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After beating the team with the second-best record in the NBA, the Indiana Pacers will take their shot at beating the best.
On Wednesday, the Pacers look to post consecutive victories over league powers when they visit the Boston Celtics, who will be trying for their 10th straight victory.
Troy Murphy's tip-in at the buzzer gave Indiana (7-10) a 118-117 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, opening a daunting four-game stretch for the Pacers against the top three teams in the NBA.
"That's purely unbelievable," Pacers forward Danny Granger said of Murphy, who finished with 16 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. "Troy is a monster on the boards. He gobbles up so many rebounds, and I'm glad he got it."
Granger had an excellent game in his own right, scoring 32 points while T.J. Ford added 21 and eight assists for the Pacers, who rallied back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to drop the Lakers to 14-2.
After traveling to Boston (17-2), Indiana visits Cleveland (14-3) on Friday before a rematch with the Celtics on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Tuesday's victory was only the third in 10 games for Indiana, which will need all the momentum it can get as it tries to defeat the defending NBA champion Celtics for the second time this season. The Pacers handed Boston its first loss with a 95-79 home win on Nov. 1.
The Celtics' only loss since then came at home to Denver on Nov. 14. On Wednesday, they'll try to match their longest winning streak of their 2007-08 championship season - 10-game run from Feb. 24-March 12.
Though Indiana won last month's meeting between these teams, Boston has won five of the last six matchups with the Pacers at TD Banknorth Garden.
Granger had 20 points and T.J. Ford added 19 for Indiana in the most recent meeting with Boston. While struggling at times offensively in that game, the Pacers forced the Celtics into shooting a season-low 34.6 percent while committing a season-high 24 turnovers.
Granger is averaging 24.7 points on the season and 31.3 in his last three contests, but has scored 20 or more points only twice in 12 games versus the Celtics.
Boston defeated Orlando 107-88 on Monday, when Paul Pierce scored 17 of his team-high 24 points in the third quarter. Ray Allen had 21 points while Rajon Rondo added 16 with 12 assists for the Celtics, who shot 54.1 percent from the field.
"We were just taking advantage of the matchups," said Pierce, who's averaging a team-leading 18.7 points on the season and 22.6 in 34 career games versus Indiana. "We saw something that we could do and we just kept going to it. My teammates did a good job of setting me up."
Pierce had 15 points and 10 rebounds in last month's loss to Indiana. Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 18 points and 14 boards.
(Thanks to the Associated Press for the assist)
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Wednesday, 03 December 2008
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