Tip: 7:30PM Court: TD Garden Watch it: CSN Hear it: WEEI
Referees: Derrick Stafford, Tre Maddox and Haywoode Workman
Spread: BOS -9.0
The Matchup
 |
 |
| Record: 22-23 | Record: 14-31 |
| At home: 15-9 | On road: 6-15 |
| Streak: Won 2 | Streak: Lost 7 |
| Leaders | Leaders |
| Buckets: Pierce (18.7 ppg) | Buckets: Arron Afflalo (16.7 ppg) |
| Boards: Garnett (7.3 rpg) | Boards: Nikola Vucevic (11.2 rpg) |
| Dimes: Pierce (4.0 apg) | Dimes: Jameer Nelson (7.4 apg) |
| For the Stat Geeks: | For the Stat Geeks: |
| Offensive Rating: 101.9 (27th NBA) | Offensive Rating: 103.4 (21st NBA) |
| Defensive Rating: 102.9 (7th NBA) | Defensive Rating: 108.0 (25th NBA) |
| Pace: 91.1 (19th NBA) | Pace: 91.2 (18th NBA) |
Last time
The Celtics gave us all some grey hair with their 116-110 OT in Orlando in November. The Celtics have won 6 straight vs Orlando.
This time
Get it to: Kevin Garnett
Who guards KG? Nikola Vucevic is considered a mediocre defender. Backing up the injured Glen Davis is 2nd year player Gustavo Ayon. You can throw rookies Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O’Quinn into the mix, too. If you are wondering about Josh McRoberts – he’s racked up the DNP-CD’s lately. The answer to my question – Orlando has no one.
Gotta stop: Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick
Our Pitbull backcourt needs to bear down on their Magic counterparts. Redick (40% 3 FG) and Nelson (36% 3 FG) both have range. And with the Magic front court decimated by injury, we can expect a heavy dose of three point shooting.
The Magic are bad, Sacramento King bad. They’ve lost 7 straight and 18 of 20. They’ve been outscored by an average of 20 points in their last 4 road games. Glen Davis is out with serious foot injury and Arron Afflalo is questionable with a calf injury. The Magic are a depleted and depressed bunch. The Celtics RARELY choke out an opponent of this caliber. They generally dance around for 3 1/2 quarters while we all see our blood pressure rise to hazardous levels.
How we see it goin’ down
Despite the new look offense, the Celtics success is still dependent on the bench. Why should we believe Jason Terry and Jeff Green are going to suddenly give consistent efforts?
I see the Celtics controlling this game, but this one won’t be as easy as Sacramento. I’m predicting an 11 point win, but I wouldn’t bet the Celtics -9 in this one. Too many points for my liking.
Celtics 104
Magic 93
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