Kings (8-12) at Celtics (17-2) 12/12

Sacramento Kings (8-12) at Boston Celtics (17-2)
Wednesday, December 12
7:30 pm ET
Game #20 Home Game #11
TV: NBA LP ch 754, CSNHD, News 10
TD Banknorth Garden


Probable starting matchups
Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Beno Udrich

Shooting Guard
vs
Ray Allen vs John Salmons

Small Forward
vs
Paul Pierce vs Ron Artest

Power Forward
vs
Kevin Garnett vs Mikki Moore

Center
vs
Kendrick Perkins vs Brad Miller




Off the Bench

Posey/ House/ Davis/ Pollard/ Powe/ Scalabrine

Injuries
None

Key Stats
Celtics are 10-0 at home
Average margin of victory at home is 21.1
Points allowed 87.73, best in the NBA
Celtics are out rebounding teams by 5.21 rpg
Celtics are averaging 2.57 more steals per game than opponents
Celtics are averaging 16.10 turnovers per game


Off the Bench

Garcia/ Thomas/ Douby/ Williams/ Hawes

Injuries
Mike Bibby, torn ligament in thumb
Kevin Martin, strained groin
Shareef Abdur Rahim, knee surgery

Key Stats
Kings are 1-8 on the road
Kings are averaging 99.8 points per game
Kings are allowing 102.9 points per game
Kings are being out-rebounded by opponents by 2.9

Key Matchup
vs
Paul Pierce PPG 20.2 | RPG 5.4 | APG 5.4
Ron Artest PPG 20.3 | RPG 6.5 | APG 4.3
Ron Artest guards Paul Pierce as well as anyone in the league. In the past, shutting down Pierce was a way to shut down the Celtics but now, Artest can shut down Pierce and the Celtics still have plenty of weapons. With Pierce's new found love of defense, he should be able to slow down Artest as well.

Game Notes
Ron Artest was suspended for the first 7 games and has been averaging 21 points, 6.5 rebounds. 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals in his last 11 games. The Kings won both games against the Celtics last season. The Kings were 0-8 on the road before beating the Bucks 96-93 on Monday night. The Celtics are coming into this game well rested. They last played on Saturday and had two days off of practice before practicing again on Tuesday in preparation for this game.

The Paul Pierce vs. Ron Artest matchups is always a great one, Artest seems to really step up his game against Pierce, and has had some huge games against us. I really don't see this being much of a game though, KG should be able to handle Moore no problem, and Rondo will be running circles around Beno Udrich.

It'll probably come down to the Ray Allen advantage over Salmons. The Celts have a great team defense which should stop Salmons from being a scoring threat. Defensively, Salmons is one of the worst starters in the league. Allen should have a lot of open shots. If Rondo can get the ball up quickly, Ray can get easy shots around the basket, free throws, and then get hot for outside shooting. It seems to me that this could be the game that we see one of the big three really takeover the game with his scoring, and it'll be Ray Allen.