at  

GoldenState Warriors (5-9) at Boston Celtics (13-2)
Wednesday, November 26
7:30 PM ET
Game #16, Home Game #9
TV:  CSNHD, CSN Bay, NBA LP  754
Radio:  WEEI 
TD Banknorth Garden

Game Thread    l     Chat              

Warriors Blog         Golden State of Mind           

The Warriors come to town in the midst of a 5 game road trip.  They lost their first two games on the trip, including last night to the Wizards.  The Warriors are on the second of back to back games on the road and the Celtics have been off since Sunday.   With the Warriors' high speed offense, fatigue could be a factor.  However, with the Warriors being the youngest team in the league, they may not get quite as tired as a lot of teams would.    The Warriors are the youngest team in the league and have 7 players 22 years old or younger and only 3 players older than 26.  Stephen Jackson is the old man on the team at 30.  

The Celtics and the Warriors tied their series last season with each team winning on their home court.  They are 5-5 since the '03-04 season.   The Celtics have won 12 of the last 16 games in the Garden.  

  The Warriors are second in the league in offensive rebounds at 14 per game and they are 2nd in the league in second chance points.  The Celtics need to crash the boards to prevent the Warriors from getting those second and third chances to score.  The Warriors are also first in the league in points in the paint and third in blocks per game.  In spite of their sub .500 record, they aren't a pushover and the Celtics need to be ready for them.    

Jamal Crawford played his first game for his new team last night vs the Wizards.  He got the start and scored 9 points and dished out 7 assists.  He is expected to start for them again tonight vs the Celtics.

The Warriors are a high scoring team and look to run and put points up quickly.  They are 3rd in the league in points per game at 103.5.  This will be a case of top offense meeting top defense. 

Probable Starting Matchups
PG:     Rajon Rondo vs Anthony Morrow
SG:     Ray Allen vs Jamal Crawford 
SF:      Paul Pierce vs Corey Maggette
PF:     Kevin Garnett vs Stephen Jackson
C:       Kendrick Perkins vs  Andris Biedrins 

KeyMatchups
vs
Paul Pierce PPG 19.0 RPG 7.20 APG 3.6
Corey Maggette   PPG 17.2 RPG 5.40 APG 2.3
Both of these players are capable of putting a lot of points on the board.   Pierce has the advantage on the defensive end, however.  Pierce has been sitting back and allowing the rest of the team to take over in the past few games but I expect him to be more active in this game as he challenges Maggette.

vs
Rajon Rondo PPG 9.3 RPG 3.90 APG 6.5
Anthony Morrow  PPG 14.0 RPG 3.30 APG 0.9
The Warriors' rookie PG has been playing very well.   As we have seen over the past few games, as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics.  Expect Rondo to come out strong and set the pace for the Celtics and go at the Morrow every chance he gets. 

Honorable Mention
Kendrick Perkins vs Andris Biedrins
Biedrins has been playing on an all star level.   He is averaging a double double and is tied with Dwight Howard for first in the league in rebounding.  He had a string of 17 double doubles in a row that was stopped  on 11/18 when he came 1 rebound short of his 18th double double.  No one had recorded 17 or more double doubles since KG had 37 in a row from 2/2/06-11/6/06.  He is one of the most underrated centers in the league.  It will be up to Perk to stop him.

Team Connections
Patrick O'Bryant was drafted by the Warriors with the 9th pick in the 2006 draft.
Clifford Ray played for the Warriors from 1975-81 and won a championship with them in 1975. 
Azubuike and Rondo are both former Kentucky Wildcats
Randolph and Big Baby are both former LSU Tigers
Corey Maggette played for Doc in Orlando
Stephen Jackson and Rajon Rondo both played for Oak Hill Academy
Marcus Williams and Ray Allen are both former UConn Huskies

Keys to the Game
Crash the Boards
Run - Don't let them rest
Watch the Trash Talk - No Technicals
Limit Turnovers