Eastern Conference Quarterfinals - Game 3: Knicks at Celtics

If Paul Pierce is going to stop Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks, he's going
to need some help.

For the first time since April 10, the Celtics will take the parquet floor tonight at TD Garden for Game 3 against the Knicks.

The green will look to protect their home court in front of what is expected to be an emotional crowd. As Doc Rivers said after yesterday's practice, "There's no better crowd in the NBA than ours."

After only going through a portion of yesterday's practice, Kevin Garnett is expected to be in the starting lineup. For the Knicks, everyone is ready to go.

And so are the 18,624 that will fill TD Garden.

Here's a preview:

Projected lineups:

Knicks:
Raymond Felton
Pablo Prigioni
Iman Shumpert
Carmelo Anthony
Tyson Chandler

Celtics:
Avery Bradley
Paul Pierce
Jeff Green
Brandon Bass
Kevin Garnett

Keys to the game:

1. WAKE UP!: The Celtics' second-half struggles in this series have been widely documented. Their offensive execution down the stretch has been horrible. After setting a franchise playoff low of 25 second-half points in Game 1, the C's broke their own two-day record by scoring only 23 second-half points in Game 2. Needless to say, the Celtics need to wake up when that clock begins ticking down from 12:00 at the start of the third quarter. In order to do so, the Celtics need to get stops when they need them in order to convert on easy opportunities in transition. That's easier said than done against an offensive juggernaut like the Knicks, but the Celtics have shown in the first two games that defense is not the problem.

2. "He's Paul Pierce, not Christopher Reeve": This is a quote from Doc Rivers when asked about Paul Pierce's workload over the past two games. Rivers couldn't have said it any better. Pierce is being asked to do way too much, and he is not Superman. He's been called upon to be a playmaker, facilitator and a defender -- not to mention the team's best scorer. For a 35-year-old who has played nearly 51,000 career minutes, that is simply too much to ask. For the Celtics to be successful, Pierce cannot do it all. He needs help from his teammates. Jason Terry needs to walk the talk and convert on open looks. Brandon Bass needs to get more than 6 shots. Jeff Green needs to be consistent for 48 minutes. The Celtics are going to need all hands on deck if they want to come back in this series.