How we see it goin' down: Celtics - Raptors

Tip: 12:30 PM Court: TD Garden Watch it: CSN Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Jason Phillips, Courtney Kirkland and Olandis Poole

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The Matchup


Record: 5-4	Record: 2-6
At Home: 2-2	On Road: 1-3
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Won 1

Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (20.0 ppg)	Buckets: Demar DeRozan (20.0 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (8.0 rpg)	Boards: Amir Johnson (6.0 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (12.6 apg)	Dimes: Jose Calderon (6.0 apg)

For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 104.7 (10th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 102.1 (20th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 106.0 (23rd NBA)	Defensive Rating: 106.2 (24th NBA)
Pace: 91.9 (18th NBA)	Pace: 91.2 (24th NBA)

Last time

Boston and Toronto split (2-2) their regular season match-ups last season. The Celtics average margin of victory was 29 points. The Celtics have won 8 straight at home over the Raptors.

This time

Get it to: Kevin Garnett

I’m not sure who will guard KG – Andrea Bargnani (pretty please) or rookie Jonas Valanciunas (how do you say mother-fu#%er in Lithuanian?), but either match-up is beneficial to Boston. Let’s just hope Garnett can get his aging body loose enough for the early tip-off.

Gotta stop: Andrea Bargnani

DeMar DeRozan is the Raptors most explosive scorer, but I’m not overly concerned about him. I’m using the reverse lock logic on Bargnani. His scoring is down, he’s shooting just 35% this season, and he’s likely to be locked up with KG. But Bargnani is the type of guy the Celtics might sleep on and he’ll burn them. Let DeRozan get his, but limit the damage by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th options.

The Wild Card: The early tip-off

12:30 tip-offs are rare for the Celtics. They are 1-2 in three noon games over the past two seasons. It’s possible the C’s could sleepwalk through the first half and need a pissed off Doc Rivers to wake them at halftime.