Reason for concern?

For the third time this season, the Celtics are in the midst of a four-game losing streak.

To say their in familiar territory is a safe assumption. Although that's not a good assumption.

However, there is reason to be optimistic.

With 7:16 remaining in Saturday night's duel with the Grizzlies, the Celtics found themselves in a 21-point hole, their largest deficit of the night. Doc Rivers had already waved the white flag by pulling Paul Pierce -- who had just tallied his team-high 26th point -- a mere 30 seconds earlier and putting in the "scrubs."

That's when the fun started.

The Celtics cut Memphis' lead to two, 104-102, in the final minute and went on an improbable 29-15 run to end the game with the likes of Jordan Crawford, D.J. White and Shavlik Randolph carrying the load.

Take it for what's worth, but Boston's bench scored 27 points in the final frame. Tony Allen, one of the NBA's best defenders, was on the bench, and Marc Gasol did not play due to an abdominal injury. But this was still the Grizzlies, the fifth best team in the Western Conference, and the Celtics did work.

On the night, Boston's bench scored 45 points, shot 48% and grabbed 16 of the team's 37 rebounds. They played with a vengeance and disregarded the score. They just played basketball. And that's what Rivers implored Avery Bradley and Jeff Green to do on Saturday: don't make excuses, just keep playing.

Sure, they could have given up and moved their focus to Tuesday's big meeting with the New York Knicks. They could have used Courtney Lee and Kevin Garnett's absence as an excuse for Memphis tearing their defense apart. But they refused to give in, and when has this Celtics team given in?

We may see more frustrating nights that filled

Love them or hate them, this is who the Celtics are. They personify Jekyll and Hyde. They will flip the switch when it matters most, and they will make things a lot more fun come the end of April and hopefully for the majority of May.

But for the immediate future, things may seem a bit bleak.

Word out of Celtics practice today is that Kevin Garnett could miss, according to Rivers, "four to five games" with a left ankle injury. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said today that Garnett will likely be out for two weeks.

"I think it happened in New Orleans game, it was just sore -- just inflammation," said Ainge. "A lot of things can cause inflammation; I think everyone has a little bit of inflammation this time of year. KG, we need to get him fresh anyway."

Garnett had an MRI on his left foot this morning, and the initial results did not give team doctors or the Celtics reasons to be concerned.

As far as the other injured ankle is concerned, Courtney Lee sat out of today's practice, but he is listed as probable for tomorrow's game. So good news there.

In the long run, this may be a blessing in disguise for Garnett and the Celtics. Garnett has been relatively healthy all season long, and while the Celtics would rather have had this injury to Garnett come earlier in the season, a break right before the playoffs should do wonders for Garnett.