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Boston Celtics (28-13) at Orlando Magic (28-16)
Thursday, January 28
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #42, Road Game #20
TV: TNT
Radio: WEEI, WDBO, ESPNR
Amway Arena Constructed in the late 1980s, the home of the Orlando Magic is one of the oldest arenas in the NBA. Located in downtown Orlando, the facility was originally known as the Orlando Arena, and nicknamed O-Rena. The Magic played their first game at the arena on November 4, 1989 in a loss against the New Jersey Nets. At a cost of $198 million, the Orlando Arena was completely publicly financed. Since its opening, the arena has had several names from being known as the TD Waterhouse Centre to its current name, Amway Arena. Amway recently agreed to a four year, $1.5 million agreement to name the facility. It has a seating capacity of 17,248 in two levels with 26 luxury suites on the third level. One main concourse serves both main levels for games. The Magic recently announced plans for a new arena to be constructed as Amway Arena does not have enough seating and luxury suites like other arenas in the NBA. At a cost of $480 million, the arena is expected to be completed by the 2010 season.
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo 14.2 PPG 9.7 APG 2.5 SPG
Jameer Nelson 11.8 PPG 4.8 APG 0.8 SPG
Shooting Guard 
vs
Ray Allen 15.9 PPG 2.9 APG .345 3P%
Vince Carter 16.4 PPG 3.0 APG .306 3P%
Small Forward 
vs
Paul Pierce 18.9 PPG 4,8 RPG 3.6 APG
Matt Barnes 8.7 PPG 5.8 RPG 1.7 APG
Power Forward 
vs
Keven Garnett 15.0 PPG 7.3 RPG 0.9 BPG
Rashard Lewis 14.7 PPG 4.9 RPG .5 BPG
Center
vs
Kendrick Perkins 12.0 PPG 8.5 RPG 2.1 BPG
Dwight Howard 17.4 PPG 13.3 RPG 2.6 BPG
ReservesRasheed Wallace
Eddie House
Shelden Williams
Bill Walker
Brian Scalabrine
Glen Davis
Tony Allen
Injuries Marquis Daniels (thumb) out
D League
JR Giddens
ReservesMarcin Gortat
Mickael Pietrus
Jameer Nelson
JJ Redick
Ryan Anderson
Brandon Bass
Anthony Johnson
Injuries Adonal Foyle (knee) day to day
JJ Redick (head) probable
Team Connections Doc Rivers coached the Magic from 1999-2004, winning the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in his first season (1999-2000)
Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen were teammates in Seattle from 2003-07
Anthony Johnson and Brian Scalabrine were teammates in New Jersey from 2001-03
Anthony Johnson played for Doc Rivers in Orlando during the 1999-2000 season
Vince Carter and Brian Scalabrine were teammates in New Jersey during the 2004-05 season
Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace are former North Carolina Tar Heels
Anthony Johnson and Shelden Williams were teammates in Atlanta and
Sacramento from 2006-08
Key Matchups 
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Kendrick Perkins vs Dwight Howard
This is the key matchup between these two teams. Slowing down Dwight Howard and keeping him off of his favorite spots around the basket is key to slowing down the Magic. Perk is one of the few centers in the league who has been able to cover Howard one on one. The Celtics need Perk to contain Howard with single coverage as the Magic have so many outside threats, it is dangerous to double off of any of them.
vs
Kevin Garnett vs Rashard Lewis
Another key matchup between these two teams is at the power forward spot. KG and Lewis both have the ability to play on the perimeter as well as taking the ball inside. If Perk does his job on Howard, the Magic will turn to Lewis for more of it's offense and so the Celtics will need KG to be on his game on the defensive end to keep Lewis from putting up big numbers.
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Jameer Nelson
Rondo sets the tone for the Celtics on both ends of the court. With Nelson back in the lineup, it will be a tough matchup for Rondo. He needs to come in focused and stay aggressive on offense while keeping Nelson from getting into his comfort zone.
Game Notes• The Celtics and Magic are currently tied in the season series 1-1; the Celtics split the season series 2-2 with Orlando during the 2008-09 season
• Paul Pierce netted 21 points in his only game against the Magic this season
• Vince Carter is averaging 26.5 points per game against the C’s this season
• The Celtics are 9-11 against the Magic since the 2004-05 season
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 43-38 with the Celtics 29-11 at home
Both the Celtics and Magic are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Celtics have won their last 2 and the Magic are coming off of a loss to the Grizzlies. Both teams last played on Monday. The Magic are a good home team with a 16-4 record, with one of those 4 losses coming at the hands of the Celtics on Christmas Day. The Celtics have been a good road team as well with a 16-6 record on the road.
The Celtics are finally getting close to full strength but are still missing a key player in Marquis Daniels. The Magic are at full strength as well. In their last meeting on Christmas Day, the Celtics pulled out a win without Paul Pierce as Tony Allen came through with 18 points and Perk held Dwight Howard to just 5 points. 5 Celtics scored in double figures and they will need another team effort to win this game.
With another tough game in Atlanta on Friday, the Celtics bench is going to have to come through for the team in order to allow the starters to get some rest so that they have something left for the next night.
Keys to the GameFocus - The Celtics' focus has waivered at times and when it happens at the start of games, they fall into a hole that they spend the rest of the game digging out of. When it happens in the middle of games, they give up leads and allow other teams to go on a run. But, when the Celtics put their mind to it and focus especially on the defensive end, they can shut down any team in the league and win going away. The Celtics need to come out focused and keep their focus for 48 minutes.
Defense - Defense is the key to winning. Period. The Celtics have shown that they have the capability of shutting down teams and when they play tough defense, the offense runs more smoothly. But when they falter on defense, it seems as though their game suffers on both ends. Perk's defense inside will be especially important in this game to keep Howard from having a big game.
Rebound - Dwight Howard can take over a game on rebounds and putbacks alone if the Celtics don't box him out and crash the boards as a team. The Celtics have been giving up a lot of rebounds in recent games. They have to commit as a team to crashing the boards. Rebounding takes effort and desire and the Celtics must show both if they want to win this game.
Ball Movement - The Celtics need to move the ball and find the open man. When they have their passing game going, they are hard to beat. If they resort to too much dribbling and too many iso's, it will allow the Magic defenses to set up and the Celtics will struggle to score.
Topic: Celtics (29-13) at Magic (29-16) 1/28 (Read 118061 times)