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Nets-Celtics Preview

Feb 4, 2010 - 6:53 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New Jersey (4-44) at Boston (31-16), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Boston Celtics know they probably need a healthy Paul Pierce to win a championship. His presence may not be necessary to notch another win over the lowly New Jersey Nets.

Pierce is not expected to play for the Celtics on Friday night when they try to defeat the Nets for the 12th consecutive time.

Boston (31-16) played without Pierce in 107-102 victory over Miami on Wednesday. The All-Star forward sprained his left foot Monday night in a win at Washington, and is listed as day to day.

Coach Doc Rivers said Pierce also would likely miss Friday's game, but the coach didn't rule him out of Sunday afternoon's home contest against Orlando.

"It plays with the rhythm of your team," forward Kevin Garnett said of being short-handed. "For the most part, we haven't even been at full strength. Second half of the season, we're looking forward to getting a lot more practice time."

Garnett is speaking from experience as he is starting to round into form. He had 14 points and a season-high nine assists Wednesday in his seventh game back after missing 10 with a knee injury.

The Celtics will be heavily favored to hand the Nets a 13th straight road loss. Boston is 2-0 against New Jersey this season, and led 71-35 at halftime of the last meeting - a 111-87 win Jan. 13 in which no Celtics player logged 30 minutes.

Garnett did not play in that contest and has missed three of the Celtics' last four games against New Jersey.

Rajon Rondo, however, has had a major impact in that span against the Nets, averaging 19.5 points on 68.1 percent shooting and 6.8 assists per game. He is coming off a strong effort with 22 points and 14 assists Wednesday, and has averaged 12.7 assists in his last three contests.

"It was contagious," Rondo said. "We shared the ball tonight and played very unselfishly."

Ray Allen scored a team-high 23 points after averaging 12.7 on 39.6 percent shooting over his previous nine games.

"I needed that confidence," Allen told NBA.com. "I was struggling offensively tonight but my bread and butter is defense."

The Nets (4-44) lost their fourth in a row Wednesday, 108-99 at Toronto. New Jersey trailed 57-56 at halftime before dropping to 1-9 against Atlantic Division foes and 1-24 on the road.

"For most of the game I thought we were pretty good," coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. "It's those lapses, a couple of minutes of a time, that hurt us tonight."

New Jersey has been more competitive during this losing streak, falling by a total of 19 points. The Nets' average margin of defeat in their previous six losses was 23.3 points.

Point guard Devin Harris has averaged 19.5 points and 11.0 assists in two games after missing the previous four with a wrist injury.