Tip: 10:30PM Court: Oracle Arena Watch it: NBA TV/CSNNE Hear it: WEEI
Referees: Danny Crawford, Haywoode Workman, Gary Zielinski
Get your tickets here: BOS-GSW
The Matchup
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| Record: 14-14 | Record: 20-10 |
| On Road: 5-9 | At Home: 9-4 |
| Streak: Lost 1 | Streak: Won 2 |
| Leaders | Leaders |
| Buckets: Pierce (20.5 ppg) | Buckets: David Lee (20.0 ppg) |
| Boards: Garnett (7.1 rpg) | Boards: David Lee (11.2 rpg) |
| Dimes: Rondo (11.9 apg) | Dimes: Steph Curry (6.4 apg) |
| For the Stat Geeks: | For the Stat Geeks: |
| Offensive Rating: 103.5 (17th NBA) | Offensive Rating: 104.4 (9th NBA) |
| Defensive Rating: 100.8 (12th NBA) | Defensive Rating: 100.9 (11th NBA) |
| Pace: 93.7 (19th NBA) | Pace: 98.4 (6th NBA) |
Last time
The Celtics beat the Warriors in Oakland last season 105-103 on a Kevin Garnett jumper in the closing seconds. It was the only time the teams played due to the lockout. Garnett torched GSW for 24 points on 11 of 15 shooting, and Rondo handed-out 14 assists.
This time
Get it to: Paul Pierce
Paul is due for a big game. Despite dishing-out a bunch of assists on Christmas Day in Brooklyn, scoring wise he’s in a drought. Pierce has a total of 20 points in the C’s last two games on 8 of 23 shooting from the floor.
“Pierce is averaging 24.9 points versus Golden State since the start of 2000-01 – tied for his second-highest mark against any team over that stretch.” -AP
Gotta stop: David Lee
Lee lives in the painted area, and will kill the Celtics on layups, tip-ins & bunnies if not checked. He recently had a streak of 12 straight games with 20 points or more while shooting 50% or better from the field.
The Wild Card: Steph Curry
We all know what this kid is capable of. He’s shooting the lights-out in December with scoring performances of 27 and 32 points this month. If our perimeter defense is not on point, Curry can easily get hot and bury trey after trey.
How we see it goin’ down
Boston has been a hard team to nail down this year. On one hand, I see the Celtics playing with a sense of urgency after getting embarrassed by the Clippers on TNT Thursday night. But on the other hand, a young, hungry and much-improved GSW team will be looking to prove that they can hang on the second night of a back-to-back.
It’s going to be important for Boston not to let the Warriors get out to a big lead early. Oracle Arena is a very loud building, and despite winning their last 2 games there, Boston had lost 12 of 14 there before that.
Basically, our guys need to do what they do- i.e. Pierce needs to score, Rondo Jet and Lee need to be aggressive and KG needs to be the heart and soul of the defense.
I have a superstition on doing predictions, so I’m leaving them to you. Give me your predictions in the comments…..
GO CELTICS.
