How we see it goin' down: Celtics vs Pacers

Tip: 7:30PM Court: TD Garden Watch it: CSNNE Hear it: 98.5 Sports Hub

Referees: Mike Callahan, Bennie Adams, Brent Barnaky

IND 5.5 o/u 110.0

Tickets to this and other great Celtics games

The Matchup


Record: 1-3	Record: 1-4
At home: 1-1	On road: 0-2
Streak: Lost 3	Streak: Lost 4

Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Jeff Green (22.3 ppg)	Buckets: Chris Copeland (17.2 ppg)
Boards: Jared Sullinger (9.0 rpg)	Boards: Roy Hibbert (8.8 rpg)
Dimes: Rajon Rondo (12.5 apg)	Dimes: Donald Sloan (6.6 apg)

For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 106.2 (10th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 96.0 (23rd NBA)
Defensive Rating: 107.6 (25th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 99.2 (10th NBA)
Pace: 101.5 (3rd NBA)	Pace: 93.5 (26th NBA)

Last time

Last season the Celtics were swept in the season series 4-0. In the closest game, a 120-97 defeat, Jeff Green and Paul George went toe-to-toe. Green finished with 27 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block while George finished with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. The game took a turn for the worst when Rondo’s three was called back after an official review. The three would have put Boston up 93-90 with 4:37 remaining in the game.

This time

Get it to: Jeff Green

His our leading scorer and is very much a momentum based player. We need to feed Green the ball early because he’ll have the mismatch with Chris Copeland on him, and if he stays aggressive he can get Hibbert in foul trouble. Look for Green to be fed early and often.

Gotta stop: Chris Copeland

The Pacers really don’t have any legit offensive threats like they had in all our previous matchups, but Copeland has been having a good season, and is their best form of offense. Stopping him will significantly handicap the Pacers offense, and force them to depend on other limited offensive players like Donald Sloan or Roy Hibbert.

The Wild Card: Celtics Bench

Against Toronto, Boston’s bench combined for a -42 when on the court. Those type of disappointing results can not continue, and will hopefully lead to some roster tweaks in the future (advocating James Young again). However, tonight we should expect to see a lot more energy from this second unit defensively and offensively. Turner needs to play with more poise, and be more alert on the defensive end while Bass needs to pick up the aggressiveness that made him such a coach favorite. We won’t need a monster game from the second unit to win tonight, but they need to show some signs of improvement if they want to keep their roles