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Monday, Jan. 10 7:00pm ET
Bibby scores career-high 33 points | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- The Vancouver Grizzlies had pleasant memories to take with them on their long cross-continent journey home, especially Mike Bibby. He scored a career-high 33 points, making all six of his 3-pointers, and the Grizzlies shed the stigma of being losers by winning four of five games on a roadtrip that ended with Monday night's 102-93 win over the Boston Celtics.
"We've got to go home and now back it up," said interim coach Lionel Hollins, who has turned the team around in his 12 games since succeeding the fired Brian Hill. "Everybody expects us to win." That hardly could be said of the Grizzlies for most of this season. They were 4-18 under Hill but are 6-6 since Hollins took over. "He really imposed his will on us," Shareef Abdur-Rahim said. "He forced us to play hard and come out with a tough mentality." The Celtics can use that after consecutive losses to Chicago and Vancouver, who have two of the NBA's three worst records. The loss in Chicago dropped Boston's road record to 2-14, half the wins Vancouver had on the trip that ended Monday night. The Celtics, outscored 60-44 in the second half, squandered a nine-point third-quarter lead and fell behind for good 83-82 on Michael Dickerson's 3-pointer at the buzzer ending the period. "If this is not a wakeup call, I don't know what is," said Paul Pierce, who led Boston with 23 points. "We're not focusing on what the coaches are telling us." Kenny Anderson added 22 for Boston, while, for Vancouver, Othella Harrington had a career-high 27 points and Dickerson scored 16. But Bibby was the offensive star, hitting only net on most of his 3-pointers. Four of them came in the fourth quarter. "My shot felt good," he said. "I kept attacking. They left me open and I kept shooting." The Grizzlies hit 8 of 10 shots from 3-point range, while the Celtics were just 6-for-16. Coach Rick Pitino "told us before the game, 'let's not let the 3-point line be a factor,' " Pierce said. "We ran our defensive scheme and they knocked down shots." The Grizzlies fell behind 82-77 when Antoine Walker hit a layup for Boston with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. Then they started hitting 3-pointers while the Celtics went cold. Dennis Scott's 3-pointer cut the lead to 82-80 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter, and Dickerson gave Vancouver the lead with another at the buzzer. Bibby sank a pair to start the fourth quarter and Harrington made it 91-82 with another basket. The Celtics finally got their first points of the quarter on Pierce's 3-pointer with 4:20 gone. Bibby answered with a 3-pointer and Pierce countered with one of his own. Then Harrington's three-point play made the score 97-88 with 6:41 left in the game. Vancouver led by eight to 11 points the rest of the way. Vancouver trailed 59-52 at halftime, but tied the game at 70 as Bibby capped a five-point run with a layup. Then Dickerson's three-point play with 3:02 left in the third quarter put the Grizzlies up 75-74, their first lead since 6-4. They return home to face Phoenix on Wednesday night. They began their roadtrip with a win in Miami last Tuesday, then lost to Orlando before beating New Jersey and Toronto.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Vancouver Clubhouse Boston Clubhouse RECAPS Vancouver 112 Boston 103
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