Sonics (16-47) at Celtics (50-12) 3/12

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Seattle Supersonics (16-48) at Boston Celtics (50-12)
Wednesday, March 12
7:30 PM ET
Game #63, Home Game #33
TV: NBA LP ch 756, CSN HD, FSN NW
Radio: WEEI, Sirius 126
TD Banknorth Garden


Probable Starters


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

Off the Bench:
Eddie House, James Posey, Tony Allen, Big Baby Davis, Leon Powe, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, Brian Scalabrine

Injuries
Scot Pollard, ankle, out





PG: Earl Watson
SG: Kevin Durant
SF: Jeff Green
PF: Chris Wilcox
C: Johan Petro

Off the Bench
Nick Collison, Damien Wilkins, Mickael Gelabale, Francisco Elson, Donyell Marshall, Mike Wilks, Adrian Griffin, Mouhamed Sene

Injuries
Robert Swift, knee, out
Luke Ridnour, stitches over eye, game time decision

Key Matchups
vs
Ray Allen PPG 18.4 RPG 4.00 APG 3.1 EFF + 16.69
Kevin Durant PPG 19.4 RPG 4.20 APG 2.3 EFF + 14.11
Kevin Durant is young and athletic but Ray Allen is a veteran who will have to use his experience to get the best of this matchup.

vs
Paul Pierce PPG 20.3 RPG 5.30 APG 4.6 EFF + 20.11
Jeff Green PPG 9.2 RPG 4.70 APG 1.3 EFF + 8.97
Jeff Green is the player taken with the 5th pick that the Celtics traded to Seattle in the last draft. Pierce should easily be able to exploit this matchup.

Honorable Mention
Kevin Garnett PPG 18.8 RPG 9.80 APG 3.5 EFF + 25.36
Chris Wilcox PPG 13.5 RPG 7.10 APG 1.2 EFF + 15.21
Kevin Garnett has been playing very well lately and the Celtics should look to go inside to him often as he should be able to beat Wilcox.

Keys to the Game:
Crash the boards. The Sonics are 2nd in the league in defensive rebounding with 33.4 per game and 1st in overall rebounding at 45.17. The Celtics need to take that advantage away by aggressively going after rebounds on both ends.

Energy. The Sonics are playing in the second of back to back games and if the Celtics come out with energy and sustain that energy for 4 quarters, they should be able to run away with this game.

Don't Underestimate The Celtics shouldn't underestimate the Sonics as they are a young and athletic team and will be motivated to beat the Celtics. With the Sonics record it would be easy to take them for granted, but it would be a big mistake.

Game Notes
Seattle is 6-27 on the road while the Celtics are 28-4 at home. The Sonics are 1-9 in their last 10 games and have lost 5 in a row. The Celtics are looking for their 10 consecutive win. Sonics coach, PJ Carlesimo is 1 win away from 200 wins and would love to get a milestone win against the best team in the league.

Seriously, why do u post this for no one to read? Its got to take you a bit of time each time.... i dont get it

LAkerfan wrote:Seriously, why do u post this for no one to read? Its got to take you a bit of time each time.... i dont get it

They are posted for a few Celtics sites that I know of, so it's probably as easy as copying and pasting the original write up, they definitely get read though, if not here then on one of the at least 3 other Celtics blogs/forums that I see them on.

LAkerfan wrote:Seriously, why do u post this for no one to read? Its got to take you a bit of time each time.... i dont get it

I read them