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Detroit Pistons (23-42) at Boston Celtics (41-24)
Monday, March 13
8:00 PM ET
Game #66, Home Game #32
TV: ESPN, CSN-NE, RTV
TD Garden 
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard
Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey
Shooting Guard
Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton
Small Forward 
Paul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
Power Forward 
Kevin Garnett vs Jonas Jerebko
Center
Kendrick Perkins vs Jason Maxiell
Reserves Tony Allen
Glen Davis
Marquis Daniels
Brian Scalabrine
Rasheed Wallace
Shelden Williams
Nate Robinson
Michael Finley
Injuries:None
D LeagueMarcus Landry
Reserves Austin Daye
Chucky Atkins
Charlie Villanueva
DaJuan Summers
Will Bynum
Ben Gordon
Kwame Brown
InjuriesBen Wallace (knee) questionable
Chris Wilcox (back) questionable
Rodney Stuckey (illness) probable
Team ConnectionsRichard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Ray Allen are former UConn Huskies
Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo are former Kentucky Wildcats
Rasheed Wallace played for the Pistons from 2003-09 and won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004
Pistons Head Coach John Keuster was an assistant coach with the Celtics from 1995-97.
Chucky Atkins played in 24 games for the Celtics in the 2003-04 season
Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace were teammates in Detroit from 2004-06
Key Matchups 
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey
Stuckey sat out the Pistons last game iwith an illness but should be back for this one. We have seen in many games that as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics. The Celtics need Rondo to be aggressive and to set the tempo the team.
vs
Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton
Hamilton is one of the few Pistons who remains from the old days. There have been some good battles between these two shooting guards, both of whom are very good at running off screens. Rip is the reason that Ray began wearing the shooting sleeve because 2 years ago in the playoffs, Rip was digging Ray's arm up with his long fingernails.
Honorable MentionPaul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
These two players have also had some good battles over the years. Prince has bothered Pierce in the past because of his length. Pierce needs to be aggressive on both ends of the court as Prince can get hot as was evidenced in the last meeting between these two teams.
Game Notes• The season series is currently tied 1-1; Celtics won the season series 3-1 against Detroit in 2008-09
• Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 15.5 points per game last season
• Rip Hamilton averaged 13.5 points per game against the C’s last season
• It marked the second straight year that the Celtics had won the season series and the first time that it had done so since the 1994-95 and 1995-96
seasons
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 222-122 with the Celtics 106-38 at home
The Celtics are playing in the second of back to back games, having lost a tough game in Cleveland the day before. The Pistons are playing on a day's rest. Both physical and mental fatigue could be a factor for the Celtics after an emotional loss to the Cavs.
The Celtics are 5-5 in their last 10 games while the Pistons are just 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Pistons have struggled on the road with just 7 wins and 24 losses away from home. The Celtics haven't been stellar at home with a 19-12 record at the Garden, but they want to establish some sort of home dominance in the final games of the season.
Keys to the GameDefense
Play 48 minutes
Move the Ball
Attack the Basket
Rebound
Topic: Pistons (23-42) at Celtics (41-24) 3/15 (Read 63669 times)