Game 67 Preview: Celtics at Hornets

Paul Pierce and company travel to New Orleans to extract revenge from
the Hornets.

The fall out continues from Monday's battle with the Miami Heat. But the show must got on, and the Celtics (36-30) have games to play, including one tonight with the New Orleans Hornets (22-46).

The Hornets head into tonight's contest losers of four straight by an average of 10.5 points in each game.

New Orleans is without rookie Austin Rivers, who will miss the remainder of the season after breaking his hand on March 6.




Projected lineups:

Celtics:
Avery Bradley
Courtney Lee
Paul Pierce
Jeff Green
Brandon Bass

Hornets:
Greivis Vaszquez
Roger Mason Jr.
Al-Farouq Aminu
Anthony Davis
Robin Lopez

Keys to the game:

1. A potent attack: New Orleans isn't necessarily going to light up the scoreboard. They rank 25th in the league in points, and they only scored 90 points in their victory in Boston on January 16. Check this out: New Orleans has had the game's leading scorer in only 12 of their 68 games this season, and only once in their last 15 games. Don't let tonight be the night their offense explodes. Boston has to set the tone early on the offensive end. They need to exploit this poor offensive and defensive team. They must not allow an emotional hangover from the other night.

2. Get it inside: In their last meeting, New Orleans got to the paint easily. 41 of their 71 shots came in the paint in comparison to 26 of Boston's 74 shots coming inside. The Celtics need easy buckets. They have to generate that ball movement from the other night to help them get easy looks around the rim.