Celtics Face the Raptors for the Second Game in a Row

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The Celtics visit Air Canada Centre to take on the Raptors for the second game in a row. In their last meeting, the Raptors were able to stay with the Celtics for the first half, but the Celtics pulled away in the second half for a 106-90 victory. The biggest difference between these two teams was the benches. The Celtics' bench out played their counterparts on the Raptors. And the Celtics' bench was without Rasheed Wallace who was sitting out to rest his ankle.

Doc has said that he will use a rare lineup in this game with Marquis Daniels starting in the back court with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. With Lester Hudson playing quite well in the preseason it figures that Doc would want to take a serious look at the candidates for the back up point guard spot, beginning with Daniels. It isn't clear whether Rondo will play or get the day off.

Some people, including Celtics announcer Donny Marshall, feel that the Raptors could be a sleeper team to challenge the Celtics in the Atlantic Division. When these two teams first met on Wednesday, it was the first time that Hedo Turkoglu had played after being out with an injury. They also have 9 new players and it may take a few games for them to gel as a team. What we see in the preseason isn't what we will see in the regular season from this team. With the Raptors looking to avenge Wednesday's loss and the Celtics looking to maintain dominance over a division rival, this should be a very good game.

Reserves
Reggie Evans
Marco Belinelli
Jarrett Jack
Amir Johnson
Patrick O'Bryant
Marcus Banks
Quincy Douby
Sonny Weems

Injuries
Reggie Evans (foot) out
Antoine Wright (knee) day to day

Team Connections
Joey Graham and Tony Allen are former Oklahoma State Cowboys
Raptors Strength and Conditioning Coach Keith D’Amelio was an assistant to Ed Lacerte for three season
Amir Johnson and Rasheed Wallace were teammates in Detroit from 2006-09
Marcus Banks played for the Celtics from 2003-06
DeMar DeRozan and Brian Scalabrine are former USC Trojans
Reggie Evans and Ray Allen were teammates in Seattle from 2003-06
Rasho Nesterovic, Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels were teammates in Indianaduring the 2008-09 season
Nesterovic and Kevin Garnett were teammates in Minnesota from 1998-2003
Patrick O’Bryant played for the Celtics during the 2008-09 season
Quincy Douby and Shelden Williams were teammates in Sacramento during the 2007-08 season

Key Matchups
vs
Marquis Daniels vs Jose Calderon
Doc has said that he plans to start Marquis Daniels along with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Doc is still deciding on the rotation behind Rajon Rondo at the point and will be taking a longer look at Daniels at the point along with Lester Hudson. It will be interesting to see how Calderon defends Daniels and vice versa.

vs
Kevin Garnett vs Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh started Wednesday's game strong and had 20 points in the first half. Then the Celtics upped their defense and got more physical and Bosh disappeared, scoring just 1 point the rest of the game. In spite of all the talk about his putting on muscle and wanting to stand up to the more physical teams, it doesn't seem to be working so far.

Honorable Mention
Paul Pierce vs Hedo Turkoglu
These two always seem to bring out the best in each other. There have been a few games where Turkoglu has hit the winning shot for Orlando against the Celtics and Pierce typically has good games vs Turkoglu.

Keys to the Game

Defense - The Celtics need to especially defend the Raptors' perimeter shooters. The Celtics have said that they want to be the best defensive team ever and will need to pick up their defense even in the preseason if they hope to achieve that lofty goal.

Limit Turnovers The Celtics tend to turn the ball over a lot and they need to work on taking better care of the ball. That should improve as the players get to know each other better and develop their on court chemistry.

Make Free Throws With the way the replacement refs are calling the games, there have been plenty of opportunities at the line. The Celtics need to make their free throws count.