MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ray Allen hit a key 3-point shot in overtime and Paul Pierce scored 28 points as the Boston Celtics held off a furious rally by the Memphis Grizzlies for a 116-110 victory Saturday night.
Rudy Gay’s short pull-up jump shot for Memphis with 7.3 seconds left in regulation made it 99-99.
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Celtics forward Glen Davis hit a jump shot and Allen dropped in an arching 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 104-99 advantage.
Pierce made four free throws in the final 1:30 to seal Boston’s seventh win in its last eight games. The Celtics finished their four-game trip 3-1.
Gay had 22 points for the Grizzlies, who had trailed by as much as 11.
KEVIN LOVE had just outmuscled two New York Knicks for the last of his 31 rebounds in the game and there was a stoppage. He turned to the crowd and beckoned them to their feet, and they eagerly obliged, roaring their approval.
At that moment it appeared Love accomplished a seemingly impossible feat — putting the Minnesota Timberwolves back in the national spotlight, and back in the good graces of a fan base that has been disillusioned by years of failure.
Love’s 31-point, 31-rebound performance grabbed headlines across the country, made the Wolves a hot topic on national sports shows and invigorated downtrodden fans.
“It definitely feels good,” Love said Saturday, one day after becoming the first player since Moses Malone in 1982 to have a 30-30 game in Minnesota’s 112-103 victory against the Knicks. “There was a point where Target Center, the whole crowd was better than I’ve seen it the last couple years. That was a good moment. A lot of things happened for us and it was a collective effort and they were cheering us on.”
The numbers were astounding.
Love outrebounded the entire Knicks team 22-17 in the second half to erase a 21-point third-quarter deficit.
His 31 rebounds were the most in a game since Charles Barkley had 33 in 1996 and are three more than Chris Bosh, one-third of the Heat’s celebrated All-Star trio, has had all month.
Even a day later, Love still hadn’t fully grasped what he accomplished.
“No, not really,” he said.
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