Celtics (27-13) vs Blazers (26-17)
Game time: 7:30pm, TD Garden. TV – CSN. Radio – WEEI-AM (850).
Team Leaders
Scoring
Bos: Pierce – 18.7 Blazers: Brandon Roy – 23.1
Rebounding
Bos: Perkins – 8.2 Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge – 8.3
Assists
Bos: Rondo – 9.6 Blazers: Roy – 5.0
Who'll go off: Beastondo. Both have favorable match-ups: Rajon Rondo vs Andre Miller, Kendrick Perkins vs Juwan Howard.
Who needs to be stopped: With Brandon Roy out (hamstring), Martell Webster is the Blazers most explosive scorer. He's averaging nearly 17 ppg for January.
The C's will lose if… they sit back and expect too much from Kevin Garnett. They'll also need to defend the perimeter. Portland ranks in the top 10 in 3-point shooting. Watch out for Webster, Steve Blake and Rudy Fernandez.
Miscellaneous: Brandon Roy is expected to miss tonight's game due to a strained hamstring. Jerryd Bayless is likely to start. Portland ranks 3rd in the league in FG% defense. According to the Blazers Team Report on Yahoo! – "Most of the Blazers are anything but enamored of Garnett, whom they believe is the biggest trash-talker in the NBA."
Prediction: Celtics 110 – Portland 96
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