Celtics (29-16) at Wizards (16-30) 2/1

[FLCeltsFan]

at 

Boston Celtics (29-16) at Washington Wizards (16-30)
Monday, February 1
7:00 PM ET
Game #46, Road Game #25
TV:  CSN HD, CSN,  NBA-LP 751, 752
Radio: WEEI,. WJFK   
Verizon Center



ProbableStarters
PG SG  SF PF   C
Rajon Rondo/  Ray Allen/  Paul Pierce/   Kevin Garnett/  Kendrick Perkins


Reserves
Rasheed Wallace
Eddie House
Shelden Williams
Tony Allen
Brian Scalabrine
Glen Davis
Bill Walker

Injuries
Marquis Daniels (thumb) out
JR Giddens (knee)  out




Probable Starters
PG  SG SF PF C
Randy Foye/  Mike Miller/  Caron Butler/  Antawn Jamison/  Brendan Haywood
Reserves
Earl Boykins
Andray Blatche
JaVale McGee
Nick Young
Dominic McGuire
Fabricio Oberto
DeShawn Stevenson
Mike James

Injuries
None

Suspended
Gilbert Arenas
Javaris Crittenton

Team Connections
Caron Butler and Ray Allen are former UConn Huskies
DeShawn Stevenson played for Doc Rivers during the 2003-04 season
Randy Foye was originally drafted by the Celtics in the 2006 NBA Draft
Mike Miller played for Doc Rivers from 2000-03 in Orlando
Mike James played for the Celtics during the 2003-04 season
Mike James and Rasheed Wallace were teammates in Detroit during the 2003-04 season
Nick Young and Brian Scalabrine are former USC Trojans
Antawn Jamison and Rasheed Wallace are former North Carolina Tar Heels
Randy Foye, Mike Miller and Shelden Williams were teammates in Minnesota during the 2008-09 season
Wizards assistant coach Sam Cassell played for the Celtics in the 2007-08 season.
Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau had agreed to join the Wizards as an assistant but after  a week left the club and joined the Celtics' staff. 

Key Matchups
  vs 
Kevin Garnett vs Antawn Jamison
KG is still working himself back to shape.  Doc insists that he is healthy but just out of basketball shape.   Jamison has  been playing very well for Washington and will look to challenge KG. 

  vs 
Paul Pierce vs Caron Butler
This is always a good matchup.   Pierce has looked to be a bit more assertive in recent games and will more than likely continue that trend in this game.  Butler is one of the focal points of the Wizards offense also. 

Honorable Mention
Rajon Rondo vs Randy Foye
This should be a somewhat easier matchup for Rondo than the last 3 have been.  He was fantastic against the Lakers.  Hopefully he didn't spend all his energy in that game because the Celtics are going to need him to be aggressive in this game as well.

Game Notes
• The Celtics are currently leading the season series 1-0; Celtics swept the season series 3-0 against Washington in 2008-09
• Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24.0 points per game last season
• Caron Butler led the Wizards scoring output against the C’s last season with an average of 22.0 points per contest
• It marked the first time since the 1981-82 season that the C’s had swept the season series against the Wizards
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 168-101 with the Celtics 86-37 at home

The Celtics are playing in their 4th game in 5 nights played in 4 different cities.  They have faced 3 of their top competitors in the previous 3 games and lost all 3 of them, 2 in heartbreaking fashion after giving up big leads in both of them. 

The Celtics are working their way back to health.   They are still missing Marquis Daniels that leaves a big hole in their second unit and that has meant more minutes for the starters.   The Wizards are healthy, but are missing two key players to a suspension for gun possession.   The Celtics still should win this game but who knows how much the last 5 days have taken out of them. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is the key to winning every game. The Celtics have been playing defense in spurts.  Defense takes effort and the Celtics must get back to putting out that effort for the entire game and not just in spurts. 

Rebound - The Celtics have struggled in this area  this season and need to make an effort to improve their rebounding.   Much of rebounding is effort and desire and the Celtics need to increase both in order to get back on the winning track. 

Play Hard for 48 Minutes -  Against the Lakers and the Magic, the Celtics gave up big leads in the second half.  They have struggled to be consistent throughout games for much of this season.  They either start sluggish and then have to put out a huge effort to catch up, or more commonly they get a big lead and then stop playing.   

Bench Play -  The bench has been wildly inconsistent.  In some games they come in with energy and play great.  In other games, they are invisible.  They have to be more consistent in order for the Celtics to win more consistently. 

X-Factor
Fatigue
The Celtics have been through a gauntlet in the past 4 days.   Hopefully they have enough left to pull out this much needed win. 

[Donoghus]

Rough scheduling quirk here in that we have to travel to DC to play the back-end of this back to back after playing an emotion-filled game against the Lakers.

This game certainly has me nervous but its purely from the travel/back to back/fatigue standpoint only.  I'd feel a lot better if it was on Tuesday.

What this game will show is the psyche of this team after the loss today.

[celticinorlando]

i am feeling more comfortable with tony spelling ray. they need to just get a win...any win

[Drucci]

I don't care how we win this game, but a loss is unacceptable.

We desperately need a win and we need to start a winning streak in February, so let's do it.

TP FL and go Celtics.

[Edgar]

So this we will sin huh?

[aporel#18]

Go Celtics!

We need a W, and we'll get it. This team is just finding their game shape, and february will be a winning month again.

TP FL

let's get #18 

[Atzar]

We're either going to suck or we're going to win by 20+.  I see this team coming out angry tonight.  At least, I hope they do.

[UGotRondod]

After the last 3 games, I'm taking tonight off from watching the Celtics.  Yesterday was especially painful watching them blow that 4th quarter lead. 

I'm feeling a win tonight, but I need a day or two off.

Go Celtics!

Nice work FL.  TP4U

[xmuscularghandix]

We need to beat down on the Bullets.

[celticinorlando]

We need to beat down on the Bullets.

yes....the celtics blog nation needs a night of joy

[buellj814]

Let the turn around begin tonight!!

[Rtpas11]

I don't care how we play this one, all I want is a hopeless WIN!!! I had Laker friends laughed @ me yesterday because I was so sure the Celtics would win that game 92-88.  Idk... I just hope they win this one by any means... LET US PRAY

[Donoghus]

Here we go again.

Sometimes I hate these back to backs.

[liam]

The Comcast guy says "the Celtics don't give up too many offensive rebounds" he hasn't been watching.

[jdpapa3]

The Comcast guy says "the Celtics don't give up too many offensive rebounds" he hasn't been watching.

We are middle of the pack (16th) in defensive rebounding so I tend to agree. We used to be superb at that, though.