How we see it goin' down: Celtics - Bucks

Tip: 8:30 PM Court: BMO Harris Bradley Center Watch it: CSN Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Eli Roe

The Matchup


Record: 2-3	Record: 3-1
On Road: 1-1	At Home: 1-1
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Won 1
Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (20.0 ppg)	Buckets: Monta Ellis (18.5 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (9.2 rpg)	Boards: Larry Sanders (8.5 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (14.0 apg)	Dimes: Brandon Jennings (9.5 apg)
For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 100.3 (22nd NBA)	Offensive Rating: 102.5 (17th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 104.7 (19th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 101.0 (13th NBA)
Pace: 94.5 (8th NBA)	Pace: 96.3 (1st NBA)

Last time

The Bucks embarrassed the Celtics in Boston’s home opener. Pay no attention to the 99-88 final. That game was disgustingly bad. It featured almost no effort by most of the team. Brandon Jennings had 21 points, 13 assists and 6 steals. Tobias Harris had 18.

This time

Get it to: Kevin Garnett

KG’s really the only thing the Celtics have got going consistently right now. Yes, Rondo’s dropping dimes, but KG’s got the hot hand. Keep feeding it and hopefully it’s enough to carry the team as it struggles to figure itself out.

Gotta stop: Brandon Jennings

The first Bucks game was, by far, Rajon Rondo’s laziest effort of the year, defensively. I’m not asking him to pull an Avery Bradley and pick up full court… I’m just asking him to stay in front of Jennings and force him into more jumpers than drives. The Celtics can’t keep losing these points in the paint battles.

Further, when guys are allowed to drive, it pulls guys out of position and that makes an already bad rebounding team that much worse. The Celtics don’t need much help sucking at rebounding. Pulling guys over to help and away from other Bucks just makes it harder than it needs to be.

The Wild Card: Chris Wilcox

This one was a struggle. As tempting as it is to go with Jeff Green, I feel like he’s always the wild card. But Chris Wilcox, though, has recently energized the Celtics with his play. I called him the Celtics’ savior last night on Twitter, and I chose that word for a reason. His play has lifted the entire team in limited minutes. I saw an immediate impact on the team’s defense with Wilcox in the game in the second half last night. He was playing pick-and-rolls extremely well, physically pushing guys through as the worked around screens.

Wilcox is the team’s B-12 shot. He might just be the guy who sets the “effort” tone for everyone else (at least until Avery Bradley comes back).