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[FLCeltsFan]

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Boston Celtics (5-0) at Minnesota Timberwolves (1-3)
Wednesday, November 4
8:00 PM ET
Game 6, Road Game 3
TV:  CSN HD, KSTC-45, NBA LP 757
Radio:  WEEI, KFAN
Target Center




Coach: Doc Rivers
Average Age: 27.8
Average Height: 6-6
Average Weight: 224

Probable Starters

PG:  Rajon Rondo  PPG 7.8 RPG 4.00 APG 6.7
SG:  Ray Allen   PPG 17.4 RPG 5.00 APG 2.7
SF: Paul Pierce  PPG 21.1 RPG 7.40 APG 3.8
PF:  Kevin Garnett PPG 13.3 RPG 7.0 APG 2.3
C:   Kendrick Perkins PPG 9.8 RPG 4.8 BPG 2.2

Reserves
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Eddie House
Shelden Williams
Lester Hudson
JR Giddens

Injuries
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Bill Walker (knee) out
Brian Scalabrine (ankle) day to day
Big Baby Davis (thumb) out
Rajon Rondo  (ankle)  will play




Coach: Kurt Rambis
Average Age: 25.4
Average Height: 6-7
Average Weight: 227

Probable Starters
       
PG: Jonny Flynn   PPG 14.8 APG 3.3 SPG 1.5
SG:  Corey Brewer   PPG 12.8  RPG 5.8  APG 2.3
SF:   Ryan Gomes  PPG 11.3 RPG 8.0 APG 1.8
PF:   Oleksiy Pecherov   PPG 8.0  RPG 3.5 BPG .3
C:    Al Jefferson     PPG 16.5 RPG 6.0 BPG 1.0

Reserves
Mark Blount
Brian Cardinal
Wayne Ellington
Jason Hart
Ryan Hollins
Nathan Jawai
Sasha Pavlovic
Ramon Sessions
Damien Wilkins 

Injuries
Kevin Love (hand) out

Key Matchups
  vs 
Kendrick Perkins vs Al Jefferson
This is a match-up of good friends who know each others' games very well.  I can see them playing for bragging rights in this one.  Big Al's strength is in his offense where Perk's strength is in his defense.  Should be a good match-up. 

  vs   
This is another match-up of former teammates.  They know each other well from going against each other in practice before the trade.  Paul Pierce has been playing great basketball and look for him to go at Gomes early and often. 

Honorable Mention
Rajon Rondo vs Jonny Flynn
Rondo will be facing a highly touted young point guard in this game.  Since Flynn is a rookie, look for Rondo to go at him on both ends of the floor.  As go the point guards, so go the team. 

Team Connections
Kevin Garnett played for the Timberwolves from 1995-2007
 Ryan Gomes and Al Jefferson are former Celtic draft picks and were included in the trade for Kevin Garnett
Ray Allen was originally drafted by the Timberwolves with the 5th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft
Dave Wohl was an Assistant Coach with the Celtics from 2004-07 and
Assistant GM from 2007-09
Damien Wilkins and Ray Allen were teammates in Seattle from 2004-07
Shelden Williams played for the Timberwolves during the 2008-09 season
Mark Blount played for the Celtics from 2000-06
Wayne Ellington and Rasheed Wallace are former North Carolina Tar Heels

Game Notes
• Celtics won the season series 2-0 against the Timberwolves in 2008-09
• Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last season
• Al Jefferson averaged 28.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against the team that drafted him
• The C’s are currently on a five game winning streak against Minnesota, the longest for either team in the history of the series
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 23-16 with the Celtics 12-8 at home

The fortunes of the Wolves and Celtics have been joined more than probably any two teams in the league.  The sub-plots of 3 former Celtics on the Wolves (Jefferson, Gomes and Blount) playing against their former team and KG playing against the team that drafted him and where he played for 10 seasons.   

The Celtics are playing in the second of back to back games, but the starters got plenty of rest in the 4th quarter of their blowout win over the Sixers.  Hopefully fatigue won't be a factor.   

The Celtics need to come out strong and not underestimate the Wolves.  This could be a trap game if they come in thinking that they can win without putting in the work.   The Celtics can't take any teams for granted because every one will be gunning for them. 

Keys to the Game
Defense
Start strong
Control the paint
Aggressive PG
Crash the boards

[KCattheStripe]

Johnny Flynn, Kevin love and Big Al is a VERY good core.

[Bahku]

I'm looking forward to this one ... always great to see the "boyz" in Minny, and to see KG back where his roots were set. Thanks, Fl ... great set-up! (TP)

[Donoghus]

On paper, we should destroy this team.

It'll be good to see Big Al, though.  Always a favorite.

[RebusRankin]

I wish this one was on the weekend or a time I could have gone. 

[GreenFaith1819]

On paper and with the way we have been playing, we should crush them, BUT: We MUST watch Big Al. He is IMO the Best Low Post threat we have seen this year. Slow him down and we have this going away.

If Al somehow gets going, it may be a tough night.

I don't expect KG to have two slow nights in a row. He'll be back and ready to go. Our starters were able to rest most of the 4th qtr which is great.

We should be ok.

[celticsclay]

As much as I love him I think Big Al is gonna get pretty wiped trying to score on kg, block out sheldan williams and trying to stop sheed and/or Garnett on offense. Im also amazed that I am talking about sheldan williams wearing guys out. He has certainly been a pleasant surprise.

[USG]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Perk really try to get his offense going a little more against Al. Not just because Al isn't a fantastic defender, but because of what he is to Boston fans. Perk kinda wants to show the world he's been working on some of those moves too, and they're not too shabby. I expect him to put up a double-double.

Rondo should also run roughshod over the team. And our bench stands to outscore theirs by a ton.

[ACF]

Another thread, another TP. Go Celtics!

[houlana]

thanks for the game thead. TP

i am really looking forward to this game.
KG back in Mini. get to see one of my favorite players in Big Al, who is killing me in fantasy.
excited to see Flyn. and our team is playing really exciting ball, and hope it continues tonight.

[Cman]

TP for the game thread.

It will be interesting to see how KG plays.  He didn't play great last night; I hope he is okay.

[lostjumper]

In lat nights game thread I correctly predicted the bench would play a huge role in the game by outscoring phillies bench bigtime. For this mactchup, there's a good chance that our bench out scores the wolves starters After an early flight in this morning, I expect the starters to each play in the low 20's and for the bench to get a ton of burn. Should be another pretty big blowout.

As for AJ? Well, he's a very, very good low post player offensively, but he was never very good on the defensive end, and we have 3 or 4 big bodies to throw at him the whole game. He's gonna get worn down I think.

[moiso]

It will be nice to see Al and Gomes, but the C's are so good, some of these matchups aren't very exciting.  I wish Kevin Love was healthy so we could check him out.  His rebounding is amazing.

[xmuscularghandix]

Hey FL! TP for you!

but..... i'm pretty sure Rondo avg's more than 6 Asts per game.

[houlana]

i wish i can watch this game.
just move back to Saudi after 10 yrs of living in boston. watched almost every game since 2002.

we get some games which start at 3 am. i hope we get tonight's game.

anyways guys, keep the updated coming on the game threads. its one way for me to feel like im still in town