Game Preview: Spurs at Celtics

Tonight's Matchup

	vs.
43-28	Record	47-25
101.2	PPG	98.9
96.5	PPGA	94.3
47.2	FG%	48.2
45.5	Opp. FG%	44.7
42.5	Rebounds	38.8
22.3	Assists	23.7
13.5	Turnovers	15.2
6.3	Steals	8.8
4.8	Blocks	4.8

Point Guard
George Hill Points: 12.3 Rebounds: 2.7 Assists: 2.8	Rajon Rondo Points: 13.6 Rebounds: 4.5 Assists: 9.8
Shooting Guard
Manu Ginobili Points: 15.8 Rebounds: 3.8 Assists: 4.8	Ray Allen Points: 16.3 Rebounds: 3.3 Assists: 2.7
Small Forward
Richard Jefferson Points: 12.1 Rebounds: 4.3 Assists: 2.0	Paul Pierce Points: 18.2 Rebounds: 4.4 Assists: 3.0
Power Forward
Antonio McDyess Points: 5.9 Rebounds: 5.8 Assists: 0.9	Kevin Garnett Points: 14.3 Rebounds: 7.5 Assists: 2.7
Center
Tim Duncan Points:18.2 Rebounds: 10.2 Assists: 3.1	Rasheed Wallace Points: 8.9 Rebounds: 4.0 Assists: 0.9
Sixth Man
Roger Mason Points: 6.6 Rebounds: 2.1 Assists: 1.8	Glen Davis Points: 6.3 Rebounds: 3.9 Assists: 0.7

Sunday, March 28, 2010
TD Garden, 8:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN
RADIO: WEEI 850 AM

By Marc D'Amico
March 28, 2010
Celtics.com

The Boston Celtics have kicked off their six-game homestand with two straight wins that were never in doubt, and they'll look to make it three when they host Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs at 8 p.m. tonight.

The C's followed up a blowout win over the Nuggets Wednesday night with a memorable 94-86 win over the Kings on Friday. Boston led by as many as 24 points in that game, one that Rajon Rondo will never forget.

Rondo recorded a career-high 18 assists on the same night that he broke Rick Fox's team record for steals in a season. The Celtics' point guard is now at the top of that list, and he still has 10 more games to extend his record.

The first of those 10 comes tonight against the Spurs, who will be playing without their starting point guard, Tony Parker. However, his backup, George Hill, is making a case that he could easily be a full time starting point guard in this league.

Hill has started 11 games since Parker went down with a broken hand on March 6, and he has scored at least 16 points in five of those contests, three of which he totaled at least 21 points. Although he's much more of a scorer than an assist man, he has also managed to dish out at least four assists in all but two of those starts.

Hill is a very strong guard with quickness, so Rondo probably won't have a field day with him at either end of the court. In fact, Hill is widely regarded as San Antonio's best on-ball defender and often defends the opposition's best player, from point guard to power forward.

As evidenced by Hill's low assist numbers, though, he's not exactly one of the game's best in seeing the court and finding open players. Rondo should have a chance to pressure Hill into some turnovers tonight and possibly add to that steals record he just broke.

But no matter how intriguing that matchup is on the perimeter, we all know what the real story is: Kevin Garnett and/or Kendrick Perkins vs. Tim Duncan.

Duncan is one of the game's greatest players and, although his minutes are down this season -- much like Garnett's are -- he is still one of the best at scoring from the block.

He is averaging team-highs of 18.2 PPG and 10.2 RPG while shooting better than 50.0 percent from the field. His presence will always affect the opposition's defensive strategies and rotations, even if he only scores 16 points on 11 shot attempts, which is what he did during San Antonio's 102-97 win over the Cavs Friday night.

Everything the Spurs do is based off of Duncan. If he's effective on the inside, the team will most likely reap the benefits.

Sometimes, however, they won't, as was the case on Dec. 3 when the C's beat the Spurs on their home court despite Duncan's 16 points and 15 rebounds. In that game he had nearly no help, as Parker was the only other Spur to score more than 11 points. Three of his fellow starters, Keith Bogans, Antonio McDyess and Richard Jefferson, combined to score only six points.

Duncan isn't at a stage of his career where he can win games by himself night after night. He needs his teammates to help him out. If Boston can somewhat contain him while limiting his teammates to modest numbers, another home win should roll through the Garden. But that's certainly not a given that the Spurs have won seven of their last 10 games and just knocked off the top seed in the East two nights ago.

How much steam for the Spurs?

San Antonio is in the midst of one of the most brutal stretches of games any team in the league has seen this season. I guarantee you no team in the league would like to see consecutive games against the Hawks, Thunder, Lakers, Cavaliers and Celtics.

That's about as difficult as it gets in this league, but the Spurs have managed to keep their head above water with a 2-2 record through the first four games of that stretch, knocking off the Thunder and Cavs.

Not only do the C's get to be the last team of that bunch, which is an advantage in its own right, but they also get to take on a Spurs team that just took a cross-country flight from San Antonio.

The Spurs aren't the youngest team in the league, so at some point you'd think the travel and tough games will tire them out. Hopefully that's the case tonight and the C's can run circles around their opponent for the third straight game.

Payback for Finley?

Michael Finley was able to land in Boston because San Antonio was nice enough to grant him his release. When Finley arrived in the Garden for his first game and press conference as a Celtic, he made it clear that he has no hard feelings for the Spurs organization and enjoyed the time he spent there.

But let's not fool ourselves -- Finley is human, and it's in our nature to want to play well against a former team and show them how much gas is still left in your tank. There's no doubt that some extra ammunition will be in Finley's pocket when he takes the court tonight, which could translate to some very solid numbers off of the bench for the Celtics.

Contain Ginobili

Now that Tony Parker is out for the foreseeable future, Manu Ginobili is undoubtedly the Spurs' second option at the offensive end of the floor. Since he was inserted into the starting lineup, he's certainly delivered.

Ginobili is coming off of a 30-point performance against the Cavs Friday night and has averaged 23.8 PPG in his 11 starts since Parker went down. The re-insertion into the starting lineup has seemingly tossed some life back into Ginobili and he is playing at an extremely high level.

Ray Allen and the Celtics' perimeter reserves will need to concentrate on containing him tonight, because if he goes off like he did Friday night, the Spurs will be very difficult to beat. Ginobili did only score 11 points against Boston in their first meeting, so the C's are more than capable of shutting him down, but they haven't caught him during this type of scoring run in years.