Grizzlies Pull 101-98 Win Over Celtics

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Power forward Zach Randolph had 25 points and 13 rebounds off the bench Sunday night to lead the Memphis Grizzlies back from a 21-point deficit for a 101-98 victory over the Boston Celtics at FedExForum.

The Celtics had a chance to tie when Grizzlies forward Jeff Green made a bad inbounds pass with 3.9 seconds left. Boston guard Avery Bradley (14 points) missed a 3-point attempt and then point guard Isaiah Thomas, who led the Celtics with 35 points and eight assists, made a 3-pointer, but it was after the buzzer.

Memphis (21-18) won its sixth straight home game. The Grizzlies had a huge 58-39 rebounding edge on the Celtics.

Boston (19-18) lost its third straight game.

The Celtics stretched a 15-point halftime lead to 61-40 with 10:05 left in the third quarter after a 3-pointer from forward Amir Johnson (14 points, nine rebounds). Memphis, however, made an 18-2 run and Boston carried a 76-68 advantage into the fourth quarter.

From there, the Grizzlies got their first second-half lead at 86-85 with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter on a driving hook shot by center Marc Gasol (11 points on 5-of-17 shooting, 11 rebounds).

The teams traded the lead several times in the last four minutes, but a putback from forward Matt Barnes (12 points, nine rebounds) with 50.5 seconds left gave Memphis a 93-92 edge and the Grizzlies never trailed again.

The Celtics shot 42 percent from the floor (37 of 88) and hit 31.8 percent from 3-point range (7 of 22). Memphis shot 36.9 percent from the field (31 of 84) and 25 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 16).

Point guard Mario Chalmers had 18 points for Memphis and guard Tony Allen added 15 points and 10 rebounds

Thomas scored 13 of his 15 first-half points in the first quarter and Boston led 53-38 at halftime. Randolph was the Grizzlies' top scorer in the first half with 12 points and Gasol had just two points at that point on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.