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Houston Rockets (21-15) at Boston Celtics (29-7)
Wednesday January 7
7:30 PM ET
Game #37, Home Game #20
TV: FSN Hou, CSN HD, NBA LP 754
Radio: WEEI
TD Banknorth GardenThroughout sports there are many classic arenas and stadiums that are replaced by new modern sports facilities. TD Banknorth Garden is included in this as it replaced one of the most classic arenas in all of sports, the Boston Garden. For nearly 50 years the Celtics played here winning 16 NBA Championships. The Boston Garden had many design flaws that made it unique and different from other arenas in the NBA such as obstructed seating. In the early 1990s, both tenants of the Boston Gardens, the Celtics and the Bruins (NHL) wanted a new modern facility to play at. Construction on a new $160 million arena began in May 1993 and was paid using city bonds. Originally known as the FleetCenter, the first game was played in this arena on November 3, 1995. The arena was renamed the TD BankNorth Garden after TD BankNorth agreed to a 20 year contract through 2025.
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Raefer Alston
Shooting Guard 
vs
Ray Allen vs Luther Head
Small Forward 
vs
Paul Pierce vs Tracy McGrady
Power Forward 
vs
Kevin Garnett vs Louis Scola
Center
vs
Kendrick Perkins vs Yao Ming
Bench Leon Powe
Glen Davis
Eddie House
Gabe Pruitt
Brian Scalabrine
Sam Cassell
Patrick O'Bryant
Injured Kevin Garnett (leg) will play
Tony Allen (ankle) questionable
D LeagueBill Walker
JR Giddens
BenchAaron Brooks
Chuck Hayes
Carl Landry
Vaughn Wafer
Brent Barry
Shane Battier
Ron Artest
Dikembe Mutombo
Injured
Shane Battier (foot) questionable
Ron Artest (ankle) questionable
Tracy McGracy (knee) will play
D-LeagueJoey Dorsey
Key Matchups 
vs
Paul Pierce vs Tracy McGrady
McGrady is still battling a sore knee but has been playing through it. Paul Pierce is the one starter for the Celtics who has continued to bring it night in and night out. This should be a good matchup for the Celtics.
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Rafer Alston
As we have seen many times, as Rondo goes, so goes the Celtics. When Rondo becomes tentative and settles for jumpers, the Celtics play poorly but when he is aggressive and goes to the hoop and finds the open man, the Celtics are hard to beat. Let's hope Rondo comes to play in this one. He is coming off a 9 turnover game against the Bobcats and so it seems he has to play better than that.
Honorable MentionKendrick Perkins vs Yao Ming
While no one has the height to match up with Yao, Perk has proved he has the strength to hold him off and bother his shots. Yao is healthy and is a handful for opposing centers to guard but Perk can keep him from dominating inside if he is playing his typical defense.
Game NotesThe Celtics lead the all time series between these two teams 84-39. The Celtics swept the series last season for the first time since 1990-91. The most notable win came in Houston where the Celtics ended Houston's 22 game win streak. The Celtics won the first matchup this season in Houston 103-99.
These teams have played very physical and heated games against each other this season. They seem to have taken on the personna of Ron Artest with cheap shots and physical play and the Celtics have been happy to play them physical in return which has lead to short tempers.
Keys to the Game: Defense: The Rockets are 14-0 this season when scoring 100 or more points. The Celtics need to find their defensive intensity which they seem to have lost recently. The Celtics need to defend the paint and keep Yao and Scola from dominating inside, but they also need to defend beyond the arc as the Rockets are a very good perimeter shooting team. They have made 10 or more 3 pointers in a game 9 times already this season. Defense wins games and the Celtics have been getting away from the tough team defense that has made them such a good team this far.
Focus When teams play the Celtics tough, they seem to lose their focus. The Rockets are a good defensive team, ranking 7th in the league in points allowed and the Celtics will need to keep their focus and not allow Houston's defense to take them out of their game.
Crash the Boards With Yao Ming and Louis Scola inside, the Rockets are a good rebounding team and rank 6th in the league in rebounds per game. In the first meeting between these two teams, the Rockets out-rebounded the Celtics on the offensive glass and were able to get second chance points off those rebounds to keep the game close. The Celtics need to show the effort and desire it takes to crash the glass and grab the rebounds which is something they haven't been doing recently.
Limit Turnovers The Celtics are still last in the league in turnovers and have to concentrate on fixing that problem. Teams like the Rockets can take advantage of those turnovers and so the Celtics must take better care of the ball.
X-FactorFatigue and Bench Play The Celtics have admitted to being tired lately. Having the starters play between 40 and 50 minutes in a loss the night before definitely has to take something out of them. The win streak and minor injuries have taken a lot out of them. Both teams are playing in the second of back to back games on the road and both are coming off a loss. The Rockets are on an extended road trip while the Celtics will be playing a home game in the middle of 2 road games. With starters from both teams tired, it may come down to which bench plays better.
Topic: Rockets (21-15) at Celtics (29-7) 1/7 (Read 61426 times)