How we see it goin' down: Cs vs Knicks

Tip: 7:30pm Court: MSG Watch it: CSN Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Ron Garretson, David Guthrie, Mark Lindsay

The Matchup


Record: 49-19 (1st Atlantic, 1st East)	Record: 35-34 (3rd Atlantic, 7th East)
On road 20-13	At home: 19-14
Streak: Won 1	Streak: Lost 2
Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (18.5 ppg)	Buckets: Amare Stoudemire (26.1 ppg)
Boards: KG (9.0 rpg)	Boards: Stoudemire (8.4 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (11.5 apg)	Dimes: Chauncey Billups (5.4 apg)
For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 106.8 (17th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 110.6 (7th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 100.0 (2nd NBA)	Defensive Rating: 109.8 (23rd NBA)
Pace: 90.6 (21st NBA)	Pace: 95.8 (2nd NBA)

Last time

The Celtics have beaten the Knicks twice this season, the last victory coming in December at MSG. You may remember Paul Pierce draining a jumper in Amare Stoudemire's face with .4 seconds left. The Knicks had won 7 straight and were a season-high 7 games over .500 at the time. For whatever reason, they haven't been the same team since.

This time

Get it to: Paul Pierce

There's no better remedy for a struggling shooter than the New York Knicks defense. Pierce may be 3 of 19 in his last two games, but he's averaging 27 ppg in his last 5 games at MSG.

Gotta stop: Amare Stoudemire

He went off for 39 points and 10 rebounds in that December loss. Outside of KG, I'm not comfortable with any other Celtics player guarding him.

The Wild Card: Knicks desperation

The Knicks are a desperate team. They' are 7-8 since the trade for Carmelo and have slipped to 7th in the conference. There are reports that Melo is upset with his role in the offense. If this Knicks team is ever going to "circle the wagons," tonight is the night.