2019 Playoffs Round 1 game 1 Pacers @ Celtics Sunday 1PM

I am starting this pregame thread a little earlier to give everyone more time to share their thoughts on the upcoming series with the Pacers.

The big story is Marcus Smart.  There is never a good time for a key player to get injured but the timing of his injury could not have come at a worse time.  The Celtics do not play with the same level of intensity when Marcus is not on the floor.  I expect them to win this series but they cannot really make up for his loss because what he does is unique.  The 50/50 game is a win or lose proposition.  Marcus wins most of those battle.

Other concerns for Boston revolves around their two big guys.  Al Horford has been nursing a sore knee like a guy riding around with worn brake pads.  Aron has a sore ankle.

Stevens has rested these guys on and off for several weeks now but unless Boston gets off to a fast start in this series they may not have the luxury of reduced playing time.

Turner and Sabonis are their main bigs and both are decent rebounders.  Thadious Young is a quick PF that rebounds well and will win some offensive rebounds.  The message here is fundamental  The Celtics need to control their defensive glass.

With Olidipo out their primary scorer has been Bogdanovic.    In the last two games Bojan dropped 27 points on the Celtics and then only 4 points in the recent 117-97 blow out.  Indy does not have a ton of offensive fire power.  If you contain Bogdanovic you can beat Indy.

The Celtics rotation will be different.  Brad has to make a decision on his starting 2 guard.  His rotation off the bench will also change.

The likely candidate to move into the starting lineup is Jaylen Brown who has played well against the pacers all year.  I expect to see an uptick in his minutes.

The 6th man role and the X factor for this team looks to fall on the shoulders of GH.  Like Brown he is likely to see an uptick in his minutes.

These two guys have been playing 25.9 MPG.  Brad must keep a stop watch handy to mico-manage their minutes to exact specifications.

These two guys however are 30+ minutes per game players and their shortened minutes are due to a deep roster.

I fully expect both of them to have an outstanding series.

We have not said much about Marcus Morris lately but he has played well against Indy all year long.  His challenge is not get beat off the dribble by Young and not get bullied in the post by the more physical Sabonis.

Scary Terry has been up and down all year.  I just do not know what to think .  With Marcus out Terry will get more minutes at the point and will likely play alongside Kyrie as a SG in some rotations.

Kyrie and Tatum also play well against Indy so there is no reason to be concerned for them.  

I cannot come up with any reason why Boston should not have their way with Indy.  Mental toughness however is unpredictable for Boston this year as they have often strayed from playing the right way.  Indy is not to be ignored because they are a very solid defensive team and they have a coach that instills toughness.  Boston needs to make this a short series as the Bucks are going to make mince meat out of the Pistons.

If Boston stays focused they can sweep this series 4-0

Please add your comments.    Can we get a poll going?  Boston wins in 4, 5, 6 or 7.  we do not need a poll for losers.

I hope we finish them in 5 games

I worry about Smart's toughness being missed . I actually feel he is the leader of the team now.

kdp59 wrote:I hope we finish them in 5 games

I worry about Smart's toughness being missed . I actually feel he is the leader of the team now.

Hopefully there is still enough leadership remaining to get the job done.

I will go with Boston in 5, would love for it to be 4, but Indy has alot of fight in them and they deserve all the credit for getting this far without Victor Oladipo. They have the core of a good team, but when your star goes down, eventually it catches up with the team. Nate MacMillen has done a great job

Okay

who did the poll.

Thank you very much. I got them going 4-0

I made the poll.

Put me in for 6.

Smart's out, that will cost us two games. Full strength = broom city. 4 + 2 = 6

gyso wrote:I made the poll.

Put me in for 6.

Smart's out, that will cost us two games.  Full strength = broom city.  4 + 2 = 6

Thanks gyso

Celtics in 6.

Smart being out may actually hurt Boston more than being without Oladipo hurts Indy.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2019_advanced.html

There isnt one position on the floor where Indy is better than the Celtics. Boston in 6.