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Wednesday, February 20
10:30 PM ET
Game #52, Away Game #25
TV: NBA LP Ch 759, FSBay HD, CSN HD
Radio: Sirius 126, WEEI
Oracle Arena
Warriors Coverage Golden State of Mind
The Warriors are a good home team with a 17-9 home court record. The Warriors are also 14-0 when holding teams under 100 points. This is the second matchup for these two teams. The Celtics won on their court 105-82 when they played in November so the Warriors could be looking for some payback.
PG: Rajon Rondo vs Baron Davis
Patrick O'Bryant, out
Kosta Petrovic, out
![[image]](http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/boston/RondoBos.jpg)
Vs ![[image]](http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/goldst/BaronGS.jpg)
Rajon Rondo PPG 10.4 l APG 4.8 l SPG 1.8
Baron Davis PPG 21.7 | APG 8.1 | SPG 2.5
This will be a tough matchup for Rondo but he should be up to that task. Baron Davis has been playing very well and is a very strong point guard. Rondo will have to be strong on defense to keep Davis from taking over the game. In their first matchup, Rondo held Davis to 13 points on 3-13 shooting.
![[image]](http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/boston/KGBos.jpg)
Vs ![[image]](http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/goldst/MBarnesGS.jpg)
Kevin Garnett PPG 19.2 | RPG 9.9 | BPG 1.4
Matt Barnes PPG 8.2 | RPG 5.0 | BPG 0.6
This should be the matchup that Boston looks to exploit as Barnes gives up 4 inches to KG. Garnett should be able to beat Barnes every time down and the Celtics should look to get him the ball early and often.
Honorable Mention
Paul Pierce Paul Pierce PPG 20.6 | RPG 5.6| APG 4.8
Stephen Jackson PPG 20.9 | RPG 4.4 | APG 4.2
This should be a good matchup for both sides. Going all the way back to when Jackson played for Indiana, these two players have gone at it. Pierce needs to keep his composure and not get caught up in trash talking.
Keys to the game
Bench Play With both teams playing in the second of back to back games, fatigue could be a factor and both teams will need to depend on the benches to give the starters a rest.
Defense The Warriors are a high scoring team and the Celtics will need to concentrate on defense in order to win this game. Their defense was still on break against the Nuggets and they have to get that defensive intensity back again if they want to finish this trip on a positive note.
Keep their composure The Warriors play some tough defense themselves. They force 17.2 turnovers per game which is 2nd in the league. The Celtics need to take care of the ball and keep their composure and not allow the Warriors to hassle them into making mistakes. They did a good job against the Nuggets in spite of the horrible officiating.
X-Factor KG needs to shake the rust off. If he plays well and gets back to normal, the Celtics have a much better chance of winning. KG's rustiness seemed to throw the rest of the team off for the most part.