How we see it goin’ down: Celtics – Jazz

Tip: 7:30 PM     Court: TD Garden   Watch it: CSN  Hear it: WEEI

                           Referees:  Eddie F. Rush, Bennie Adams, James Williams

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The Matchup

Record: 27-22 (2nd Atlantic, 7th East)	Record: 27-23 (3rd Northwest, 7th West)
At Home:  17-8	On the Road: 8-17
Streak: Won 2	Streak: Won 1
Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (18.9 ppg)	Buckets: Al Jefferson (19.4 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (8.1 rpg)	Boards: Jefferson (9.3 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (10.7 apg)	Dimes: Devin Harris (4.9 apg)
For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 100.5 (25th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 106.2 (7th NBA)
Defensive Rating:  99.6 (3rd NBA)	Defensive Rating: 105.9 (21st NBA)
Pace: 90.4 (20th NBA)	Pace: 91.6 (15th NBA)

Last time

This is the only meeting between these two teams this season.  Last year, the Celtics won both games against Utah.  Paul Pierce led the Celtics with an average of 20.5 points, KG added 18.5 pts/8.5 reb and Rondo averaged 11.5 pts/11 assists.

This time

Get it to:  Paul Pierce

The Jazz are thin at the 3.  I'm not sure who the Jazz will have guarding Paul, but it shouldn't matter.  Neither CJ Miles nor Gordon Hayward are going to stop Pierce.  They're both too skinny to handle Pierce.  He'll use his body to give them both fits.  Pierce could have another 30 point night.  

Gotta stop:  Al Jefferson

I could have gone with Paul Millsap here too.  The Jazz front line is their strength.  They have to be kept off the boards.  

The Wild Card:  Derrick Favors

If this guy comes in and has a monster rebounding night, then we can forget about this game.  He's a big dude (6'10", 250)… it'll be up to Stiemsma and Hollins to keep this guy off the glass.  I know that sounds scary, but some good old fashioned boxing out will do the trick just fine.  It's not rocket science.

How we see it goin' down

The Jazz are terrible on the road.  This is their third game in four nights on a trip that started with a QUADRUPLE overtime game.  Their next game against New Jersey looked like a blowout, but it wasn't until mid-way through the 4th, so the starters still had a lot of work to do.  

The Celtics had a day off and they're at home.  I expect them to come out strong again and put the Jazz in a big hole early.  Of course, there are the requisite 2nd and 4th quarter lulls.  But I don't think the Jazz get closer than 5 points down the stretch and the C's end up pulling away 98-90.