Nets Visit the Garden for an Afternoon Game


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New Jersey Nets (0-2) at Boston Celtics (1-1)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
1:00 PM ET
CSN HD
TD Banknorth Garden






Probable StartersPoint Guard vs Rajon Rondo vs Devin Harris Shooting Guard vs Ray Allen vs Terrence Williams Small Forward vs Paul Pierce vs Chris Douglas-Roberts Power Forward vs Kevin Garnett vs Yi Jianlian Center vs
[image] Reserves Eddie House Rasheed Wallace Marquis Daniels Shelden Williams Tony Allen Brian Scalabrine Lester Hudson Michael Sweetney Injuries: Bill Walker (knee) out Tony Allen (ankle) probable Paul Pierce (back) will play [image] Reserves Jarvis Hayes Rafer Alston Josh Boone Sean Williams Bobby Simmons Bennett Davis Brian Hamilton Tony Battie Trenton Hassell Will Blalock Injuries Eduardo Najera (back) out Courtney Lee (foot) questionable Keyon Dooling (hip) out Key Matchups[image] vs [image] Rajon Rondo vs Devin Harris Rondo has alternated between looking impressive and struggling so far in the pre-season. We saw a very confident pull up jumper in the first quarter against the Knicks but was just 3-7 from the field. He also had just 3 assists to 2 turnovers. Harris had just 5 points but dished out 8 assists to just one turnover in his last game. In this matchup, Rondo will be playing against the PG who beat him out for a spot on the All Star team last year and I expect him to try to make a point. [image] vs [image] Kevin Garnett vs Yi Jianlian Every game will be key for KG as he regains his conditioning and proves to everyone that he is truly pain free. But, this is also a matchup of what is vs what might have been. Danny was set to take Yi in the draft and might have if he had kept the draft pick and not made the trade for KG. I don't think there will be any Celtics fans who will be wistful about what might have been what might have been. Honorable Mention Kendrick Perkins vs Brook Lopez Perk came into camp in great shape and it is showing in his game. He is more mobile and will be able to stay with the quicker centers in the league that he had problems with in the past. He is also looking for his offense more this season. Brook Lopez is one of the best young centers coming up in the league and this should be a good matchup for both teams. Game Notes Doc increased his starters' minutes from the teens to around 20 in the last game and it will be interesting to see if he holds them around 20 minutes again or gradually increases their minutes game by game. The Celtics defense is definitely ahead of their offense thus far in the preseason. They held an offensive minded Knicks team to 37% but only shot 44% themselves. I am sure that as the preseason goes on, the offense will start clicking and we will see a blow out or two. The Nets are traditional rivals of the Celtics as we think back to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals where the Nets defeated the Celtics in a hotly contested 6 game series. The Nets have fallen on hard times and this season are just marking time until they can make a play for LeBron or some other big free agent in 2010. Their ownership and even location are up in the air at this point and that can't make for a very stable club. The Celtics should win this one easily.

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