Game 16 Preview: Trail Blazers at Celtics

Without Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce is going to have to take on
more responsibility, something The Truth should have no problem with.

When these two teams last faced each other on March 9, the Celtics completely embarrassed the Trail Blazers. The Celtics had a 65-30 lead at the half and went on to defeat Portland 104-86. But as Rafiki said in The Lion King, "It doesn't matter, it's in the past!"

That was then and this is now. Boston (8-7) will take on a Trail Blazers team (6-9) that gave the Washington Wizards their first win of the season on Wednesday night.

Both teams aren't exactly riding on their high horses coming into this one, and the fact that the Celtics will be without their All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo doesn't make things any easier for the green.

Here's a preview:

Projected lineups:

Trail Blazers:

Damian Lillard

Wesley Matthews

Nicolas Batum

LaMarcus Aldridge

J.J. Hickson

Celtics:

Leandro Barbosa

Jason Terry

Paul Pierce

Brandon Bass

Kevin Garnett

Keys to the game:

1. How will they respond to the doctor's prognosis?: It's clear that coach Doc Rivers is frustrated with his team thus far, so he called out his team after Wednesday night's disaster by calling them soft. A few of the Celtics took acception to this, including none other than Kevin Garnett. Hearing Doc Rivers call his team soft is something rarely heard around this neck of the woods, and that's about as low as you can go. Doc has challenged his guys, now it's up to them whether or not they respond.

2. Changing of the guard: Calling all guards on the Boston Celtics: you need to step it up the next two nights. Rondo is out, so that means ball-handling and play-calling duties will have to be shared by more than one person, and as Doc Rivers pointed out after yesterday's practice, those duties will most likely be split by Leandro Barbosa, Courtney Lee, and Jason Terry, and most likely in that order. Doc said he is less inclined to have Terry run the offense because it takes away from his play-making abilities. Look for Paul Pierce to bring the ball up on occasion and run the offense, as he did pretty aggressively on Wednesday night. Not only will they have to step it up offensively, but the guards have a pretty tough assignment tonight in guarding rookie sensation Damian Lillard. Lillard comes into tonight leading all rookies in scoring at 19.1 points per game, so stopping him is a priority. The Celtics shouldn't sleep on the other guard in Portland's backcourt, Wesley Matthews. He is averaging 16.2 points per game. The guards have their hands full tonight, and they have to hold down the fort for two nights and it starts tonight.

3. Being the best of the worst: Coming into tonight's action, the Celtics are last in the league in rebounds per game with 37.1 a game. Whose 29th? None other than the Portland Trail Blazers, who are averaging 39.4 boards a game. It's amazing to think that Portland has three guys in their starting lineup who are at least 6'8'', and between the three of them, they're only averaging 6.6 rebounds a game. That's almost as pathetic as the Celtics and their rebounding woes. Nonetheless, the Celtics need to be more aggressive, particularly on the boards, if they want to be in this game tonight. And if they can't do it against the Trail Blazers, then I don't know if they will ever do it against anyone.