Celtics try to stop skid in home tilt with Pacers

Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics will be attempting to avoid a third straight loss when the Atlantic Division leaders host the road-challenged Indiana Pacers tonight at TD Garden.

Boston followed up a two-point setback at red-hot Milwaukee on Tuesday with a forgettable home loss to Memphis the following night. The 111-91 defeat to the Grizzlies matched a 108-88 loss to powerhouse Cleveland as the Celtics' most lopsided of the season.

Memphis rolled to a 27-12 lead after one quarter and quickly extended the margin to 20 points early in the second. The Grizzlies kept pouring it on and took a commanding 55-33 advantage into halftime.

"I think it speaks for itself," said Boston's Kevin Garnett of the loss. "They came in and just totally annihilated us, nothing to it. I thought we played hard in spurts, but (it) seemed like whatever they threw up it went in."

Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen each scored 17 points to lead the Celtics. Garnett managed only six points and shot 3-of-9 from the field on the night.

Boston, which last lost three in a row between January 28-31, still owns a comfortable eight-game lead over second-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division. The Celtics trail Southeast leader Orlando by 4 1/2 games for the No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta is four games behind.

A matchup with the Pacers, who stand last in the Central Division and 14th in the East with a 21-43 record, may help the Celtics get back on track. Indiana has lost six straight and nine of its last 10 outings on the road and is a woeful 7-27 as the guest this season.

The Pacers have also dropped four straight and eight of its last games at TD Garden, including a 103-94 decision there back on December 22. In addition, Boston has prevailed in seven of the past nine overall meetings in this series.

Indiana does head to Beantown on a winning note, however, after besting Philadelphia by a 107-96 count on Tuesday. The Pacers won despite having leading scorer Danny Granger unavailable due to a one-game suspension for a fight with Phoenix's Channing Frye in Saturday's 113-105 loss to the Suns.

Granger, averaging 23.1 points and 5.7 rebounds for the season, will be back in the lineup for this evening's tilt.

Dahntay Jones and Brandon Rush both stepped up in Granger's absence, with the former tying a season best with 25 points and the latter compiling 24 points and nine rebounds. Troy Murphy chipped in 19 points for Indiana and center Roy Hibbert had a strong all-around game, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists from the post.

"Roy did a good job tonight of distributing the ball," Rush said. "He gave the ball to the open person, which repeatedly ended up in buckets."

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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