MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES @ BOSTON CELTICS Preview

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Sunday, December 20th, 2009

TD Garden – Boston, MA

6:00 PM Tip

The Timberwolves have won 2 of their last 3 games, one of which was at the Utah Jazz. They come in with a 5-22 record, but gave the Celtics a run for their money the last time the Celtics played them in Minnesota. They have beaten Utah twice, and have beaten the Denver Nuggets in Denver, so they can win against the better teams in the league. The Celtics have won 11 of their last 12 to put it positively, after coming off a 1 point loss against the 76ers. Boston still stands at 20-5, only 1 game back in the loss column of the best record in the league.

For matchups to watch, we will have to keep an eye on Corey Brewer and Ray Allen, as well as Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins. Ray is going to have his work cut out for him with Brewer. He can’t shoot well, but is good at getting inside and is a high riser. If you didn’t watch him at all in college, go to youtube and search his dunk on Derek Fisher this year which just isn’t fair for Fisher to even attempt to stand in on. Allen will be able to back off to give him some room as Brewer is awful from deep. Then we can watch Perkins and Jefferson battle it out, which we hope Jefferson to play well against any team other than the C’s. Jefferson put in a respectable 18 earlier this season in Minnesota, so Perk will have to play him the same way to simply contain him.

The TWolves don’t have a deep bench, so the Celtics bench who is limited as well, will have a chance to expand the lead while in the game instead of forcing the starters to come back in to protect the lead, as has become a pattern lately. The bench will have to eliminate random players such as Pecherov from going off on them, and simply hold them to their average numbers. This means they will have to play as a unit with no let downs. Most of all, once the Celtics get a good lead, which will happen, they can not let their foot off the pedal as they did the other night. When that happens, all momentum is lost and it is hard to get it back even at home.

This is one of the 2 preseason games the Celtics have before a real game on Friday in Orlando, so they need to come out on the home court to push their record to 21-5. The Timberwolves are not a good team so the Celtics should beat them handily in the Jungle. If they get the win tonight, they can play another team who played them well this season- Indiana.