Whole Team Effort

Rondo's triple-double helped fuel the Celtics to a huge win against the Spurs on Wednesday night, as many of the Celtics played incredibly well to knock off the top team in the Western Conference. Ray Allen and Glen Davis made most of their jump shots and largely contributed to Rondo's 22 assists, and all of the Celtics helped crash the boards to make up for lost production since the loss of Kevin Garnett. Ray Allen's 31 points exposed the Spurs' inability to handle simple picks, and his jumpers punished them for it as he knocked down 13 of his 16 shots from the field. Nate Robinson finally had a haircut and was playing better than he has for the last couple of weeks, and contributed some key jump shots while filling in for Rondo and pulled down five big rebounds. The Celtics look to push their new win streak to four when they take on Toronto tonight, in a matchup that heavily favors Boston.

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The Celtics need another full team effort tonight in terms of rebounding, as once again on Wednesday Big Baby Davis and Shaquille O'Neal could not get it done on the boards, pulling in only three combined rebounds between the two starting big men. Rebounds from more unlikely smaller guys such as Rondo, Nate, and Paul Pierce are the reason that Boston did not get massacred on the boards for the third consecutive game, and this energy is what they need to come out on top against quality basketball teams while Garnett recovers from injury. Luckily the Celtics match up very well against the Raptors tonight, who still came up very short against Boston the last time they faced off despite an impressive 27 point showing from DeMar DeRozan. It will be interesting to watch the matchup between DeRozan and Ray Allen, who both played much better offensively than defensively last time they faced off.

And while Andrea Bargnani may be back for the Raptors, and led them to a win Wednesday night against Cleveland, Rondo is also back for the Celtics. He played against Toronto when the Celtics defeated them on January 2nd, but did not yet appear comfortable with his ankle. With 22 assists, 6 steals, and a triple-double against Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, Rondo now seems incredibly comfortable with his ankle, and will be looking to add another 15 or so assists to his season total. Look for Rondo to expose the Raptors' weakness on the inside, and for him to lead the Celtics to another victory. Players such as DeRozan and Jose Calderon are capable of putting together huge offensive nights, but as long as the Celtics can keep it close on the boards, and that three point shooting center Andrea Bargnani continues to be the Raptors' leading scorer, the Celtics should absolutely be able to win this game.