The first meeting between these two teams resulted in a blowout victory for Boston, but things have drastically changed since that last November matchup.

The Boston Celtics (24-23) have lost Rajon Rondo for the season due to a torn ACL and Jared Sullinger recently underwent back surgery, which will end his season also. Rondo and Sullinger combined for 18 points, 13 rebounds and 20 assists in the previous victory against Toronto.

Despite their absences, Boston is riding a four-win streak. All of the wins have been at home though, and tonight Boston must travel on the road where they are only 7-14.

On the Raptors (17-31) end, they acquired Rudy Gay in a blockbuster trade that also involved dealing away Jose Calderon to Detroit. Gay provides Toronto a star player which they have missed since Chris Bosh left for the Miami Heat. In two games with Toronto, Gay is averaging 24.5 points per game.

Gay will square off against Paul Pierce, who broke out of a mini-scoring drought on Sunday, topping the 20-point mark for the first time in a week and a half. With Gay now in the Atlantic Division, these two will frequently collide for some great small forward battles.

The biggest challenge for the Celtics tonight may be their opponent tomorrow. Boston takes on the rival Lakers tomorrow night on TNT. Looking past opponents has been a tendency for these Celtics. Doc Rivers will need his team zeroed in on tonight’s foe, or Boston will be looking to begin a new win-streak tomorrow rather than extending this current one.

Keys To The Game:

• The Celtics need to keep the ball moving offensively. Even without Rondo the Celtics are averaging 24.8 assists per game during these past four games. In the last game against the Clippers, seven players had at least two assists. With the ball moving on offense, it is making every player on the court a true threat on the offensive end.
• Boston will need to keep Rudy Gay in check. Even though he is overpaid, there is a reason Toronto traded for him, and that is because he can take over games offensively. Jeff Green’s size and athleticism is the perfect matchup against Gay. Earlier this season with Memphis, Gay scored 19 points against Boston in a Grizzlies’ victory.
• Don’t get rattled being away from home. That may sound crazy since there is a good amount of veteran experience, but the Celtics have been awful away from the Garden this season. Boston must come in with a sense of focus and not allow the arena they are playing in to make a difference.
• Boston can’t be looking ahead to tomorrow night. The Celtics take on the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow in a nationally televised game, but they need to take care of business tonight. Playing down to the level of competition has been a problem for Boston in the past several years.

Following a 15 point loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night, Doc Rivers claimed his team just wanted to win easy. Although not a glowing remark for his team, it should not get much easier than tonight for Boston.

The Celtics take on the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-32), who have the second worst record in the NBA. Making matters worse for Cleveland is the fact Anderson Varejao was ruled out for the season yesterday after doctors discovered a blood clot in his lung. Varejao was the Cavaliers third leading scorer, and was leading the NBA in rebounds per game with 14.4.

Boston will look to snap a three-game losing streak against the wounded Cavaliers. During the Celtics skid, they have averaged only 88.3 points per game. Boston’s offense should see improvement tonight, as Cleveland allows 100.6 ppg.

The first time these two teams met this season, the Celtics were also riding a three game losing streak. Boston took the first game 103-91 back in December, led by Paul Pierce who scored a season high 40 points. As a team, Boston shot an efficient 59.7 percent from the floor.

Keys to the Game:

• Will the Celtics play motivated? Rivers clearly had a problem with his team’s effort in the Detroit loss and called them out for it. Now it is up to the players to respond to their coach’s criticism.
• Slow down Kyrie Irving. He has scored at least 20 points in all four career games against Boston. Despite Avery Bradley suffering from a rib injury, he will be responsible for containing the explosive Irving.
• Boston will need to get their offense going. There has been very little rhythm in the past three games. Cleveland is not a good defensive team by any stretch. Rajon Rondo should be able to get into the paint and create easy scoring chances for himself and others.
• The Celtics need a spark from the bench. Cleveland is not a deep team and players like Jeff Green, Jason Terry and Jared Sullinger should all have matchup advantages when playing against Cavalier reserves. Two of those three players need to have good games, relieving the burden placed on Pierce and Kevin Garnett to score.