped an 18-3 run to put Miami up 14. Eventually, Toronto made a run after Miami fell asleep, reducing it to five with four minutes to go on a Jerryd Bayless (17 points) triple. It eventually got to three before LeBron (30 points) hit two free throws and then had a breakaway tomahawk. The Heat (wearing their dope Floridians unis) didn’t need much from their supporting cast. LeBron missed out on a 26th-straight game with 15/5/5, but he still had 30 and nine. Even though he STILL doesn’t have a triple this year, Dwyane Wade finished with 25, and had yet ANOTHER block on a seven footer, this time on our man Aaron Gray. The bench didn’t matter in this one, but eventually it will. And where is Shane Battier? 236 players have attempted at least 95 shots this year. Among them, Battier ranks 235th in field-goal percentage … DeRozan (25 points) was rushing through the door of the Heat’s defense all night, and had one powerful dunk where he went right over three defenders and still finished the play despite getting hacked by all three … James Johnson also had a ridiculous smash on Joel Anthony in the opening minutes … Random stat of the day from ESPN’s Jeff Caplan: the Mavs have 14 baskets and 17 turnovers in the last three third quarters … And which one of y’all had the best Super Bowl party? Did you have Tyra Banks, Gheorghe Muresan, talking puppets and ping-pong at your spot? Probably not. We’re still taking Lil’ Penny‘s bash over anyone else’s … We’re out like Battier’s game.