How we see it goin’ down: Celtics at Miami

Tip: 8pm    Court: American Airlines Arena    Watch it: TNT    Hear it: WEEI

Referees: Dan Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Olandis Poole

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The Matchup

Record: 0-1	Record: 1-0
On road: 0-1	At home: 0-0
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Won 1
Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Rondo (31.0 ppg)	Buckets: LeBron James (37.0 ppg)
Boards: Bass (11.0 rpg)	Boards: Udonis Haslem (14.0 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (13.0 apg)	Dimes: James (6.0 apg)
For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 111.0 (7th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 105.2 (12th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 113.1 (26th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 94.2 (4th NBA)
Pace: 93.7 (12th NBA)	Pace: 99.8 (3rd NBA)

Last time

The Heat beat the Celtics 4-1 in last year's Eastern Conference semifinals. The Celtics had a 3-1 edge in the regular season series.

This time

Get it to: Rajon Rondo

Point guard is the only position where the Celtics have an advantage. As well as Rondo played against New York, he must be better in Miami. Look for him to exploit Mario Chalmers, get into the paint and dish to his teammates. If LeBron gets the defensive assignment, let's hope Rondo can create enough space for his jump shot. 

Gotta stop: Chris Bosh

I'm going to pencil in 40 points for LeBron and 30 for Dwyane Wade. And I'm pretty sure the Celtics can't do anything to stop them. What they can do is neutralize Chris Bosh. KG (and Brandon Bass) need to limit Bosh's offensive production.

The Wild Card: Bench play

If the Celtics have any chance of winning, their bench must outplay Miami's reserves. A sore hamstring limited Shane Battier to just 4 minutes in the Heat opener. Let's hope he's still sore. Bass and Marquis Daniels must outperform James Jones and Udonis Haslem.  

How we see it goin' down

Without Paul Pierce and Mickael Pietrus, I don't like the Celtics chances in this game. They need an awful lot to go right in order to win. This one has blowout written all over it. I'll throw out some numbers: MIA 110 – BOS 93. I hope I'm wrong.