How we see it goin' down: Celtics vs Rockets

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

Referees: Bill Kennedy, Tony Brown and Olandis Poole

Tickets to this and other great Celtics game

The Matchup


Record: 18-17	Record: 21-15
At Home: 11-6	On road: 7-9
Streak: Won 4	Streak: Lost 1

Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (19.5 ppg)	Buckets: James Harden (26.5 ppg)
Boards: Garnett (7.0 rpg)	Boards: Omir Asik (11.1 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (11.2 apg)	Dimes: Jeremy Lin (6.3 apg)

For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 102.6 (23rd NBA)	Offensive Rating: 108.4 (7th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 103.8 (10th NBA)	Defensive Rating: 105.5 (15th NBA)
Pace: 91.1 (20th NBA)	Pace: 97.0 (1st NBA)

Last time

Some guy named Greg Smith absolutely torched the C’s in their previous meeting – a 101-89 loss in Houston back in December. The Celtics managed to shoot just 40%. You may remember KG and Kevin McHale shared an emotional hug following the game.

This time

Get it to: The open man

The most favorable match-up is Paul Pierce vs Chandler Parsons (0.944 ppp, 22nd percentile). Look for the Celtics to attack there, but I really want to see ball distribution. Move. Move. Move. That’s when the Celtics excel. The C’s also need to capitalize on fast break opportunities, and there could be many, Houston plays at a frenetic pace.

Gotta stop: James Harden

Anyone else looking forward to Avery Bradley locking down Harden? Harden isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, he’s averaging 29 ppg and 50% FG in his last 5 games.

The Wild Card: Whose second unit shows up?

The Celtics and Rockets both get 31.2 ppg from their bench. I would call that even. The Rockets reserves outscored their Boston counterparts 42-32 in the previous meeting. Somebody needs to prevent Greg Smith from scoring 20 points and shooting 90%. I’m talking to you, Jared Sullinger.