Preview: Warriors at Celtics

Tonight's Matchup
	vs.
10-13	Record	12-14
100.8	PPG	106.2
100.2	PPGA	106.3
46.0	FG%	47.6
45.4	Opp. FG%	45.4
41.0	Rebounds	39.6
21.1	Assists	24.5
16.1	Turnovers	15.6
6.4	Steals	8.1
5.0	Blocks	5.0
0-0	Season Series	0-0

Wednesday, December 20, 2006
TD Banknorth Garden, 7:30 PM
TV: Fox Sports Net New England
RADIO: WRKO 680 AM

Why stop at five games? The Celtics are looking for six straight wins tonight as they host the road-weary Golden State Warriors. The Warriors have won just one of their 10 road games this season, and they've lost their last three games, falling at the hands of the Suns, Raptors and Nets to start their six-game road swing.

The Warriors love to play up-tempo basketball like the Suns and Nuggets, as they look to shoot early in the shot clock and end up giving up plenty of points as well.

"They play really up-tempo. They're very much like Denver. They take quick shots, they look for threes early in transition," said Celtics Coach Doc Rivers. "They have a bunch of guards who can all create their own shots. They move around until they find a match-up that they like and then they try to exploit it."

The Warriors aren't a strong rebounding team, as opponents routinely crush them on the glass (they've really had problems with surrendering offensive rebounds), so it could be another big night for Big Al down in the post. Presumably to make up for their lack of size down low, the Warriors do play quite a bit of zone defense, which gave the Celtics problems when the Knicks used it against them, so it will be interesting to see how the C's respond if they see it again tonight.

Baron Davis is playing some of the best basketball of his career this year, as he's scoring more (20.6 PPG) and turning the ball over less while dishing out 8.5 APG. Meanwhile, Jason Richardson, who's been the Warriors' main scoring threat over the last few years, just returned from a left knee injury and is still trying to get back into playing shape. In the meantime, Monta Ellis has stepped up to give Golden State some scoring punch.

The Celtics will get Ryan Gomes back tonight after he missed the last two games with a strained right calf. Michael Olowokandi is also expected to be available tonight after missing more than a month with a strained abdominal muscle. Golden State will be without Troy Murphy (left foot) and Zarko Cabarkapa (lower back) and Ellis (left foot) is considered a gametime decision.