at
OrlandoMagic (25-14) at Boston Celtics (30-9)
Monday, January 17
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #40, Home Game #22
TV: TNT, SNET1
Radio: WEEI, WDBO
TD Garden 
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo 10.9 PPG, 13.4 APG, 2.4 SPG
Jameer Nelson 13.2 PPG, 6.7 APG, 0.9 SPG
Shooting Guard 
vs
Ray Allen 17.5 PPG, 3.1 APG, .473 3P%
Jason Richardson 17.8 PPG, 1.6 APG, ..421 3P%
Small Forward 
vs
Paul Pierce 19.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.4 APG
Hedo Turkoglu 10.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.7 APG
Power Forward 
vs
Kevin Garnett 15.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 0.7 BPG
Brando Bass 11.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 0.4 BPG
Center
vs
Shaquille O'Neal 10.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.1 BPG
Dwight Howard 21.9 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 2.3 BPG
Boston Bench MobMarquis Daniels
Glen Davis
Luke Harangody
Von Wafer
Semih Erden
Nate Robinson
InjuredKendrick Perkins (knee) out
Jermaine O'Neal (knee) out
Delonte West (wrist) out
Marquis Daniels (back) probable
Shaquille O'Neal (leg)day to day
D-League Avery Bradley
Magic Reserves Gilbert Arenas
JJ Redick
Earl Clark
Chris Duhon
Quenton Richardson
Ryan Anderson
InjuriesMalik Allen (ankle) out
Jason Williams (foot) out
Daniel Orton (knee) out
Team ConnectionsDoc Rivers coached the Magic from 1999-2004, winning the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in his first season
Shaquille O’Neal played for the Magic from 1992-96
Shaquille O’Neal was coached by Stan Van Gundy in Miami from 2004-05
Brandon Bass, Glen Davis and Shaquille O’Neal all attended Louisiana State University
Jameer Nelson and Delonte West were teammates at Saint Jospeh’s University (PA)
Daniel Orton and Rajon Rondo both attended the University of Kentucky
Shaquille O’Neal and Malik Allen were teammates in Miami during the 2004-05 season
Jason Williams and Shaquille O’Neal were teammates in Miami from 2005-08
Quentin Richardson and Jermaine O’Neal were teammates in Miami during the 2009-10 season
Game Notes This is the second meeting between these two teams. They first met in a nationally televised game on Christmas day when the Magic broke the Celtics 14 game win streak. Rondo missed that game and Shaq fouled out after only 12 minutes. Without Rondo to run the offense, the Celtics shot 35% for the game and a frigid 29% in the fourth quarter. The Celtics led that game by 5 with 2:42 to go and were outscored 14-1 the rest of the way for the 86-78 loss.
Doc has predicted that KG will be back in the starting lineup for this game and hopefully he will be as the Celtics will need him for this game. Even if his conditioning is off, the Celtics need his defense and his presence.
The Magic have been playing very well since the trade that brought Turkoglu, Arenas and Richardson to the team. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games while the Celtics are just 6-4 in their last 10. The Celtics are 18-3 at home while the Magic are 11-9 on the road. The Celtics have had 2 days off while the Magic last played on Saturday.
Key Matchups 
vs
Shaquille O'Neal vs Dwight Howard
This is the key matchup between these two teams. Dwight Howard leads his team in points (21.9), rebounds (13.4) and blocks (2.3). Slowing down Howard and keeping him off of his favorite spots around the basket is key to slowing down the Magic. Perk has always been one of the few centers in the league who has been able to cover Howard one on one. One of the other centers who gives Howard problems is Shaquille O'Neal and Big Baby is becoming a Howard stopper as well. He was held to just 6 points in their first meeting.
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Jameer Nelson
In the first meeting between these two teams, the Celtics offense struggled without their floor general and Jameer Nelson took over down the stretch hitting a couple of key 3 pointers in the Magic run to close the game.
Honorable Mention Paul Pierce vs Hedo Turkoglu
Even though Turkoglu is averaging just 10 points per game, he always seems to have a big game against the Celtics. Paul will need to keep him from hitting those clutch shots he seems to always hit. With KG just coming back (hopefully), the Celtics will need Paul to have another big game offensively as well.
Key off the Bench
Glen Davis - 12.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 0.4 BPG
With the return of KG (hopefully) Big Baby will once again come off the bench and bring energy to the second unit. He will need to cover Howard when Shaq goes to the bench. Hopefully he will do as well as he did the last game in helping to hold him to 6 points. Big Baby will have to work harder on the boards as well to keep Howard from getting a lot of put backs and second chance baskets.
Gilbert Arenas - 14.3 PPG, 5.0 APG, 1.3 SPG
Arenas always has extra motivation to beat the Celtics. If Arenas gets going, he could be trouble for the Celtics.
Keys to the GameFocus for 48 Minutes - In the last meeting between these two teams, the Celtics led most of the game but lost their focus down the stretch. Having Rondo back will help but they all must focus on playing team ball. The Celtics need to come out strong to begin the game and keep their focus for 48 minutes.
Defense - Defense is the key to winning. Period. The Celtics have shown that they have the capability of shutting down teams and when they play tough defense, the offense runs more smoothly. But when they falter on defense, it seems as though their game suffers on both ends. The Celtics must defend the perimeter as the Magic have guys that can hit the 3 (as they did down the stretch of the last game) and they must also defend the paint where Howard does his damage.
Rebound - Dwight Howard can take over a game on rebounds and put backs alone if the Celtics don't box him out and crash the boards as a team. Rebounding takes effort and desire and the Celtics must show both if they want to win this game.
Be Aggressive - The Celtics have to be aggressive from start to finish. They have to take the ball to the hoop and not settle for jumpers. They also have to be aggressive in going after loose balls and rebounds as well.
X-FactorsFocus and Home Court
The Celtics must keep their focus throughout the game, especially on the defensive end. They also have to focus on playing as a team. It never goes well when any player strays from the team concept and tries to do too much. The Celtics have been defending their home court well this season so far and they need to use the home crowd to give them the extra boost to win the game.
Topic: Magic (26-14) at Celtics (30-9) 1/17 (Read 76422 times)