Well, it's taken a long time but we have finally reached Christmas Eve 2012. It's been a crazy holiday season, one that the Celtics shouldn't be proud of. Since the beginning of the holiday season(approximately Nov.22/Thanksgiving), Boston has gone just 7-7. Combine with a 6-6 pre-Thanksgiving record and we are stuck with a .500 basketball team. I expected more, but remember last year in a 66 game season, they were just 14-12 in their first 26 games. So if we give them time, they should improve. Here are tomorrow's five things that the C's must do to win tomorrow:

5. FIX GARNETT:
For weeks now I have done nothing but praise Kevin Garnett. He is easily the Celtics' best big man and one of the most consistent players in the league. But on Friday night, Garnett was one of the players most responsible for the loss. KG scored just 12 points on 6/22 shooting. Considering that the game went to overtime, those sixteen missed shots are huge. It was just one game, but it was a bad one to mess up in. Let's hope he fixes it.

4. FIX TERRY:
Jason Terry isn't in any way the Celtics' star player. But like Garnett, they need him to at least play decent. Terry' line read a disappointing 4 points on 1/15 shooting. His stats make Garnett's respectable. You have to shoot better than that. There is no excuse for playing
that bad. The bottom line is that he needs to contribute more.

3. KEEP GETTING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LEE:
For awhile, Courtney Lee seemed like the most overhyped pickup of the offseason. For a long time, I poked at the thought of how E'Twaun Moore and Jajuan Johnson might have been better while wearing green. Recently, despite the team's struggles, Lee has much improved. In the loss to the Bucks, Lee had 11 points on 5/9 shooting. He is slowly improving and I expect more of this from him tomorrow.

2. KEEP GETTING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GREEN:
Jeff Green is a confusing, inconsistent, bad, and good player. He has nights where he can be used as a scapegoat, and nights where can be praised as a hero. The bigger he gets, the harder he seems to fall. He will follow a 30 point game with a 2 point game. On Friday, Green managed 14 points on 4/9 shooting. His 14 points was second on the team.

1. HELP PIERCE!:
I don't mean to say that nobody on the team played well but Pierce Friday night, but that was kinda how it was. Like I said, Green's 14 points was second on the team. Pierce was first with 35 on 13/23 shooting. Along with that was 12 rebounds(big man numbers) and 5 assists. If the rest of the team could've given him just a little bit of help, they would have won in regulation. Tomorrow they're playing a team of equal talent level on the road, just play the same but make one more shot.

Tomorrow's game is the first of a huge NBA schedule. It will Tip-Off at 12:00 pm ET on ESPN. Other games on the schedule include the Knicks @ Lakers(3:00 pm ET, ABC), Thunder @ Heat(5:30 pm ET, ABC), Rockets @ Bulls(8:00 pm ET, ESPN), and Nuggets @ Clippers(10:30 pm ET, ESPN). Enjoy 'em.