The Celtics kept the giddy momentum of their massive win in L.A. alive with a similarly dominant victory over another Western Conference playoff team (albeit more a scrappy upstart in the Grizzlies, as opposed to the powerhouse Lakers). Let’s look more closely at how it went down:
Defense was the key
I mean…offense certainly means a hell of a lot in any matchup where a team has a half-dozen double-figure scorers, shoots 54% for the game and holds a 30-plus-point lead for about half a quarter. But defense is why Boston was able to reach that mountaintop in the first place.