With but a single day's rest after the 'buckets of blood' playoff round against the ummm ...oh yeah...Chicago Bulls, the Celtics start all over again on their home court against the Dwight Howard led Magic.

Round Two of the Eastern Conference Playoffs begins this evening as the Goliath led Philistine Orlando Magic march on Beantown after subduing the turmoil laden Philadelphia 76ers.

The Celtics lost the last two times they played Orlando. Once was without KG, the other he played 16 minutes in the game that his knee went ka-put for the season. He hasn't played since.

The Celtics , the highest scoring team in the playoffs, will create a few nightmare match ups for the Magic. J.J. Redick on Ray Allen? I've read that J.J. actually played some defense in the 76ers series. Staying with Ray Allen? I won't say never. But I'll think it.

Paul Pierce gets his points (23.3) against the Magic, but Hedo Turkoglu's length can cause Pierce problems at both ends of the court. The Truth shot 2 for 11 (.182%) from the three point arc against the Magic this season. Warning: Pierce is most likely nursing an injury or two, but has been keeping it a state secret.

Skip to My Lou vs. Johnny RondoRafer Alston on Rajon Rondo? This is another no contest IF.....Rajon is sufficiently healed of his ankle problems. Warning: Rajon was clearly not the same player the last two games as he was earlier in the Bulls series. As JB of Celtics Stuff Livehas recently pointed out, Rajon has no lift left. He is 6-25 shooting from the field and scored just 15 points combined in those games.

Courney Lee the Magic's under rated rookie shooting guard had quietly put together a highly respectable season. He will miss at least the first two games with injury thanks being accidentally clobbered by his own team mate, Dwight Howard.

All expectations are that the Celtics will have trouble with one match up in particular. Rashard Lewis vs, Glen Davis.

GoliathFirst, Dwight Howard is a match up problem for every team. But the Celtics handled him well in the past, when Kendrick Perkins could exercise his 5 fouls with the luxury of Glen Davis as his back up center and Kevin Garnett wasn't wearing suits.

Howard could be a big problem with no Davis or Leon Powe backing up Perkins. Kendrick has to play his usual good defense without getting in foul trouble. As Brian Scalabrine said himself after the last time Doc asked him to play center, "I'm not a center." Howard had a 20 point 20 rebound game the last time these teams played.

Rashard vs. Big BabyWith KG out, Lewis shapes up as a nightmare cover for Big Baby. Rashard is an accomplished player, has height (a long 6' 10"), shoots three pointers like layups, and is as prolific as Ray Allen from out there. He can also take it to the hoop.

The major dilemma is that he can beat Davis off the dribble if Glen truly tries to stay with him at the arc to prevent the three. If you give Lewis just a little daylight, you've got trouble. Glen has to pretty much concede either the three or the drive. It also pulls Glen away from the hoop. Pick your poison.

Not as bad as it seems?Even Doc Rivers has called that match up as 'unfair' for Davis. The overall numbers don't necessarily reflect that, though. Lewis did have an efficient 21 points on ten shots in 38 minutes in that last game against the Cs. He had only 15 points in the game before. But Davis played only 18:37 minutes in that one. Leon Powe played 30 minutes that same game. Powe is out for the year with injury.

The biggest thing is for Davis to find him early in transition. Glen, at times, had problems with that in the last series. The Celtics play a pretty fair half court D.

The other problem that creates is that the Cs will have to double down on Howard with a smaller player to help Perkins.

What to do?

Well here are a few ideas:1) Play a sort of zone on Lewis or automatic switching defense.a) You can have a somewhat smaller player play up on Lewis when he's setting up outside. Then let the bigs take care of any hoop attacks.2) Put Ray Allen or Paul Pierce (more likely) on him and see how that works. Either should be mobile enough to stay close to him.

Glen's offense - The neutralizerGlen's offensive improvement should help negate any defensive liabilities in this match up. Davis has come on tremendously and is averaging 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and is second on the team in assists (18) at 2.6. He has a higher Player Efficiency Rating (16 PER) than Paul Pierce (14 PER).

Davis' ability to hit the outside shot should pull Lewis away from the hoop.

Orlando's players offer a very different set of skills and challenges than the Bulls. How long the proud but beleaguered Celtics can continue this run is a fun thing to watch. No doubt the Celtics won't go down easily.

Life is the combined total of the choices you make. - Albert Camus

A lot may have to do with choices they make.

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