How we see it goin' down: Celtics - Timberwolves

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

Referees: Michael Smith, Courtney Kirkland, Tre Maddox

Get your tickets here: Boston Celtics Tickets

The Matchup


Record: 9-8	Record: 8-8
At Home 5-4	On Road: 4-5
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Won 2

Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (19.2 ppg)	Buckets: Kevin Love (19.4 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (7.4 rpg)	Boards: Love (14.6 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (12.9 apg)	Dimes: JJ Barea (4.9 apg)

For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 104.1 (15th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 102.4 (21st NBA)
Defensive Rating: 104.6 (17th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 101.3 (6th NBA)
Pace: 92.5 (13th NBA)	Pace: 91.1 (22nd NBA)

Last time

The Celtics beat Minnesota in their only meeting last season 100-79. Kevin Garnett had 24 and 10, Paul Pierce had 21 points, and Rajon Rondo had 17 assists.

This time

Get it to: Kevin Love’s guy

KG has shown some disdain for Kevin Love in the past saying

“Love is really good, very solid … very, very offensive-minded.”

“I know Kevin don’t really play a lot of defense….

I’m guessing Pekovic will be guarding KG, so in that case Brandon Bass should get some clean looks at the basket. KG will get plenty of chances at Love, and if I was running things, I’d be trying to set as many screens as I could to get Love to switch onto KG.

Gotta stop: Kevin Love

The league’s most adept rebounder… a guy capable of putting up a 20/20 game against just about anyone… is about to face the league’s worst rebounding team.

Please, for the love that all that is holy, PLEASE keep this guy SOMEWHAT off the boards.

The Wild Card: Nikola Pekovic

Last year, he was the league’s best offensive rebounder. He’s taken a little step back in production this season, but, again, there’s nothing quite like facing the Celtics to fix a drop-off in your offensive rebounding production.