Boston (17-7) gives Memphis the blues in defiant road win.

Nothing could stop Rajon Rondo (41 points) and his tenacious Celtics, who trudged on through a seemingly perpetual 10 point deficit against the lively Grizzlies to strut out of Memphis with an encouraging victory.

After battling back for an eternity that was filled with stellar shooting by the home team, Boston (whose shooting was also solid, but simply not as good) finally took a lead of their own in the 4th quarter once the hot shooting of the Grizzlies fizzled for the much needed lapse that the Celtics had been aching for since the end of the 1st quarter.

The comeback was led by Rondo (as expected of a star PG), but Paul Millsap (21 points) powered the collectively fueled resilience, while Pierce, Terry & KG chipped in a modest 10+ respectively. With the scores flipped for the final quarter, Memphis pugnaciously gave Boston a brief scare when they broke the still wet lead to 2, only for the defiant Celtics to reestablish their focus and charge their lead back up to comfort after a much needed timeout.

The same determination that broke Memphis of their lead earlier proved to be efficient once again, as the Grizzlies failed to finish that comeback of their own while Boston continued to play well in the final minutes, despite heroic efforts by Mike Conley (31 points) and Rudy Gay (20 points). A weak showing by Marc Gasol contributed to the loss for Memphis, as well as failing to crack down a defensive barricade around the dazzlingly inconsistent yet explosive Rondo.