Celtics look to build on 3-game winning streak against the Pacers

Just one week ago alot of fans had jumped off of the Celtics bandwagon as the team had fallen to 5-9 after a frustrating loss to the Phoenix Suns and looked listless to boot even after coming off of a blowout of the lowly Toronto Raptors. The team was looking old and slow and were getting exposed by younger, quicker and hungrier teams. Fast forward one week and a few of those fans have started chasing the bandwagon again. They are still old and they are still slow but there is still a hunger that burns inside this team and it has started to come out a little bit more than it had earlier in the season.

I can’t say that this team will all of the sudden leap to #1 in the Eastern Conference, but with short-handed wins against the Washington (Generals) Wizards and two straight wins against a broken Orlando Magic squad who may be demoralized by a historic blowout and a comeback for the ages for the rest of the season. Tonight will be a huge barometer of where this team is at. Now, I’ll admit I’ve said the very same thing when they faced the Pacers in the previous two matchups and they failed those tests miserably. The Pacers did expose the Celtics and their lack of size down low as well as their perimeter defense. Roy Hibbert was dominant in the paint and Darren Collison, Paul George and George Hill lit it up from outside.

Tonight should be different. Avery Bradley has stepped up his defense and Kevin Garnett is bringing a bar fight to a post-up near you. Although they haven’t played a team of this level since the last time they played the Pacers, and aside from the first half last night (I’m trying to forget that even happened) their half-court defense has been, dare I say, championship caliber. Mickael Pietrus and E’Twaun Moore have been snipers from beyond the arc.

The biggest difference I feel since the last Pacers game has been the play of Paul Pierce. The Captain has been struggling to find his game since he missed the opening games of the season with his heel injury. Ever since he fully healed and finally got his legs under him, he has been dominant. He still has a ways to go but he is more than on his way.

That’s not to say that the Pacers are just going to hand this game over the Celtics. They were blown out by the same team that the Celtics embarassed twice this week,  but they pulled out a exciting victory over the Bulls to become the first team to beat Chicago in their home arena this season. They roll into the Garden with a 12-5 record and the 3rd position in the Eastern Conference just 2.5 games behind those very same Bulls and a half game behind the Heat. Danny Granger, who had been struggling with his shot broke out Wednesday night with 22 points and a season high 9 rebounds. David West was huge as well pouring in 14 points and 7 rebounds as well as 3 steals and 4 assists in Chicago.

On the injury front the Pacers will be without Jeff Foster who has a sore back and A.J. Price is questionable with strept throat. For the Celtics, it was reported last night that Rajon Rondo’s sore wrist has still been painful and he may be a few games away from returning. The latest reports also have Ray Allen missing this one as well. He will join Jermaine O’Neal and Keyon Dooling on the inactive list.

Keys to the Game – Boston Celtics

1. Bring the intensity early – In a number of games this season the Celtics have fallen behind early and had to play catch up. Chances are if they get behind by 27 to the Pacers they aren’t coming back from this one so they need to bring it from the tip and keep it up throughout the entire game.

2. KG on Hibbert – Garnett was able to front Dwight Howard and frustrate him into catching the ball out of his comfort zone and forced him into bad shots or help defense. If he can duplicate that against Big Roy, he can take away the size advantage in the middle.

3. Swarming defense – the Magic couldn’t get a sniff of the basket and were setting up their offense with 10 seconds on the shot clock on many possessions. Bradley, Pavlovic, Moore, etc need to blanket the Pacers backcourt and force them into perimeter shots. Of course Indiana can hit those shots, so they’ll have to pick their poison.

Keys to the Game – Indiana Pacers

1. Danny Granger – he’s coming off of a big game and he has killed the Celtics before. They need him to lead their offense and quell any chance of the Celtics hanging around in this game.

2. Defending the 3 – especially with a lead. The Celtics have been able to come back from deficits lately with timely 3′s and they are getting too many open looks. Indiana has the personnel to stop it.

3. Stopping the penetration – Once the Celtics woke up and drove to the hoop last night, good things happened. If they can slow Pierce, who may be the only player on the Celtics who can do this they will force the C’s to beat them from outside.

Projected Starters

No.

34    Paul Pierce                 F
5      Kevin Garnett             F
30      Brandon Bass           C
28    Mickael Pietrus           G
0      Avery Bradley            G

Projected Starters

No.

33     Danny Granger          F
21     David West                 F
55      Roy Hibbert               C
2      Darren Collison           G
24        Paul George            G

Stay peeled to CLNS Radio after the game for the CLNSRadio Postgame show hosted tonight by the voice of the Celtics Postgame Show, Matt Rury and myself Sean Bakke with live locker room coverage from the co-host of The Block Party, Jared Weiss. We’ll be taking your calls TOLL FREE at 855-CLNS-NOW!