Magic (33-38) at Celtics (21-49) 3/28

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Orlando Magic (33-38) at Boston Celtics (21-49)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 • 7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #71 • Home Game #36
TD Banknorth Garden • Boston, MA



Probable Starters

PG: Rondo 5.4 points, 3.4 boards and 3.5 assists
SG: West 4.2 points and 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists
SF: Pierce 24.8 points, 5.9 boards and 4.1 assists
PF: Jefferson Averaging 15.5 points, 11.0 boards and 1.51 blocks
C: Perkins 4.2 points and 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks

Off the Bench
Green/Powe/Telfair/Ray/Gomes

Coach Doc Rivers

Injuries
Theo Ratliff Sore Lower Back Out
Tony Allen Torn ACL, Left Knee Out
Wally Szczerbiak Left Ankle Sprain Out
Brian Scalabrine Strained Left Hamstring Day-to-Day
Michael Olowokandi Fractured Cuboid Bone Left Foot Out

Players to Watch

Rondo is coming off a great game against the Raptors. Playing against Nelson is going to be a challenge. If Doc lets Rondo run the offense instead of micromanaging, we play very well.


Al is going to be hit with double teams from now until the end of his career. He has been working on learning to beat them in practice and against the Raptors he did a good job of it.


Perkins is proving to be a defensive presence in the paint and did a very good job on Dirk and also on Bosh. As his foot gets better, so will Perk.

Interesting fact: The starting lineup for the Celtics when we last met 1/7 was West, Allen, Wally, Gomes and Al. The Magic will be using the same lineup they used in January except Grant Hill will be at SG instead of Bogans. Magic won that game 87-79.



Probable Starters

PG: Nelson 13.5 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.0 rpg
SG: Hill 14.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg
SF: Turkoglu 12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.1 apg
PF: Battie 6.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, .49 bpg
C: Howard 17.9 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 1.84 bpg

Off the Bench
Redick/Ariza/Milicic/Dooling

Coach Brian Hill

Injuries
None noted in game notes

Notes: The Magic are currently in 7th place in the playoff race just 1/2 game ahead of the 8th place Nets. They have won 2 in a row and have been playing well lately.

Players to watch

Jameer Nelson is a very good scoring point guard who always has a good game against us. He loves playing against Delonte but this time he will have Rondo to deal with.


Battie is another of our former players who always has a big game against us.


Dwight Howard is one of the best young bigs in the game and always is a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the floor.

Key Matchup
vs
Perk's defense on Howard may just be the key to this game.

Orlando is one of my favorite teams to watch. The PG match up between Nelson and Rondo should be a good one, and Jefferson vs Howard is always great to watch.

Celts up 5 in 2OT.

53 seconds to play.

This was a game of tempo's. Orlando wanted to slow it down and use the shotclock, and the the C's wanted to get easy baskets and keep the ball moving, and in the end Rondo and Telfair were able to control the tempo and the C's pick up the win.