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Boston Celtics (54-19) at Atlanta Hawks (42-30)
Friday, March 27
7:30 PM
Game #74, Road Game #39
TV: NBA-TV, SportsSouthHD, CSNHD
Phillips Arena 
Probable Starters 
PG Rajon Rondo PPG 11.9 RPG 5.30 APG 8.5
(although Rondo says he expects to play and probably will, he should sit and get his ankles healthy)
SG Ray Allen PPG 18.5 RPG 3.50 APG 2.7
SF Paul Pierce PPG 20.1 RPG 5.80 APG 3.7
PF Kevin Garnett 16.0 RPG 8.50 APG 2.6
C Kendrick Perkins Perkins PPG 8.6 RPG 8.10 BPG 1.9
Reserves Tony Allen
Glen Davis
Eddie House
Gabe Pruitt
Bill Walker
Mikki Moore
Stephon Marbury
Injuries:Leon Powe (knee) out
Tony Allen (thumb) out
Brian Scalabrine (head) out
Probable Starters
PG Mike Bibby PPG 14.9 RPG 3.60 APG 5.0
SG Joe Johnson PPG 21.7 RPG 4.40 APG 5.9
SF Mo Evans PPG 6.9 RPG 2.90 APG 0.7
PF Josh Smith PPG 15.0 RPG 7.20 APG 2.5
C Al Horford PPG 11.5 RPG 9.20 APG 2.6
ReservesAcie Law
Solomon Jones
Flip Murray
Othello Hunter
Randolph Morris
Mario West
Thomas Gardner
Zaza Pachulia
Injuries Speedy Claxton (knee) out
Marvin Williams (back) out
Acie Law (back) day to day
Key Matchups 
vs
Rondo will face an old foe in Mike Bibby. Bibby was very vocal about the Celtics fans during the playoffs, calling them bandwagon fans. Rondo has admitted to having two sprained ankles but has said that he plans to play in this one. How effective he can be with sore ankles is yet to be seen. The Celtics would be wise to sit him and let Marbury get the extra minutes.
vs
Joe Johnson loves to take it to his former team. He can put up points in a hurry and Ray Allen will need to work on defense to try to keep Johnson from going off. Johnson is averaging 24 points against the Celtics this season and has held Ray Allen to 17 ppg in their two meetings.
Honorable MentionKevin Garnett vs Josh Smith
This is a very tough matchup for both teams. When he is healthy, KG can out-play Smith, or at least, play him to a standstill. With KG still playing limited minutes, it will be up to Big Baby to stop Smith who can take over a game if the Celtics let him.
Team Connections: Doc Rivers played for the Hawks from '83-'91 and holds the Hawks' record for assists with 3866
Celtics' assistant Armond Hill played for the Hawks '76-80 and '83-'84
Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith were teammates at Oak Hill Academy
Joe Johnson was drafted by the Celtics with the 10th pick in the 2001 draft
Mike Bibby and Eddie House are brothers in law
Rajon Rondo and Randolph Morris were teammates at Kentucky
Al Horford and Big Baby Davis played against each other in the 2006 Final Four
Hawks Assistant Alton Lister played for the Celtics from '95-'97
Mo Evans and KG were teammates in Minnesota
Game NotesThe Hawks are one of those teams that give the Celtics matchup problems. They are young and athletic and have given the Celtics problems in the past. They took the Celtics to 7 games in the first round of the playoffs, surprising many fans on both sides. In the first meeting between these two teams, the Celtics barely squeaked by the Hawks with a 103-102 win in the Garden but it took Paul Pierce coming out of the booth as Superman and hitting a fallaway jumper with 0.5 seconds left to win the game.
In their first meeting, the Hawks were playing in the second of back to back games and they were playing without Josh Smith and yet the Celtics barely beat them. In the second meeting in Atlanta, the Celtics once again barely beat the Hawks 88-85. with both teams at full strength. The Celtics were unable to beat the Hawks in Atlanta during the playoffs but did pull out a win there in the regular season.
The Hawks are a good home team with a 28-8 record there. The Celtics are 25-13 on the road. The Celtics are just 5-5 in their last 10 games while the Hawks are 8-2 in their last 10. Both teams are coming off a loss that ended a win streak. Atlanta is solidly in the 4th spot in the East 11.5 games behind the Celtics and 3.5 games in front of Miami. The Celtics and Magic are battling for the second and 3rd seeds with the Celtics just percentage points behind the Magic.
Keys to the GameDefense While the Celtics have shown signs of getting their trademark defense back in place, it is still in spurts. The Celtics must regain their defensive intensity if they want to win this game and if they want to return to the NBA Finals.
Take Care of the Ball The Celtics are still way too sloppy with the basketball and turn it over way too much. They need to get their focus right and cut down on the turnovers. A team like the Hawks who love to run will make them pay with points off turnovers.
Killer Instinct The Celtics don't seem to have that killer instinct that made them so formidable last season. They either let teams get out to big leads and then have to dig their way out of a hole or, when they get a big lead, they let teams back into it. They must get that killer instinct back where they come out strong and keep the pedal to the metal for 48 minutes to put teams away.
X-FactorFocus The Celtics seem to lose their focus at times in games and stop moving the ball with each player trying to take over the game himself. They also lose their defensive focus at times especially on the road. They need to keep their focus on team play and on defense.
Topic: Celtics (54-19) at Hawks (42-30) 3/27 (Read 24640 times)