Celtics (32-17) at Hornets (27-25) 2/10

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Boston Celtics (32-17) at New Orleans Hornets (27-25)
Wednesday, February 10
8:00 PM ET
Game #50, Road Game # 26
TV: NBA-TV, CST, CSN NE, RTV
New Orleans Arena
Located in the Big Easy, the New Orleans Hornets returned to the New Orleans Arena permanently this season for the first time since the 2004-05 season. In the mid 1990s, the city decided to build a new arena adjacent to the New Orleans Superdome. Constructed at a cost of $84 million, the octagonal shaped building was completed in 1999. The first game played at the New Orleans Arena was a hockey game on October 29, 1999. NBA basketball returned to the city permanently when the Hornets moved to New Orleans and played their first game at the New Orleans Arena October 30, 2002. Although the building was less than five years old, the city spent $10 million upgrading the New Orleans Arena for the Hornets. Locker rooms were upgrade, additional luxury suites were added, and a courtside restaurant and team store were built. Because of the devastating events of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the Hornets moved their basketball operations to Oklahoma City and the Ford Center where they played the majority of their games for the next two seasons. Several games were held in New Orleans during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons to show the team’s commitment to playing in the city. The New Orleans Arena suffered little structural damage after the hurricane because of its arched reinforced steel and concrete roof. The Hornets returned to New Orleans permanently for the 2007-08 season and the city hosted the 2008 NBA All-Star Game.



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

Reserves
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Eddie House
Shelden Williams
Tony Allen
Brian Scalabrine
Glen Davis
Bill Walker

Injuries
JR Giddens (knee) out




PGSG SF PF C
Darren Collison/ Mo Peterson/ Peja Stojakovic/ David West/ Emeka Okafor

Reserves
Julian Wright
Hilton Armstrong
James Posey
Darius Songalia
Jason Hart
Aaron Gray
Sean Marks

Injuries
Ike Diogu (knee) out
Chris Paul (knee) out
Marcus Thornton (back) questionable

Team Connections
Hilton Armstrong, Emeka Okafor and Ray Allen are all former UConn Huskies
Julian Wright and Paul Pierce are former Kansas Jayhawks
Hornets Assistant Coach Paul Pressey was an assistant coach with the Celtics from 2004-06
Brian Scalabrine was coached by Byron Scott in New Jersey from 2001-05
Peja Stojakovic and Eddie House were teammates in Sacramento during the 2004-05 season
James Posey played for the Celtics during the 2007-08 season
Ike Diogu and Eddie House are former Arizona State Sun Devils
ke Diogu and Marquis Daniels were teammates in Indiana from 2006-08

vs
Kevin Garnett vs David West
West is often the focal point of the Hornets offense without Chris Paul in the lineup and KG's defense will be needed in this game to try to keep him from going off on the Celtics.

vs
Paul Pierce (or Tony Allen) vs Peja Stojakovic
Paul Pierce is questionable for this game, but I expect him to play because if he sits out, then Doc will probably recommend that he sit out the All Star game and 3 point contest. If by some miracle Doc gets Pierce to sit, Tony Allen will be guarding Stojakovic, who is deadly from beyond the arc. Whoever guards him must stay on him to prevent a 3 point barrage.

Honorable Mention
vs
Marquis Daniels vs James Posey
Past 6th man vs current 6th man. In his first game back from the thumb injury, Marquis looked great and the bench very much needs his leadership and energy.

Game Notes
• The Celtics are currently leading the season series 1-0; Celtics swept the season series 2-0 against New Orleans in 2008-09
• Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29.0 points per game last season
• David West led the Hornets with 19.0 points per game against the Celtics last season
• The Celtics are 8-3 against the Hornets since the 2004-05 season
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 41-31 with the Celtics 20-16 at home

The Hornets are missing their best player and play maker as Chris Paul is out with the knee injury. The matchup between CP3 and Rondo was always a fun one to watch but Rondo should have a much easier time going against Darren Collison.

The Hornets started the season with high expectations but chemistry problems and injuries have derailed their season and continue to do so with the most recent injury to Chris Paul. The same can be said of the Celtics this season as they are trying to right the ship after several very disappointing losses.

Both of these teams are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Celtics have won 3 of their last 4 games but are coming off a heartbreaking loss where they gave up an 11 point half time lead and completely collapsed in the 3rd quarter. The Hornets are also coming off a loss to Orlando. The Celtics are 17-8 on the road while the Hornets are 16-8 at home.

The Celtics are desperately seeking answers for their recent slide and need to start winning if they want to keep their hopes of Banner 18 this season alive. This game is a good place to start a new win streak.

Keys to the Game
Defense The Celtics problems stem from their departure from playing tough team defense. They have been allowing too many easy baskets. When they lose defensive focus, they seem to unravel. They must get back to focusing on being the best defensive team in the league.

Play 48 Minutes The Celtics seem to play well for 3 quarters but they have one quarter in which they can do absolutely nothing. They must keep their focus for all 4 quarters.

Run the Offense The Celtics have to keep their focus on running the offense, making the extra pass and finding the open man. Individuals won't win games. Team will.

[Celtic17]

Sorry I miss a lot of your nice work here, Princess. Luv it all! ! !

[mev17]

Read Ray Allen is out with back spasms. Hopefully, given the long stretch of rest he will be able to get until after the all-star break, this won't be an issue going forward.

As to the game, up 55-43 at half-time. Looks like the bench decided to show up today.

[mev17]

Another PUTRID 3rd Quarter! When will this team ever learn??

[freshnthehouse]

Shooting less than 60% from the line is disgraceful.

[mev17]

This is the STUPIDEST team I have seen in my life. To think we have veterans with championship experience, yet they play like MORONS. That fourth quarter was a comedy of errors. The dumbest turnovers you ever will see, and absolute matador defense on Collisoon which gave he Hornets a 7 point lead they never relinquished. I need to follow my own advice and stop watching this team. I have never been so frustrated with a sports team in all my life. At least a few years ago I knew we would be bad -- but this group has a resume that says they are good, but play the worst basketball I have ever seen from a group of experienced veterans. Even the Hornet announcer asked rhetorically how we could possibly compete for a Championship after we missed our 8th consecutive free-throw (and we rank 19th in the league in FT shooting, as well as 29th in rebounding).

How in the world do we almost exactly repeat what happened this Sunday -- and against a team missing its only superstar? The Lakers can win 3 in a row without Kobe and Bynum, but we fall apart if not everyone is 100% healthy? We are a JOKE! I never thought this team would fall apart so quickly, but they have. The only hope is a very faint one, based on a belief that these guys may someday start to play the way they used to, but I have seen ZERO sign of that. They just go from bad, to worst, to absolutely miserable.

Exactly when do we give up on this team? I am seriously starting to wonder if it is time to throw in the towel. I'm not quite there yet, but if they keep playing this poorly it won't be long. I am so sick of them saying all the right things after games but nothing ever changing. What good did it do for the players to line up at Doc's door if they still do nothing right on the court?

I hope each and every one of the players has an absolutely miserable all-star break and re-thinks how to play the game. If not, this season is lost and it will be time to take a wrecking ball to this team.

[freshnthehouse]

And speaking of the Lakers, they are currently demolishing the white hot Jazz in Utah, all while missing both Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. They are a fantasitic basketball team. I still believe this roster is capable of competing with teams like the Lakers, but it is going to take a lot of work.

[jrmzt]

Funny thing was even when the Cs were shooting 60% with a 12 point lead in the 3rd, I still had this nagging feeling that this wouldn't last. We began to look sloppier executing and we started turning the ball over much more..Really don't know what to say..They don't have CP3 and we can't even stop their backup? We wait all this time for Sheed to finally play well, for Marquis to come back and for our bench to finally outscore the other teams bench...and our starters suddenly do the vanishing act that our bench has been performing nearly all season...Plus what the heck happened to Rondo? Was he that bad that Doc decided he only deserved 25 minutes? Or is this the long awaited rest for the starters that Doc promised? Either way, another pathetic loss..

[DERRENMATTS]

Its painfully obvious that we are not playing like we should be. Yeah, maybe we play like we should in 2 of the 4 quarters, but our mindset is on cruise control for the other half of the game.

Doc and Rajon have hinted that we have an attitude problem--I think they are right.

[jrmzt]

You know what I think that attitude problem is? I realize that we're losing alot of games after getting ahead with a lead. Its not like we're down right from the start and can't recover or that we're down 20..Many MANY times, our losses have come from games where we're up 10 or even more and we just go on cruise control and think the win is already ours..and by the time we realize they're making a comeback, its too late and we lose focus and can't execute.. It happens over and over again where we seem to come to play a 35 minute game and not a full 4 quarter game..We're pretty much exhausting every excuse we have...bench problems? Well the bench played decent today.. Injured players? well Marquis and Pierce played today and KG is back. KG not fully healthy yet? Well then why are we playing him and risking him further?. And I believe Doc knows the problem and even though hes trying to change and fix the problems, "some" of his players arent responding to his criticisms. I read things that Doc is saying and they make sense but his players dont seem to be implementing his criticisms on court.

[kuberski]

I can't remember being this disappointed in a Celtics team. During all those bad years, you expected them to lose, as they didn't have the goods, and we sometimes pleasantly surprised by upsets of good teams, or small winning streaks.

I just don't see an excuse. Age? I quickly looked up the 87-88 Celtics, and here were the ages: Bird (31) McHale (30), Parish (34), DJ (33), and Ainge a spry 28. And they played the lion's share of the minutes, as Fred Roberts and Mark Acres were the best reserves. That team won the Atlantic division, and took a very good Pistons team 6 games in the ECF. The year before they almost beat the Lakers in the Finals, who were much better. So while we are relatively old, I don't buy the age excuse, especially as we have guys on the bench who can play some minutes. Agree with the above - if KG really is hurt, bench him.

I do sense something is wrong. Or have our guys just lost their skills? Really perplexing. Now am wondering if maybe they do pull the trigger on Ray for some slightly above average player....which would be a shame.

[DERRENMATTS]

The 3rd quarters seem to be where we slack off and lose our lead and dig ourselves into a hole.

Yes, it is a problem with how good we perceive ourselves to be. We are good, and capable of beating any team in the league, including the Cavs, Lakers, and Magic in a 7 game series. But not good enough where we can tie our hands behind our backs and let the other team run over us and then expect to turn it on and win the game in the 4th.

I haven't seen consistent energy and focus on the defensive end for a long time now. This is where it starts.

[jrmzt]

I wonder what kinda loss it would take to wake these guys up.. A loss to the Nets maybe? They came real close to losing the other day to the Nets.

[eja117]

FL what are those things up at the top?

[jrmzt]

I'm guessing commemorative coins