Celtics complete home-and-home series with Magic tonight

  In a rematch of Monday night’s thrashing of the Orlando Magic in Boston, the two teams will go at it again this time in Orlando at the Amway Center. Whether or not the Magic “took the night off” due to the fact that the Celtics had five of their players out due to injury and they assumed it would be a cakewalk is neither here nor there. The Orlando Magic should be embarassed by their performance which led to a record low scoring output of 56 points and 25% shooting percentage. I’m sure that will be on their minds as they enter tonight’s game.

  The Celtics will still be shorthanded, as it has been reported that Ray Allen will definitely be out again, but Mickael Pietrus, Chris Wilcox and Keyon Dooling will all be active. Rajon Rondo will be a gametime decision as will Jermaine O’Neal who apparently has a sore knee. It looked as though it was injured as he took a charge from Hedu Turkoglou and came up holding his left knee.

 Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass will look to duplicate their efforts from Monday night as they led the way for the C’s with 19 points each. Pierce appears to be getting closer to “game shape” with every game he plays and has been dominant in the last several games where many of his teammates have been on the bench in suits. Kevin Garnett was a major factor in the victory as well with another double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

  Whether or not Rondo plays, we should continue to see Avery Bradley get significant minutes after the breakout performance that he displayed in the blowout. Defensive intensity led to easy hoops for himself and his mates and following up on that tonight will be key as Orlando will be hungry to prove the loss Monday was an anomoly.

  On the Orlando side, Dwight Howard was held to just 18 points and 14 rebounds with many of those points coming from the line. The team only hit 16 shots the entire game while allowing the Celtics to shoot 42%. The C’s did manage to hit all of their 19 free throws which helped. Orlando was outrebounded 46-44 which is another area they will look to improve on from Monday’s game as well. Glen Davis, who returned to Boston for the first time since the trade to Orlando for Bass only had 6 points although he did pick up 11 boards, will look to get revenge against his old team on his new home floor.

Keys to the Game – Boston Celtics

1. Avery Bradley – He was the X-Factor on Monday, if he can continue to disrupt the Magic’s offense as they try to get set up on the half court regardless if he starts or comes off of the bench, a frustrated Orlando team will again have to force up shots with the shot clock running out. His defense led to many easy transition and fast break baskets as well.

2. Outrebound them again – It will be a disadvantage if JO doesn’t play, but regardless the C’s need to bang the boards and win that battle. KG and Bass may be counted on more in that area.

3. Let Pierce lead the way – When Allen and Rondo have not been on the floor, Pierce has had no choice but to be a scorer out there. He is hitting his step-back shot with more consistently and appears to have his legs to finish at the hoop as well. No one on the Magic can defend Pierce one on one. I expect another big game from the Captain.

Keys to the Game – Orlando Magic

1. Put Monday Night Behind You – The Magic have already played since Monday, inking a convincing win over the C’s next opponent Indiana,  so this shouldn’t be an issue but clearly it’s going to be the talk of the town before the game starts.

2. Dwight Howard – this will be especially key if JO is out. Big fella should dominate in the paint and take every rebound away from a smaller Celtics frontcourt. If his hook shot is working tonight, he may score 56 himself.

3. Ball movement – Orlando wasn’t able to move the ball effectively against a swarming Celtics defense Monday night and the leader in assists for them that night ended up being Dwight Howard with 3. They can’t let that happen again if they want to win this game.

Projected Starters

No.

 34    Paul Pierce                 F
5      Kevin Garnett              F
7     Jermaine O’Neal           C (gametime decision)
28    Mickael Pietrus            G
0      Avery Bradley              G

Projected Starters

No.

15       Hedu Turkoglu         F
33        Ryan Anderson       F
12        Dwight Howard        C
23       Jason Richardson    G
14       Jameer Nelson         G

Stay tuned to CLNS Radio right after the game for the CLNS Radio Celtics Postgame Show hosted by the voice of the Celtics Postgame Show Matt Rury. Co-hosting with Matt tonight will be locker room coorespondent and co-host of The Block Party Jared Weiss, who will step out of the locker room with the game on the road to provide his analysis as well as myself, Sean Bakke as we cover all the bases in tonight’s matchup with the Magic and look forward to tomorrow’s clash with the Pacers.