Celtics (12-2) at Raptors (6-6) 11/23

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 

Boston Celtics (12-2) at Toronto Raptors (6-6)
Sunday, November 23
12:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #15,  Road Game #7
TV:  CSN HD,  NBA LP 751 [/b]
Air Canada Center



Coach: Doc Rivers
Average Age: 26.7
Average Height: 6-6
Average Weight: 222

Probable Starters

Rondo/  R Allen/  Pierce/  Garnett/  Perkins

Reserves
Tony Allen
Glen Davis
Eddie House
Leon Powe
Gabe Pruitt
Brian Scalabrine
Patrick O'Bryant
Sam Cassell 
 
Injuries:
None

Probable Inactive
Sam Cassell

D-League
JR Giddens
Bill Walker




Coach: Sam Mitchell
Average Age: 26.2
Average Height: 6-7
Average Weight: 224

Probable Starters

Calderon/  Parker/ Bargnani/  Bosh/  O'Neal*
*O'Neal injured his knee in their last game and is day to day for this one. 

Reserves
Joey Graham
Will Solomon
Jason Kapono
Jamario Moon
Hassan Adams
Roko Ukic
Kris Humphreys
Nathan Jawai

Injuries
Jermaine O'Neal injured his knee in the Raptors' game vs New Jersey on Friday.  He is listed as day to day. 

Probable Inactive
Nathan Jawai

Key Matchups
  vs 
Rajon Rondo   PPG 8.9 RPG 4.00 APG 6.6 EFF + 14.50
Jose Calderon  PPG 14.2 RPG 2.80 APG 9.4 EFF + 20.20 
Calderon will be looking for revenge after being taunted by KG in their last matchup and so Rondo will have his work cut out for him on the defensive end.  Rondo has been aggressive and taking his shot when it is available and he will need to continue that in this game.

  vs 
Kevin Garnett   PPG 16.2 RPG 8.90 APG 2.0 EFF + 19.38
Chris Bosh   PPG 26.9 RPG 10.80 APG 2.3 EFF + 29.00
Chris Bosh is one of the best young power forwards in the game and is very dangerous on the offensive end.  He scored 42 in his last game vs the Nets and KG's defense will be needed to help contain him.   

Honorable Mention
Paul Pierce    PPG 19.6 RPG 7.40 APG 3.7 EFF + 19.86
Andrea Bargnani     PPG 12.2 RPG 4.40 APG 0.9 EFF + 13.67 
The Raptors are using an interesting lineup with a 7 footer at the small forward spot.  Pierce gives up 5 inches  but has the advantage in strength and experience. 

Keys to the Game:
Defend the Perimeter:    The Raptors can kill you from beyond the arc as they have the green light to shoot the 3 and are very effective from that distance.  They have 5 players shooting 53% or more from beyond the arc and the Celtics will need to stay with the Raptors defensively out on the perimeter. 

Start Strong and Don't Let Up  The Celtics need to come out strong from the start and not allow themselves to get into a hole.    With the Raptors' potent offense, they can't afford to start slow and play catch up.  They also can't let up if they get a lead because the Raptors can put points on the board very quickly. 

Take Care of the Ball   The Celtics have been turning  the ball over too much and the Raptors will make them pay by converting them on the other end.  They have to take better care of the ball. 

Crash the Boards   The Raptors are a  strong rebounding team and the Celtics have to go after the rebounds and loose balls.  They can't afford to allow the Raptors to rebound and get second chance baskets. 

X-Factor
Revenge
There has been bad blood between these two teams since Gerald Green slammed in a breakaway dunk to put an exclamation point on a blow out win.  The games between these two division rivals are  always chippy and it seems to be getting even chippier.    In their last meeting on 11/10, the Raptors led most of the game and  were up by 15 in the third quarter and led by 6 going into the 4th quarter, but Paul Pierce scored 22 of his game high 36 points in the 4th quarter to lead the Celtics to a 94-87 win.   KG also aroused the anger of Jose Calderon by waving his finger at him while going down the court.   The Raptors will be up for this game and will be out for blood.  The Celtics need to match their intensity and energy if they want to beat the Raptors on their home court. 

Game Notes
The Raptors lost a heart breaker against the Nets on Friday as Vince Carter converted a last second alley oop to win the game. 

Chris Bosh is averaging a double double and is 3rd in the league in scoring and 6th in rebounding.  With all the talk about the upcoming free agent class, Bosh is the one I would target if I was a GM.  He is tough and KG will need to be on his game in order to try to contain him. 

The Raptors can kill you from beyond the arc.  They are the first team in NBA history to have hit a 3 pointer in over 700 consecutive games and the streak is now at 790 games with a 3 pointer.  In their last game they hit 11-23 from beyond the arc.  They aren't shy about shooting them and when they are making them, they are very hard to beat.  But if the Celtics can get in their heads and make them start missing them, the three will sink them just as quickly as it will lift them. 

Team Connections:
Joey Graham and Tony Allen are former Oklahoma State
Cowboys…
Raptors Strength and Conditioning Coach Keith D’Amelio was an assistant to Ed Lacerte for three seasons.

[Edgar]

1st excellent job as always fla.
2nd. its incredible how stats lies about who the better player is between those two p.f.
3. i want rondo to finally put calderon in place, as much as i think calderon is the better player\
4. I hope we win.
5.i dont think we will wn but i will be rooting for my cs as always

6. on chat we will have to hear again how much Derek loves JO...lol

[Toine43]

I've tried hard to pay attention to exactly what has been going wrong that causes us to start slow so often. I think a big part of it may have to do with Rondo defensively. When the other teams are pouring on the points early and then slowing down later in games, it may be because of a change in Rondo's defensive performance. And when I say Rondo's defense, I specifically mean his defense early in the shot clock. When the other teams go on runs, it seems to be because Rondo isn't getting back on defense and picking up the opposing point guard. With Calderon amped up because of KG, I think that the chances of the Raptors exploding out of the gate is a likely possibility. In order to stop this, Rondo needs to put an end to his early game habit of letting the other team's point guards have their way against him.

[NoraG1]

I've tried hard to pay attention to exactly what has been going wrong that causes us to start slow so often. I think a big part of it may have to do with Rondo defensively. When the other teams are pouring on the points early and then slowing down later in games, it may be because of a change in Rondo's defensive performance. And when I say Rondo's defense, I specifically mean his defense early in the shot clock. When the other teams go on runs, it seems to be because Rondo isn't getting back on defense and picking up the opposing point guard. With Calderon amped up because of KG, I think that the chances of the Raptors exploding out of the gate is a likely possibility. In order to stop this, Rondo needs to put an end to his early game habit of letting the other team's point guards have their way against him.

I think the reason that the C's start out 'slow' is that other opponants are amped up at the beginning of games because they are playing the champs. Celtics don't match that and I think if they try to do that everynight it will wear them out by the end of the season.

[Fafnir]

2nd. its incredible how stats lies about who the better player is between those two p.f.

For this year yes, maybe for next. But after that inevitably KG's decline will make Bosh the superior PF.

It'll be a good match up to watch. Bosh has certainly been playing well as of late. I anticipate Garnett shutting him down again tonight though.

[ManUp]

Aaaaaaaaaah!

I'm going to be stuck at work, and miss the whole game.

Wish the game was a little bit later.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Aaaaaaaaaah!

I'm going to be stuck at work, and miss the whole game.

Wish the game was a little bit later.

Work on Sunday... I think it's time you went looking for a new job.

[ACF]

Wish the game was a little bit later.

Hell no!
It's one of the few times where
I don't have to get up or stay up
until late to catch a game. I love it.
I feel bad for you but there are
probably 60 other games you get to watch!

GO CELTICS!

[ACF]

TP for FL.
Have a great game, guys.

[Redz]

Here's hoping they don't black out at 2 PM with the game on the line again.

Should be a fun one.  Bosh has been steamrolling.

And Bargnani???  What's got into him?

[fairweatherfan]

2nd. its incredible how stats lies about who the better player is between those two p.f.

For this year yes, maybe for next. But after that inevitably KG's decline will make Bosh the superior PF.

It'll be a good match up to watch. Bosh has certainly been playing well as of late. I anticipate Garnett shutting him down again tonight though.

Bosh always seems to rack up huge numbers against inferior players and disappear when playing another star.  I don't expect that to change tonight.  Looking forward to the matinee.

[davemonsterband]

Raptors pregame just announced JO's starting.

[ma11l]

Wow nice run right there.  I can only watch on gamecast, is this good Celts D or bad Raptors O?

[xmuscularghandix]

Kendrick Perkins upfake, JO bites, perk puts it on the floor AND DUNKS IT!

[fairweatherfan]

Best early start to a game I've seen all year.  Great to see Rondo and Perk being so aggressive - we are a MUCH better team when they push it and look to score...it opens things up tremendously for our Big 3.  Let's keep this up, we haven't had a true wire-to-wire blowout all year.