Celtics (32-17) at Hornets (27-25)
Game time: 8pm, New Orleans Arena. TV – CSN. Radio – WEEI-AM (850).
Team Leaders
Scoring
Bos: Pierce – 18.7 Hornets: David West – 18.1
Rebounding
Bos: Perkins – 8.1 Hornets: Emeka Okafor – 9.4
Assists
Bos: Rondo – 9.8 Hornets: Darren Collison – 3.7
Who'll go off: The second unit. Injuries have thinned out the Hornets bench. Eddie, Marquis, Sheed, Tony and Glen Davis should fare well against Jason Hart, Sean Marks, Marcus Thornton/Mo Peterson, Darius Songalia and Po-Z.
Who needs to be stopped: Rookie point guard Darren Collison (above) is averaging 16.4 points and 7.8 assists filling in for the injured Chris Paul. He had 27 points, 9 assists and 4 steals Monday vs the Magic.
The C's will lose if… they become enamored with the jump shot. Yes, Orlando scored 123 against NO on Monday night and the Hornets are giving up 107 ppg over their last 8 games. But the Celtics need to be aggressive on offense and attack the basket.
Miscellaneous: Rasheed Wallace is 2-for-12 on treys in the last four games. New Orleans has lost four of six since Chris Paul went down with a knee injury. Hornets guard Marcus Thornton (bruised lower back) has missed the last three games and is day-to-day. The Celtics won the first meeting this season, 97-87, Nov. 1.
Prediction: Celtics 106 – Hornets 95
After the jump, the Honeybees.
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