Game 50 Preview: Nuggets at Celtics

Ty Lawson has led the Denver Nuggets to
a 33-18 record.

Just because they do not have any big name players does not mean they should be taken lightly.

If you were to look at the Nuggets' roster without knowing any of their stats or their record, you would think they were a middle-of-the-pack team at best. 

That's far from the truth, as the Nuggets own the fourth-best record in the Western Conference at 33-18 and come into tonight's tilt with the Celtics (26-23) on a nine-game winning streak, which is currently the longest in the NBA. Denver played last night in Cleveland and defeated the Cavaliers 111-103.

The Celtics aren't doing too shabby, either. They're on a winning streak of their own, six in a row to be exact. 

This is a big game for Boston. It's the first of a back-to-back, as they travel to Charlotte after the game to take on the Bobcats. A win tonight would be huge going forward.

Here's a preview:

Projected lineups:

Nuggets:

Ty Lawson

Andre Iguodala

Danilo Galinari

Kenneth Faried

Kosta Koufos

Celtics:

Courtney Lee

Avery Bradley

Paul Pierce

Brandon Bass

Kevin Garnett

Keys to the game:

1. Off the glass: Denver is the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA, as they're averaging 13.6 per game. Over their last three games, they're at 15.7 a game, also the best in the league in that span. Denver also has 8 players averaging at least 1.0 offensive rebound compared to the 4 on the Celtics. Securing defensive rebounds is going to be crucial. As much as people are making the Celtics out to be a terrible rebounding team, this isn't necessarily the case. The Celtics are 11th in defensive rebounding. Their problems come on the offensive glass. But we're not worrying about that because Doc Rivers doesn't worry about that. What the Celtics do need to worry about is grabbing every defensive rebound they can and not take any board for granted.

2. 100: Denver is 27-11 when scoring at least 100 points. They've scored over 100 in each of their last 10 games. On the other hand, the Celtics have reached the 100-point plateau only 17 times. What does this mean? The Celtics have to do all they can to keep this game in double-digits. The Nuggets can score in many different ways. They're the best fastbreak team in the league (19.4 points per game), they have the fourth-best field-goal percentage (47.1%), and they lead the league in points in the paint (56.7 on the season and 62.7 over their last three games). The Celtics have to force the Nuggets to take contested shots outside the paint and preferably near the three-point line. Denver's kryptonite is three-point shooting, as they are 27th in the league (the Celtics are 28th) in that category. Boston needs to continue to play at the high level defensively that has helped them win six straight games.