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Hornets-Celtics Preview

Oct 31, 2009 - 7:17 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

New Orleans (1-1) at Boston (3-0), 6:00 p.m. EDT

After a sluggish finish to last season, the Boston Celtics look refreshed and rejuvenated. That was bad news for the first two opponents to visit TD Garden.

Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets look to provide a tougher test at Boston, while the Celtics will try to stay hot when the teams meet Sunday night.

Boston opened the season with an impressive victory at Cleveland and avoided any drama in its subsequent games, winning twice at home by an average of more than 30 points.

The Celtics (3-0) held Charlotte to 59 points at TD Garden on Wednesday, then relied on offense to cruise past Chicago on Friday. Boston's 38-point third quarter was the decisive blow in a 118-90 victory.

Ray Allen scored nine points near the end of the first half and Paul Pierce got hot after the break, hitting all five of his 3-pointers in the third quarter and scoring 20 points in the period.

"That was beautiful to watch," forward Kevin Garnett said. "To watch those two play and build the lead up while they were in there."

With six blocked shots in three games, Garnett has helped Boston regain its dominant defensive form after he missed the end of last season and the playoffs with knee problems. The Celtics needed seven games to eliminate the Bulls in the first round before getting knocked off by Orlando in Game 7 at home in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

With Garnett back this season, Celtics opponents have shot 38.1 percent from the field, with the Bobcats and Bulls going a combined 2 of 25 from 3-point range in Boston.

Since the start of the 2007-08 season, the Celtics are 72-12 at home in the regular season, including a pair of double-digit wins over New Orleans. Boston also swept the 2008-09 season series with an 89-77 road win Feb. 11.

The Hornets (1-1) will likely need to improve their play if they want to buck that trend, especially after struggling to a 97-92 home win over lowly Sacramento on Friday.

Paul scored 31 points, but it took a pair of blocked shots by Emeka Okafor in the closing seconds to preserve the victory.

"We won but how we played wasn't good enough," coach Byron Scott said. "We allowed them to come in here and dominate. If we expect to be a good basketball team we have to be a good defensive and rebounding team and tonight we weren't."

New Orleans did, however, get another promising performance from Okafor, who missed the entire preseason with a toe injury after coming over in an offseason trade from Charlotte.

The center had his second straight double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, and is 13 of 22 from the field on the season.

"I'm just happy that I was able to contribute, considering that I didn't have a preseason, that I could come in, have a couple decent starts and kind of put everybody's mind at ease," Okafor said. "It was on my mind, having a decent first impression to just kind of calm everybody's nerves."

This will be Hornets reserve James Posey's second visit to Boston since helping the Celtics to the 2008 NBA title. The veteran is off to a slow start, with five points in 41 minutes.