Tip: 7pm Court: Air Canada Centre Watch it: CSN Hear it: WEEI
Referees: Bill Kennedy, JT Orr, and Violet Palmer
The Matchup
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| Record: 14-11 (2nd Atlantic, 7th East) | Record: 8-19 (4th Atlantic, 11th East) |
| On road: 4-4 | At home: 3-7 |
| Streak: Lost 1 | Streak: Lost 3 |
| Leaders | Leaders |
| Buckets: Pierce (18.4 ppg) | Buckets: Andrea Bargnani (23.5 ppg) |
| Boards: Garnett (7.5 rpg) | Boards: Amir Johnson (6.5 rpg) |
| Dimes: Rondo (9.6 apg) | Dimes: Jose Calderon (8.6 apg) |
| For the Stat Geeks: | For the Stat Geeks: |
| Offensive Rating: 101.9 (21st NBA) | Offensive Rating: 97.0 (28th NBA) |
| Defensive Rating: 97.4 (2nd NBA) | Defensive Rating: 104.1 (19th NBA) |
| Pace: 88.6 (27th NBA) | Pace: 89.8 (24th NBA) |
Last time
The Celtics have pounded the Raptors in two regular season meetings; 96-73 at the Garden on Jan 12 and 100-64 at the Garden on Feb 1.
This time
Get it to: Brandon Bass
The Raptors are thin and not very talented up front (Bargnani is still out). With Kevin Garnett's gas tank likely to be close to E (fatigue and energy is a running theme in this post) I want a heavy dose of the Bass-master.
Gotta stop: DeMar DeRozan
Although he was invisible in the last game vs Boston, DeRozan has scored 25 points in two of his last three games. For an offensively challenged team like Toronto, that's HUGE.
The Wild Card: The Celtics legs
48 minutes for Paul Pierce. 45 minutes for Rajon Rondo. 40 minutes for Ray Allen. And now no Jermaine O'Neal. Doc Rivers may have to lean heavily on the bench.
How we see it goin' down
I don't like the intangibles surrounding this game. The Celtics are coming off a grueling OT loss to the Lakers where players logged major minutes. There's an afternoon game with Chicago looming on Sunday. The Raptors did not play last night. Toronto has had their asses handed to them in two previous meetings with the Celtics. I hate to do this, but…
Prediction: TOR 95 – BOS 89
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