Please send them to celticshub@gmail.com no later than 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning and we’ll include a sampling tomorrow afternoon in the 5-on-5.

Please keep responses to 50 words or less. You can answer some or all of the questions in whatever manner you see fit.

Here’s what we’ll be addressing tomorrow:

1. If Paul Pierce had played the first half of his career with Shaq instead of Antoine Walker, how would we regard him today?
2. JaJuan Johnson had a great game against Memphis. Where does his season go from here?
3. Which Celtics will be named as all-star reserves Thursday night?
4. The Lakers and Celtics have nearly identical records. Which team is a more viable championship contender?
5. Prediction time: what happens Thursday night between the Celtics and Lakers?

***

Addendum: If we use your comment, we’ll use your real name unless you request otherwise or prefer your commenting nickname. Just let us know.

1. You started every game your first two years in the league, last year and this year you’ve been coming off the bench.  Are you more comfortable with one role, which do you see yourself doing in the future?

Mayo: Whatever the team needs.  Just a ball player, gonna give 110% whether I start or come off the bench.

2. You were a point guard in high school and college, do you think you could be a point guard for a full season in the NBA?

Mayo: Yeah, yeah, one day.  It’s all about being a complete guard.  People put so much emphasis on if you are a 1 or a 2.  Thing is if you are a complete guard you can help a lot of teams, and right now being a complete guard is helping the Memphis Grizzlies.

3. You are a restricted free agent after this year, could you see yourself playing in a place like Boston?

Mayo: Yeah sure.  If there is an NBA team I’d be happy to play there.  But right now my main goal is to play for Memphis and hopefully help get them their first NBA Championship.

4. Is there any stigma about Boston?  In the past not all athletes have wanted to play in Boston, it took KG some convincing.  Does that still exist?

Mayo: I’ve never heard of that.  It’s always been one of the top organizations in basketball.  Ever since you were a little boy start playing basketball you always heard about the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird, all the great players, it’s always been a great organization.

5. You guys play well when Rudy Gay is healthy and Zach Randolph is out and vice versa, but when both are playing you are only a couple games over .500.  Any idea as to why that is?

Mayo: I think our team focus level rises when one of the other is out, because we know how big they mean to the team and when they are out we feel like we may get doubted as to how great we can be, and we try to prove the naysayers wrong.  But when they both get healthy I think we will be even a tougher team to deal with.

BONUS QUESTIONS:

What are the challenges for someone like you who will likely have to guard Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo in the same game, guys who play completely different?

Mayo: You know you just got to know your scouting report, and trust your scouting report.  Obviously Rondo is a great point guard, great in transition and even better in the half court as far as making other players around him better.  And Ray Allen is a great shooter, never stops moving, and comes well off screens.  You just got to know the scouting report and make them play the other end honest as well.

Who you got in the Super Bowl today?

Mayo: I got the Giants.

You going to be able to watch it?

Mayo: Yeah we will be back in town.

Rich Keefe is the Celtics Reporter for 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston.  You can follow him on twitter: @Keefe21

New York at Boston
8:00 PM
TD Garden
ESPN/CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency
Boston: 99.9 points/100 possessions (17th)
New York: 97.1 points/100 possessions (24th)

Defensive Efficiency
Boston: 94.7 points/100 possessions (2nd)
New York: 97.8 points/100 possessions (11th)

Probable NY Starters: Iman Shumpert (PG) Landry Fields (SG), ‘Melo (SF), Amare Stoudemire (PF), Tyson Chandler (C)

View from the Opposing Bench: Knickerblogger

Injury Report
Boston: Rajon Rondo is a game-time decision but may play. Keyon Dooling is out.
New York: Baron Davis ain’t ready yet.

THUMBNAIL
Tonight marks the end of the first trimester of the season, and the opponent that closes it is the same one that opened it: the Knicks, who beat the Celtics 106-104 on Christmas Day. In Gotham, that probably feels like a lifetime ago. The Knicks are now tumbling head over heels in what might prove Mike D’Antoni’s death spiral, having lost 10 of their last 12 games. Meanwhile, the C’s have found their defensive mojo (they’re back to second in the league in efficiency) and may have Rondo back in the lineup as soon as tonight.

We should also keep our eye on the burgeoning Bill Walker-Kevin Garnett feud, the opening salvo of which capped the Christmas game.

QUALITY RANT
If the world does end during our lifetime, I want the last voice we hear before we all perish — probably beaming out from some underground bunker — to belong to the great Stephen A. Smith. Here’s his recent rant on the Knicks, where he bounces effortlessly from low-rumble bedroom seriousness to high-pitched hysterics.

As you’ll see, said rant is unofficially but aggressively sponsored by worldstarhiphop.com.

PREGAME ANALYSIS
The Knicks are a curious concoction. They’re a D’Antoni team without a great point guard, which has hampered their ability to get Amare into the regular pick and roll situations where he thrives. He’s only recently shown signs of breaking out. They’ve also got ‘Melo, who has wondered aloud in recent days if he’s shooting too much (although he torched the Celtics last game without Paul Pierce in the lineup). I wonder if the smart move might be to play into these New York insecurities: ballhawk whoever’s running the point, force the ball to ‘Melo and then force ‘Melo into the teeth of the strong side zone.

The 2011-12 version of the Knicks is also a much more efficient team on the defensive end than has been typical of recent Knicks teams. Based solely on numbers, the Celtics need to worry far more about how to score the ball against New York than how to stop them. Having a functional Rondo would be huge because his penetration (esp. in transition) has been effective at shifting New York’s defense and opening up shooters on the perimeter. To that point, having Ray Allen back in the lineup, even without Rondo, gives the Celtics someone to punish the Knicks if Pierce plays his recent role of facilitator again tonight.

The Knicks are the second fastest team in the league, but a back-and-forth game would be a mixed blessing for them. It would be playing right into Boston’s hands on offense: the C’s have the second best transit attack in the league (per mySynergySports). But the Celtics are only the 27th best team in the league defending in transition. Add it all up and we could have a shootout.

Either way, it should be entertaining. These two teams have played some of the better regular season games against each other the last year and a bit.

PREDICTION
Boston 103 New York 100

3. JaJuan Johnson Is Seen

Two consecutive possessions of JaJuan Johnson scoring in two different ways! I like the jump shot. Which is your favorite?

Bet it’s pretty frustrating for JaJuan to be seeing less playing time than E’Twaun Moore, his own teammate picked 28 spots after him, and Greg Stiemsma, a giant Child of the Corn. “Don’t worry, JaJuan,” says Avery Bradley. “I was a higher pick than you and I got less playing time last year than Luke Harangody and Semih Erden.” JaJuan immediately feels better.

2. Avery Bradley Raises Everyone’s Expectations

On several possessions, including these two, Bradley seemed very committed to scoring on his own. Like, he knew he could pass out to safer scoring options, and there was plenty of time on the clock, but Bradley decided to take it in himself. Very bold decision-making for someone whose PER last year would be a failing GPA. But bold decision-making is exactly what Avery Bradley should be doing against bad teams like the Raptors, and both of these plays were awesome.

1. KG Beats the Buzzer to Death

“He should shoot those more.” -Every single person you will talk to today

That was awesome! But he should not shoot those more. KG would, if we’re being very nice, hit about 28% of his threes. Josh Smith could shoot threes for a big man, but there’s a reason why he doesn’t take them anymore.

0. E’Twaun Throws a Pick Three

I left E’Twaun Moore a voicemail on his Samsung Galaxy before the game to ask if he could throw a crosscourt pass into double coverage, so we could do a Super Bowl tie-in with the bloopers. A “Super Bowl Super Bloops” type thing. He never got back, but looks like he got the message anyway.

E’Twaun, if you read this: can you confirm that you’re getting my v-mails? Is your number still 719-266-2837?

BONUS: KG Enjoys Gino

Fascinating how much the Toronto announcing team enjoys/is clearly familiar with Gino. Do they know that Gino shows up only when victory is assured? Or, because they only see Toronto in the Garden, do they think that Gino is just a thing the Celtics do every game regardless of outcome? I honestly believe they don’t know. They love it too much.

Boston at Cleveland
7:00 PM
Quicken Loans Arena
CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency
Boston: 98.9 points/100 possessions (18th)
Cleveland: 97.6 points/100 possessions (22nd)

Defensive Efficiency
Boston: 95.4 points allowed/100 possessions (3rd)
Cleveland: 101.5 points allowed/100 possessions (22nd)

Probable Cleveland Starters: Kyrie Irving (PG), Anthony Parker (SG), Omri Casspi (SF), Antawn Cortez Jamison (PF), Anderson França Varejao (C)

View from the Opposing Bench: Cavs the Blog

Injury Report
Boston: Rajon Rondo is out. Jermaine O’Neal will play.
Cleveland: Anthony Parker and Boobie Gibson are both out.

Tonight the Celtics trudge into an arena named after an online mortgage lender to steal their dignity back after giving it away for free on Sunday night. In the one giant game that spans that game and tonight’s, the Celtics are currently on the wrong end of a 12-0 run and are struggling both to stop Kyrie Irving and score against Brazilian Justin Guarini. But even though Rondo’s still out tonight, Boston remains a better team that Cleveland is, and capable of finding solutions after a two-day halftime.

PREGAME ANALYSIS
The loss earlier this week came down to offensive rebounding, turnovers, and Alonzo Gee shooting nine free throws.

Offensive rebounding: The Cavs had 11 to the Celtics’ 5, including a couple by Anderson Varejao in the final minutes that kept Cleveland alive. Jermaine O’Neal will triumphantly limp onto the court tonight, and he should contribute a lot more on the boards than Brandon Bass did as a starting big. O’Neal was forcing people to question his reputation as a bad rebounder in the games before he got hurt; he actually has the highest rebound rate of any non-blonde Celtic.

Turnovers: Pierce turned the ball over seven times, six of them on bad passes after being forced to act as distributor after the Avery Bradley Point Guard Experiment ended in an unfortunate lab explosion. Pierce needs to realize that he’s not in the game to replace Rondo, or find the same impossible looks that Rondo does (though Pierce has done that successfully on several occasions this past week). He either needs to create offense for himself or hit teammates who find space out of Doc’s playbook.

Alonzo Gee shooting nine free throws: This had never happened before, so there is no research on how to prevent it.

PREDICTION
Celtics 90, Cavs 85