How we see it goin’ down: C’s – Pacers

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

Refs: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Violet Palmer

The Matchup

Last Time

The C's, playing without Rajon Rondo, got 21 points and 7 assists from Paul Pierce and 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks from Marquis Daniels in a 95-83 win back in December.  The C's played a crappy game but went on a 45-23 run over the last 17 minutes to take control

This Time

Get it to:  Paul Pierce

I'm going with the hot hand theory until it stop.  Plus he's shooting almost 64% against the Paces this year… his 4th best against any team.  He also dropped a triple double on them the last time they played in the Garden.  This time, the C's will have point guards to do the scoring, so Pierce can go ahead and be mroe aggressive.

Gotta stop: Tyler Hansbrough

Did I just type that?  Yep.  Have you seen what he's doing in March?  In 9 games he's averaging 20.3 points, and 7.1 rebounds.  In his last 5, he's scoring 25.2 ppg.  And he's put up 29 and 30 in his last two games. 

I don't want to overthink this.  The last two games were against the Knicks and we all know Granger is the man on this team.  But Granger's probably gonna get his no matter what.  But if you let Hansbrough start going off… then forget it.  And I don't feel like writing about that kind of backlash around here tomorrow.

Wild Card:  Delonte West

We all know something is up with Rajon Rondo.  You can't come within five feet of a Celtics fan without being asked "so what's up with Rondo?"  So if Delonte West can come back and give the C's some solid minutes, maybe Rondo can feel more free to attack the basket a little more.  At the very least, if Rondo's being the same as he's been recently, it'll be minimized by Delonte's ability to come in and give the C's some quality minutes.

How we see it goin' down:

This is almost going to be Milwaukee Bucks part 2.  The Pacers played last night, then had to travel to Boston for tonight's game.  And not only did they play last night, they won a tight, emotional game on a Danny Granger buzzer beater.

They are, like Milwaukee, not very good offensively… despite their 119 points last night.  They are, like Milwaukee, not very good on the road.  And they are, like Milwaukee, going to get blasted… even if the C's don't play particularly well.  This game is going to be the typical back-to-back letdown exacerbated by the fact that Indy's not a great team coming off a huge win.