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Boston Celtics (46-16) at Philadelphia 76ers (33-31)
Friday, March 11
7:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #63, Road Game #30
TV:   CSN-NE,  CSN-P, NBA-LP 755
Radio:  WEEI,  WIP
Wells Fargo Center
Referees:   Bob Delaney,  Michael Smith,  Haywoode Workman
This is the 3rd meeting between these two divisional rivals.  The Celtics are 2-0 against the Sixers this season so far, but both games were close.  In the first game in Philly, it took a KG dunk on a lob pass from Rondo with 1.4 seconds left for a 102-101 victory.   The second game was a 4 point come from behind victory that took 14 trips to the line in the final 12 minutes to pull out.

The Celtics are 19-10 on the road and 8-2 in their last 10 games.  The Sixers are 21-11 at home and 7-3 in their last 10 games.  Both teams are coming off a loss on Wednesday with the Celtics losing to the Clippers and the Sixers losing to the Thunder. 

 The Celtics are still short handed, especially in the front line, with Shaq, Jermaine and Von Wafer all expected to be out for awhile and Big Baby and Delonte not expected back until at least Sunday. 
The Sixers are at full strength with no injuries reported. 

The Celtics have a second unit that had never played together  before this week.  While some of the players are getting more accustomed to the Celtics system, they are still a long way from developing the kind of chemistry the Celtics had before the trade deadline.  Hopefully Doc doesn't put all 5 on the court together like he did against the Clippers. 

The Celtics need a better effort than we saw from them in their last game.   The Bulls are just 1.5 games back of the Celtics and are playing their best basketball of the season.  They also have a fairly easy schedule remaining.  If the Celtics want to hold on to home court they have to put fort better effort and win the games they should win. 

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Los Angeles Clippers (23-40) at Boston Celtics (46-15)
Wednesday, March 9
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #62, Home Game #33
TV:  CSN-NE, Prime, NBA-LP 757/758
Radio:  WEEI, KFWB
TD Garden
Referees:  Dick Bavetta, Kevin Fehr, John Goble
This is the second and final meeting between these two teams.  When they last met,  the Celtics were playing the second game after the trade.  Krstic and Green were playing in their first game and hadn't practiced with the team as yet.   Only Shaq and JO were on the injured list for the Celtics.  The Celtics have since added Big Baby, Von Wafer and Delonte to the walking wounded. 

Since that first game, the Celtics have also added Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, and Carlos Arroyo, who is expected to make his Celtics debut in this game.   And, of course, Green and Krstic have had more time to get acclimated to the Celtics system. 

On the Clippers's side of things, they had also made a trade at the deadline but didn't have their new players in the lineup because of a delay in Baron Davis' physical.   Mo Williams has been moved into the starting lineup and will be Rondo's opponent in this one instead of Eric Bledsoe.   Also Jamario Moon will be coming off their bench. 

The Celtics are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have won 5 in a row.  The Clippers are 3-7 in their last 10 games but they have won their last 2 games.  The addition of Mo Williams at the point seems to have energized the team.  The Celtics are 27-5 at home while the Clippers are 5-25 on the road. 

The Celtics won that first game 99-92 in LA.    Hopefully with the added players and extra time to build some chemistry, the Celtics can come out and blow this game open early to give the new guys some extra in-game minutes together.   With the home crowd behind them, they should be able to pull it off. 

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Boston Celtics (45-15) at Milwaukee Bucks (23-37)
Sunday, March 6
9:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #61, Road Game #29
TV:  ESPN,  CSN-NE, NBAC
Radio:  WEEI, WTMJ
Bradley Center 

This is the second meeting between these two teams. In their first game, the Celtics came away with a 105-102 victory.  The Celtics are a significantly different team than the one that the Bucks faced back in November.   Both of these teams are plagued by injuries but along with the injuries, the Celtics have 5 new players to work into their team chemistry.

In spite of their record,  the Bucks can be a tough team to beat if they are taken for granted.  The Bucks are 3rd in the league in points allowed and so their defense can cause problems for teams.  But, with 2 of their starting bigs out with injuries, they have struggled somewhat.

The Celtics have won 4 of the last 7 and 9 of the last 12 meetings between these two teams.  The Celtics are 7-3 in their last 10 games while the Bucks are just 3-7 in their last 10 games.  The Celtics are 18-10 on the road.  The Bucks are 15-15 at home.

Sunday is Shaq's 39th birthday but he won't be celebrating it on the court as he is still at least a couple of games away from a return to active duty.  Delonte will also miss this game but is eyeing Wednesday for his return.

Carlos Arroyo is expected to be available for this game and with his arrival, the Celtics now have 5 new players on their roster to try to bring up to speed on the team's system.   The starters will need to build a lead as they have in the past few games because the second unit will be entirely made up of players that are new to the team and to each other along with Avery Bradley.  The Celtics only center is Nenad Krstic as Chris Johnson was released to make room for Arroyo and Big Baby, Shaq, and JO are still sidelined with various injuries.

If the Celtics were healthy and the new players were familiar with the system, this would be an easy game.  But with all the injuries on the Celtics and all the new players still trying to find their way in the system on both ends of the court,  this will be far from an easy game.   The Celtics must play with focus and play aggressively and with energy and if they do, they should come away with the win.