at
Boston Celtics (36-21) at Detroit Pistons (21-38)
Tuesday, March 2
7:30 PM ET
Game #58, Road Game #31
TV: FSD, CSN-NE, NBA LP 751-752
Palace of Auburn Hills
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard
Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey
Shooting Guard
Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton
Small Forward 
Paul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
Power Forward 
Kevin Garnett vs Jonas Jerebko
Center
Rasheed Wallace vs Ben Wallace
Reserves Tony Allen
Glen Davis
Marquis Daniels
Brian Scalabrine
Marcus Landry
Shelden Williams
Nate Robinson
Injuries:Kendrick Perkins (flu) out
Reserves Austin Daye
Jason Maxiell
Chucky Atkins
Charlie Villanueva
DaJuan Summers
Will Bynum
Ben Gordon
InjuriesKwame Brown (flu) questionable
Chris Wilcox (back) questionable
Team ConnectionsRichard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Ray Allen are former UConn Huskies
Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo are former Kentucky Wildcats
Rasheed Wallace played for the Pistons from 2003-09 and won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004
Pistons Head Coach John Keuster was an assistant coach with the Celtics from 1995-97.
Chucky Atkins played in 24 games for the Celtics in the 2003-04 season
Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace were teammates in Detroit from 2004-06
Key Matchups 
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey
The Pistons have had a lot of problems and questions but one thing is for sure, they see Rodney Stuckey as their point guard of the future. We have seen in many games that as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics. The Celtics need Rondo to be aggressive and to set the tempo the team.
vs
Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton
Hamilton is one of the few Pistons who remains from the old days. There have been some good battles between these two shooting guards, both of whom are very good at running off screens. Rip is the reason that Ray began wearing the shooting sleeve because 2 years ago in the playoffs, Rip was digging Ray's arm up with his long fingernails. Let's hope that Ray's shooting stays hot in this game.
Honorable MentionPaul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
These two players have also had some good battles over the years. Pierce is expected to return from his thumb injury and even when healthy, Prince has bothered him in the past because of his length.
Rasheed Wallace vs Ben Wallace
With Perk out with the flu, these two former teammates will be matched up against each other at center. The Celtics have been talking about moving Sheed more into the post and this is as good a chance as any to do it.
Game Notes The Pistons are currently leading the season series 1-0; Celtics won the season series 3-1 against Detroit in 2008-09
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 15.5 points per game last season
Rip Hamilton averaged 13.5 points per game against the C’s last season
It marked the second straight year that the Celtics had won the season series and the first time that it had done so since the 1994-95 and 1995-96
seasons
The Celtics are leading the all-time series 221-122 with the Celtics 106-38 at home
After losing to the lowly Nets at home, the Celtics have a lot to prove. The adjectives that they used to describe their performance in that game ranged from disappointed to disgusted. If losing to a 5 win team and being booed by your home team isn't a wake up call for this team, I don't know what is.
Detroit has had their own struggles this season and are 4-6 in their last 10 games while the Celtics aren't much better with 5-5 in their last 10. The Celtics are 20-10 on the road while the Pistons are 14-16 at home. This is the 2nd of 3 games between these old foes with the Pistons winning their first meeting in Detroit 92-86.
Keys to the GameDefense
Play 48 minutes
Run the Offense
Attack the Basket
Rebound
X-Factor Focus - especially on the defensive end. If the Celtics expect to come anywhere near the Finals this season they need to get their focus back on team ball and especially on team defense. The question is, are they capable of doing it.
Topic: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 (Read 61900 times)