Our Hornets and Cavs B2B

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

The Celts are in Charlotte, NC, tonight and Cleveland, Ohio, tomorrow. They 
will play a third game in four nights against Milwaukee in Little Rock, 
Arkansas, on Friday, before returning home.

Two Hornets starters, Eldon Cambell and Jamaal Mashburn will miss tonight's 
game (and key sub Matt Bullard). Both of the Celtics captains sound 
slightly dinged up as well, and might deserve a rest.

Lee Nailon has been a surprise in camp, averaging 11.7 points on a .625FG% 
and .833FT% starting in place of Mashburn (hamstring injury).

But Augmon (.263), Derrick Coleman (.240) and Magloire (.235) seem to be on 
cruise control.

The Hornets still feature one of the East's premier backcourts in Baron 
Davis and David Wesley. Antoine's old nemesis PJ Brown will start as well.

As a team, the Hornets have held opponents to an unsightly .385FG% and 85 
ppg through their first three games.

Obie announced in the papers today that Mark Blount will start against the 
Hornets but that Battie has won the starting center job as well as the 
backup power forward job. I would imagine Eric Williams will also start.

Tonight would be an excellent opportunity to play the rookies, if you ask 
me. The Herald is reporting that Toine has a knee bruise and Paul Pierce 
has "heel spurs".

At Cleveland tomorrow, the Celts will get a good look at Bryant Stith, who 
shot 5-7 from the field in his last outing versus the Nets over the 
weekend. For now, the Cavs starting lineup has shooters Lamond Murray and 
Wes Person, franchise point guard Andre Miller, and big guys Chris Mihm and 
Michal Doleac. That's not the quickest lineup in the world. Sixth man 
Jumaine Jones was a star in the Shaw League this summer for the Sixers, and 
continues to play well in the preseason.

Both Cleveland and Charlotte are teams that Boston will have to at least 
split with in the regular season  in order to make the playoffs.

I hope we can correct our mistakes from the Spurs game and send a message 
to the Hornets tonight. But mainly, I'm just hoping we don't get too 
excited and give Toine and Pierce 37 minutes each again. Give Joe Johnson 
or even Kedrick 30 minutes maybe. Throw Forte out there against David 
Wesley. Also pound it inside and get our centers involved in the offense 
tonight and tomorrow. Those guys need to score points and get their 
confidence back after the Spurs debacle. I'd like to see Battie or Blount 
get a double double game. I'd like Vitaly to break out of his slump. One 
gets the feeling that he spends his summer getting muscle bound and ends up 
losing hand coordination and flexibility. Maybe he should do boxing instead 
of weight training. I don't know. Usually by midseason his hands seem 
pretty reliable, and least from what I remember.

Go Celts!  Squish the bugs!