Tonight, the Celtics will hope to enter All-Star Weekend on a high note when they host the Bulls. The Bulls currently sit at 30-21 and fourth place in the eastern conference. The Celtics currently sit at 27-24 and seventh in the conference. The Celtics are coming off possibly their worst loss of the season with a 94-91 loss Monday night to the Bobcats. This mixed with the season ending injury to Barbosa seems to be really bad, but it isn't. They always bounce back. Here are tonight's five things:
5. GET SOMEBODY TO FILL THE VOID LEFT BY BARBOSA:
Of the three injuries that the Celtics have suffered in the last month, Barbosa's was probably the least serious. I'm not saying that he wasn't important, but I do think that they can live without him.
4. GET PIERCE HOT:
Paul Pierce, like the rest of the team, struggled mightily Monday night. Pierce shot just 4/12 from the field, which is horrible. He's gotta lead this team and he's not doing that.
3. GET GARNETT HOT:
Against the Bobcats, Kevin Garnett shot just 5/13. He still had a solid 16, but think about what could've been if he could've just made a few more shots. I know that he'll do better tonight.
2. REBOUND:
Against a terrible rebounding team, the Celtics were out-rebounded 47-44. They didn't put up a great effort on the boards and deserved the stats they got. This needs improvement.
1. BETTER EFFORT THROUGHOUT:
If the Celtics would have just done what every other team does against the Bobcats, they would've easily won. They played pathetic and made fans lose a lot of confidence in them. They need to earn that confidence back.
Tip-off for tonight's game will be at 7:30 pm ET. Live Game Updates will be available here.