Welcome to the Garden

By Gary Dzen

January 23, 2008

1 minute to read

Welcome to the Garden, where the Boston Celtics (33-6) will take on the Toronto Raptors (22-19) at 7:30 p.m.

The Raptors are in second place in the Atlantic Division, but they’re a full 12 games behind the Celtics. If anyone was going to challenge the Celtics for the division this year it was Toronto, but Boston has started out hotter than anyone could have imagined. The Celtics are 10-0 against the Atlantic this season.

Toronto is currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are shooting on opposite ends of the court right now for the Celtics. Both players are working on their mid-range games. Rondo looks locked-in tonight. His jumper looks effortless. It’s a sign that he could finally be overcoming those hamstring and back injuries.

James Posey is doubtful tonight with an injured finger on his right hand.

The biggest concern for the Celtics tonight is likely to be Raptors big man Chris Bosh. Doc Rivers is an unabashed adorer of Bosh, often mentioning the All-Star forward when asked to name the league’s best frontcourt players. Lately the coach has been right: Bosh is averaging 30.3 points over his last three games.

The Celtics dancers are on the court right now, which means it’s probably time for me to see what else is going on here at the Garden. Check back in a bit for more updates.

Just an interesting, non Celtics-Raptors note to pass along. Apparently LeBron James and Nike are coming out with sneakers inspired by the New York Yankees. Can’t imagine Cleveland fans are happy about that.