Gino's Jungle

With the Celtics rolling along on a seven game winning streak (five of those on the road) I'm going to take a moment to preview the upcoming week and touch on a bit of injury news.  The Celtics start at home tomorrow night against a young, upstart Milwaukee team before heading down to our nation's capital then on to Chicago (where I will be waiting) to finish the week.

Tuesday vs. Milwaukee - The energetic Bucks took advantage of a relatively easy schedule to start the season with a record of 8-3.  Since then they have lost seven of their last eight including games against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference - Orlando and Cleveland.  Their schedule doesn't get any easier on Tuesday night as Brandon Jennings leads them into the Jungle.  The Bucks are just 2-7 on the road so the Celtics should look to exploit a weak front court as the Bucks' trio of Bogut, Ilyasova and Delfino should be no match for Perkins, KG and Pierce.   With all-star Michael Redd out due to a knee injury the obvious key match-up falls on young stud Brandon Jennings vs. Rajon Rondo.  These two young guards should put on a show tomorrow night, but I expect Rondo's team to be the one walking out with a big W.

Thursday @ Washington - I would love to come out and say that the Celtics should be heading into Chicago with a nine game winning streak but this game scares me a bit.  The Wizards always seem to play hard against Boston and I expect this game to be more of the same.  Washington has a "Big Three" of their own in Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas.  They are currently just 7-12 on the season as "Agent Zero" is still running the show and the rest of the team has yet to find any consistent play.  Despite beating Cleveland on November 18 the Wizards have lost to the new-look Bobcats and a Pistons team that is still trying to find their identity as well.  The key match-up involves Rondo again, this time going up against Arenas.  You've heard the cliche "as Rondo goes so go the Celtics" but it seems to pertain to Washington and their all-star point guard even more.  If Rondo keeps him in check, the Celtics should win.

Saturday @ Chicago - On to Chicago where I'll be waiting for the C's to show up for a game against the reeling Bulls.  Revenge could be a factor in this game as the Bulls were crushed in their first road game of the season in Boston, 118-90 on October 30.  Unfortunately for the Bulls, after starting the season with a modest 6-4 record they've lost seven of their last eight, including a loss at Cleveland where Joakim Noah and Lebron James got into a bit of an argument (God forbid!)  The Bulls have plenty of reasons to come out strong against the Celtics but with three games this week before Boston comes to town, I have a hard time believing they are going to put up enough of a fight to steal one.  Once again the key match-up will involve the point guards, as sophomore Derrick Rose will try to one-up Rajon Rondo as they each did multiple times in the playoffs last year.

The one thing I failed to mention in any of those predictions is the sad news that Marquis Daniels will miss some time with a sore wrist/thumb.  This is slightly discouraging since he seemed to be getting into a groove offensively and very discouraging because the back-up plan is Tony Allen.  Yes, that Tony Allen.  The Tony Allen that always finds a way to get a contract with the Boston Celtics.  The Tony Allen that I once saw bust up his knee because he thought it was a good idea to attempt a loud dunk WELL AFTER the whistle was blown.  This guy always seems to get injured, and what's more, he tries to do way, way, way too much on offense.  He is a turnover machine which made the Daniels' signing even better since we all thought TA would be off the floor for good.  Well here we are and our best option after Marquis Daniels is Tony Allen.  Bill Walker is up in Maine on a re-hab stint, J.R. Giddens is still too raw to fill the role, and Eddie House still buckles under some strong pressure from the defense.  I hope the team will not miss Marquis Daniels too much but I'm afraid the only way to guarantee that is to play Rondo for 48 minutes.  Maybe Tony Allen has learned to be more conservative on offense.  Maybe he won't take bad shots and throw bad passes.  Maybe he'll just focus on not fouling a 3-point shooter when they're up by two in the playoffs and there are three seconds left...maybe...but I'll believe it when I see it.

Check back on Sunday as I report from Chicago - hopefully I won't be eating my words!