[hobojoe]

Monday January 10, 2005
Orlando Magic @ Boston Celtics, 7:00 p.m. ET


Orlando Magic
Coached by: Johnny Davis

Projected Starting Lineup:

S. Francis | C. Mobley | Grant Hill | D. Howard | T. Battie

Key Reserves:

K. Cato | H. Turkoglu | P. Garrity






Boston Celtics
Coached by: Doc Rivers

Projected Starting Lineup:

G. Payton | J. Welsch | P. Pierce | R. LaFrentz | M. Blount

Key Reserves:

R. Davis | Al Jefferson | W. McCarty



Key Matchup:
Battle of the Small Forwards-

Grant Hill vs. Paul Pierce


NBA.com's Preview of Tonight's Game

The Orlando Magic look to record their first four-game winning streak in two seasons Monday when they face former coach Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics.

After dropping four straight, the Magic have responded by winning three in a row, including a 104-101 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday. Grant Hill continued his comeback with 22 points and Hedo Turkoglu added 19 off the bench.

After playing a combined 47 games in his first three years in Orlando, Hill has appeared in all but one game this season and ranks second on the Magic with 19.3 points and 3.5 assists.

The last time Orlando had a four-game winning streak was from March 15-23, 2003, when Rivers was the coach. Rivers was fired after the Magic began the 2003-04 campaign by losing 10 of their first 11, and was hired by Boston in the offseason.

Rivers got a measure of revenge on November 29 when the Celtics posted a 117-101 victory in Orlando. Paul Pierce scored 24 points, Marcus Banks contributed 20 and Boston held the Magic to 39 percent shooting (39-of-100), including 1-of-12 from the arc.

However, the Magic have lost six consecutive games away from home and have not won in their last five visits to Boston.

The Celtics have lost two straight after a 102-90 defeat to the Chicago Bulls. Pierce scored 20 points, but the other four starters combined for just 24 as Boston dropped its sixth in a row on the road.

[Babir]

That loss in Orlando was terrible...I am expecting huge game from Steve-O because I am sure that that loss to Celtics left bad taste for him...
This game will be very important because its first on the road trip and further opponents are much more serious Wolves, Pistons, Pacers...

[hobojoe]

Originally posted by Babir!
That loss in Orlando was terrible...I am expecting huge game from Steve-O because I am sure that that loss to Celtics left bad taste for him...
This game will be very important because its first on the road trip and further opponents are much more serious Wolves, Pistons, Pacers...

I agree, the Magic need to win this game in my opinion. A loss here would be worse than a normal loss because it's against a team we should beat and because we have Minnesota, Detroit and Indy coming up.

[hobojoe]

On another note, the Magic are currently on a 3 game winning streak and can extend it to a season-long 4 games with a victory tonight. It'd be nice to avenge that pitiful loss we had at home to them.

[Babir]

and we didn't have 4 game winning streak for 2 seasons...

[hobojoe]

Paul Kennedy says that Cato wasn't able to practice today, but will be in the starting lineup which obviously pushes Tony Battie back to the bench.

[heyitsme]

Mobley has been traded, hopefully for Nene, stay tuned.

[JNice]

Woah, no Mobley, he's being traded.... wow, that was quick. I wonder who the hell it was for.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by heyitsme!
Mobley has been traded, hopefully for Nene, stay tuned.

Damn it! Hopefully it was something good.

[JNice]

I wonder how Francis will react.

[hobojoe]

Oh man, this is huge. For anyone not watching, he is not in uniform tonight and the Magic announcers say it's because he has been traded, although they do not know to who. Stay tuned.

[hobojoe]

Doug Christie may be involved, so says the Boston telecast...

[Benedict_Boozer]

Originally posted by hobojoe!
Oh man, this is huge. For anyone not watching, he is not in uniform tonight and the Magic announcers say it's because he has been traded, although they do not know to who. Stay tuned.

They mentioned something about Doug Christie....hopefully the Kings are giving up more than that for you guys sake.

[hobojoe]

Damn, what a God awful start to this game. Just atrocious.