How we see it goin' down: Celtics vs Cavs

Tip: 7:00PM Court: Quicken Loans Arena Watch it: CSNNE Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Tom Washington, Courtney Kirkland and Kevin Scott

Spread: Bos -4.5

The Matchup


Record: 20-20	Record: 10-32
On road: 7-12	At home: 4-12
Streak: Lost 3	Streak: Lost 1

Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (19.0 ppg)	Buckets: Kyrie Irving (23.1 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (7.0 rpg)	Boards: Tristan Thompson (9.3 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (11.1 apg)	Dimes: Irving (5.7 apg)

For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 102.2 (26th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 103.0 (22nd NBA)
Defensive Rating: 103.4 (8th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 109.0 (28th NBA)
Pace: 91.2 (21st NBA)	Pace: 91.8 (11th NBA)

Last time

The Celtics beat the Cavaliers, 103-91, last month. This was the game Doc Rivers dusted off Jason Collins, inserted him into the starting line-up and praised him for the 1 point, 2 rebounds effort.

This time

Get it to: Anyone

Whether you use new metrics (0.961 ppp, 29th) or old metrics (Opp. FG 47%, 29th) the Cavaliers are awful defensively. Ed Lacerte could get two buckets. If the Celtics shoot less than 40% tonight, I might [insert silly overreaction here].

Gotta stop: Kyrie Irving

Just an absolute beast at the point guard position; lethal off the drive and nails 40% of his 3-point shots. The rest of the roster really is chopped liver. Between Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee and Rajon Rondo, I’d like to think the Celtics can wear this kid down… a bit.

The Wild Card: Doc River’s harsh words

After the laziest of lazy efforts in Detroit, Doc Rivers blasted the guys for not caring and threatened to get rid of the weak links. Will those words translate into more focus and better effort?