Re: Celtics Pre-Game Thread (Collection of past threads)

[jeb]

Later yall gettin on a plane to san fran for a week of work. Wont be able to see spurs tonite. everybody have a good week!

[Sam]

Jeb.

Have a great time in SFO. I hate you.


Sam

[jeb]

Sam

Maybe one day a group of us can get together out there. In the near future we are moving back out there.

Go Celts! Lets whup some spurs.

[Sam]

Jeb,

It's going to happen in April. Put that in the bank.

Sam

[jeb]

Sam

Count me is. Bobheck out that way already and I think outside as well.

Jeb

[bobc33]

Jeb,

It's going to happen in April. Put that in the bank.

Sam

Hi Sam,

Do we have any tentative dates for April? I have a Myrtle Beach trip planned with some golfing friends in April with dates unkown.

Darn, golf or board road trip? Going to be a tough choice. Huumm, maybe take all my vacation at once and do both?

[Sam]

Bob,

There are several boar members in the San Francisco area, including Pumpsie Green and LACeltFan.



This San Francisco board party will happen. And we may attract some easterners besides my wife and myself. But it WILL happen.



We usually try to make it coincide with playoffs, although that's a
pain because the playoff schedule is never released until after the
regular season is over. In this case, I'm hoping to make it a weekend
affair so that we'll have a reasonable likelihood of being able to
watch a playoff game together on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. And
people like my wife and myself will be free to expand it on either side
of that weekend as desired.


My best guess: the weekend of April 23-24-25, 2010 or possibly the
weekend before that one. But what do I know? We'll probably start the
planning in earnest in January.

Sam

[Sam]

Against my better judgment, I’m filling in for dboss, and those are HUGE shoes to fill on this pre-game overview. Tonight, the Celts (8-1 on the road) face an improved Oklahoma City Thunder team (5-4 at home). The younger Thunder has had a couple of days to rest and prepare for this game, while the Celts are on the second leg
of back-to-back games. The Thunder’s home record against eastern teams is 4-0, and they most recently
shocked Philly.


This could be a stiff defensive battle, as Boston’s defense is #2 and the Thunder’s is #4 in the league in terms of “points against." Offensively, the Thunder can be streaky. For example, they just went from their worst three-point shooting performance of their year to their best in consecutive games. Everyone knows how explosive Kevin Durant can be. In 39 minutes a game, he’s the fourth-highest scorer in the league (27.7); he averages 7 rebounds and 3 assists a game; he shoots 87% from the line.

But wait, there’s more. PF Nick Collison returned, one game ago, from an ankle injury, and he came off the bench to score 18 with 7 boards as the Thunder shocked Philly. Russell Westbrook will be a formidable opponent for Rondo, as he averages 16 points and 7 assists, although he’s more of a volume shooter than an accurate shooter. Jeff Green (thanks for Ray) is the SG and 15 a game and is a pretty good-rebounding guard, with 6 a game.

The Celtics are among the worst in the league in average rebounds a game, and the Thunder isn’t a whole lot better. Maybe we should run a contest to guess how many rebounds will be collected off the floor.

Aside from an imbalance in the scoring load toward Durant, one of the Thunder's major vulnerabilities of is the relative
uni-dimensionality of some players. The two starting guards average only 31% from the arc, yet three-pointers comprise one-quarter of their field goal attempts. Durant is even worse from three-point land (29%). One key to beating this team will be to pack Thibs’ triangle defense in, deny penetration, stay in front of Thunder players, and force them into perimeter options.

Krystic is their center, and he might or might not reach double figures in points, but he’s just not that great a rebounder (averaging 5 a game in 24 minutes). Perk and his young legs could be a major offensive factor.

James Harden can come off the bench and hit an occasional three-ball. Sefolosha’s not a bad defensive player, but his offense is sporadic and limited. If he starts in Collison’s place, the scoring burden will fall mainly to Durant, which means a very busy evening for Pierce and Daniels. If the Celtics bench had not been sputtering lately, I’d say they should have a field day against their Thunder counterparts.

Keys to the game for the Celtics:

• Get another early start and build an early lead to gird against later fatigue.

• Deny penetration to Durant, Westbrook and Green, and use that same defensive wall to block out on rebounds.

• Put a body on Collison and take advantage of his probable lack of conditioning.

• Get Perk off against Krystic.

• Forget the contested or rushed three-pointers so as to limit the long offensive rebounds available to the Thunder greyhounds.

GO CELTICS!

Sam

[NYCelt]

Sam,

Your last point is the one that I think concerns me most for tonight.

I hope we conserve on the 3-ball because I'd hate to see us get into a footrace with OK as a result of missed front-rimmers.

Looking forward to seeing Pierce and Durant going mano-a-mano.

Regards

[dboss]

Sam

Thanks for getting the pregame thread up and running.

When I think about the thunder it reminds me that fate is really an amazing thing. If not for a strange bounce of the ping pong balls, Durrant could have easily been wearing green. Speaking of green, Green was also high on the Celtics draft list until DA made that fateful trade bringing Ray Allen to the Celtics and ultimately setting the stage for the blockbuster trade that brought us KG.

Here we are going on three years since those moves were made and the sting of losing out on both Oden and Durrant is hard to recall.

The Thunder are a fun team to watch.

I noticed that they only have 3 players averaging double figures and more than half the shots taken in a game. If Boston is able to limit the non scorers a win should be in the cards.

I like the way Boston has been coming out strong in the 1st quarter because it really does set the tone for the rest of the game.

One puzzling thing is the lack of rebounding by Boston. Do you think baby could help? I would have loved to see him bang Blair around last night in SA.

The Celtics have strung together some nice wins and it could not come at a better time. They still have a ton of road games left in December and if they can manage to win 3 out of every 4 games, they could be #1 in the NBA by New Years Day!

go Celtics!

dboss

[Sam]

Dboss,

Good point about the possibilities of Davis vs. Blair.

As for whether Glen will help in the rebounding, it's difficult for me to figure out how a 3.5 career rebounder would make that much of a difference by replacing another big guy. Which one would he surpass in rebounds? Not to beat a dead horse, but it could be that, at the "three," he could outmuscle opponents and make a difference.

Sam

[cowens/oldschool]

On any other team,I wouldn't try Baby at the 3,but because we have the best group of defensive BIGS in the league,KG,Perk and Sheed all have HoF defensive abilities with SW also being far above average himself,this is worth a look.....I also would love to see Baby pound on Ron Artest and send a message that hes gonna get pounded on all game long by somebody younger and stronger,really hope Baby is able to do this.His post up game as a 3 could be really devastating.....very very interesting.

[dboss]

The Boston Celtics will play host to the Milwaukee Bucks tonight

The Bucks are coming off a loss to the Cavs 101-86. After starting off 8-3 the Bucks have lost 7 of 8 and are heading south real fast.

Brandon Jennings, the 20 year old point guard leads the team in scoring at 21.2 PPG. He is a lefty that likes to shoot the 3 ball (5.2 APG) and he can also handle the ball and drive to the basket. Jennings is also dishing out 5.9 assists per game.

Their center, Andrew Bogut is solid. He can shoot rebound and block shots (15.3 PPG, 9.2 rebounds 1.75 blocks)

The high flyer Hakim Warrick came over from Memphis and adds speed and athleticism to the frontline. He is listed as a PF at 6’ 9”, averages 12.1 ppg and 5.5 rebounds in only 24 minutes. He like to get out and run, has big time hops and is quick to the ball on the weak side where he will get some blocks.

Ersan Ilyasova the 6’ 10” SF is the second leading rebounder on the team at 7.2 and he is also contributing 11.3 ppg.. He can shoot the ball but is a questionable defender..

Veteran PG Luke Ridnour is as solid as they come. He can score (11.9 ppg) and pass (4.6 assists)l and rarely makes a turnover.

Carlos Delfino and Charlie Bell have flipped flopped in the starting lineup. The sharp shooter Michael Redd has been injured.

Can any team in the NBA win when their PG puts up 5 more shots per game than any other teammate? Probably not.

Keys to the game

Rondo will have his hands full staying in front of Jennings and since Jennings has a quick trigger launching 3 point shots, Rondo will need to check him closely on the perimeter.

I think this is the only matchup that warrants any real attention.

Boston should be able to score since the Bucks surrender 98 ppg to their opponents. The Bucks are a poor road team with only 2 wins in 9 attempts. And the Bucks will not be able to defend the post against the big front line rotation that the Celtics have. They also do not have anyone to counter PP unless they put Warrick on him.

The Celtics need to play solid defense, box out on the glass, push the ball on offense and establish a strong post game.

Tidbit … last year Boston beat the bucks in their first two meeting and then lost to them last March. The starting 5 for the Bucks in that game were Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva. Ramon Sessions, Francisco Elson and Luc Richard Mbab a Moute (who?)

Only Elson and Moute are still on the team and neither is in the starting lineup.

dboss

[dboss]

The Celtics hit the road again to play the Washington Wizards TONIGHT at 8 PM. This will be an interesting matchup of two teams that are currently on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Wizards have lost 2 in a row after winning 4 of their previous 5 games. This is a hard team to figure out. On paper they look pretty good with 6 players averaging double figure. They have high scoring guard in the infamous agent zero (20.4 PPG an above average quick PF in Jamison (20.1 PPG) 2 athletic wings in Butler 16.5 and Nick young 8.2 and they are getting a double double from their center Brendan Haywood 10 ppg and 10 rebounds.

Their bench features, the veteran Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Andray Blatche (averages 10.5 and 5.5 rebounds) and the young but athletic center, JaVale Mcgee.

So what’s the problem? Well first of all this team does not play very good defense and are giving up 100.4 PPG. On offense the Wizards as a team are only shooting .438 from the field. There you have it. They do not shoot the ball very well and they do not defend.

Arena puts up more points than any of his teammates 17.8 shots per game but is shooting below .400 from the field.

The matchups

Rondo will match up well with Arenas because Rondo is quicker and unlike during his rookie year Rondo has added a little more bulk to his frame. Rondo can run Arenas off picks all game long and should b able to find the open shooters. When Arenas attempts to drive,look for the bigs to close off the driving lanes.

Jamison is going to be a tough matchup defensively for KG. Jamison is a very quick player and is crafty with the basketball. He is quick off the dribble and not afraid to take the 18 footer when it is there. On the other hand Jamison cannot check KG and they way KG has been knocking down shots lately Jamison should also have his hands full at the defensive end.

Perk vs Haywood is like looking in the mirror. They are so similar.

Butler has played well against PP in the past but Butler is also struggling to knock down shots this year (.410) while Pierce has been playing exceptional all around basketball including more attention to his defensive assignments.

Nick is a young shooting guard and he will try to beat Ray off the dribble but will be bumped off picks when the Celtics run screen plays for Ray.

The benches match up pretty evenly except the edge probably goes to the Wizards with sharp shooter Mike Miller having no one to check him with Daniels out. Tony Allen will probably get that assignment. We will need some scoring from the 3 spot off the bench so I also expect to see Scalabrine play more minutes tonight.

Keys to the Game

Strong defense will be needed to keep all those scorers in check.

Rondo must stay in front of Arenas and fight over picks and the help defense needs to respond quickly if and when Rondo gets screen on the pick and role plays. On offense Rondo needs to push the ball real hard and fast up the court and put maximum pressure on the defense.

The rebounding for Boston this year has been poor. There is no other way to describe it and the Wiz like to crash the boards for offensive tip-ins and rebounds. Celtics players need to find a man, seal him off and then go for the rebound.

The Celtics need to continue to show patience on offense with good ball movement and they need to exploit KG’s size advantage over Jamison.

Although the Wizards have been struggling, this will not be an easy road game.

dboss

[bigpygme]

i really love your perspective on the upcoming teams we'll see - nice research, well organized and presented, easy to follow and very appealing in the sense you make of our opponents and the match-ups.

just wanted to say Well Done, dboss, and thanks !!!

Michael in Denver

[dboss]

i really love your perspective on the upcoming teams we'll see - nice research, well organized and presented, easy to follow and very appealing in the sense you make of our opponents and the match-ups.

just wanted to say Well Done, dboss, and thanks !!!

Michael in Denver

I am glad that the thread at least gives us some idea about what we may see. However I must admit that every game has some interesting twist or turn that I could never had recognized beforehand.

take care

dboss

[KellyGreen17]

Dboss if you could predict exactly what would happen, you'd be a very rich man indeed! I also think you do a great job. I like that you never downplay an opponent, even when it's tempting to do so with some of the bottom feeder teams.

Like you said, this team is very good on paper. They have the potential to beat any team in the NBA if they can get all their players going at the same time...and then play some defense.

I'm not going to make a prediction on this one because the C's have been so up and down this season that it all depends on which team shows up-smothering D and exceptional ball movement, or coasting til the 4th quarter and then playing just well enough to edge out the opponent (also because I don't like to be wrong!).

I will say this though, a blowout would be really nice tonight! We haven't really had too many of those this season and I think it's about time for another!

[dboss]

Kelly

The 8 game winning steak is excellent and 9 would look even better. I mentioned in another post that Boston is playing 10 out of 14 games on the road in December. By any measure that is a brutal schedule. If they posted a 10-4 record for the month that would really be outstanding.

I am looking forward to tonight's game

dboss

[dbrown4]

Sounds like another betting pool to me for the remainder of the month of December. Dboss, aren't you the one in charge of the 10 game record prediction pool? Or is that someone else?

[gyso]

Sounds like another betting pool to me for the remainder of the month of December. Dboss, aren't you the one in charge of the 10 game record prediction pool? Or is that someone else?

dbrown,

The 10 game guess thread was created by me. There seemed to be a serious lack of interest in it, so I dropped it. I am spending my available creative posting time with the NBA salary cap thread.

Maybe I was wrong in my understanding of the interest level in the threads. Is there anyone else interested in the pool? Perhaps I'll whip up the third 10 game pool some time this weekend. Everyone will have a two game head start on it.

gyso

[Hoopdeedoo]

Dboss,

Great analysis. Thanks. It would be nice to see a good rebounding effort from our team against their bigs.

Hoop

[dboss]

The Celtics will play the Bulls tonight in Chicago at 8:PM

The Bulls are coming off a much needed overtime win over the Warriors (96-91) last night after dropping 9 of their previous 10 games. If the tough playoff series against the Bulls last year was a true barometer of where they were heading, there would not be such a significant drop off in the quality of their play.

The fact is that with KG, the Celtics would have knocked them off in short order and been well rested to go up against Orlando. But that did not happen. With KG’s absence and the hot hand of Ben Gordon the Bulls took a full measure of the Celtics and helped set the stage for an early exit in the playoffs.

The Celtics have already sent a ‘whatcha got for me now ‘ message in the first meeting where Boston destroyed the Bulls 118-90.

Why the 8 and 13 record? The Bulls only average 90.9 PPG and the defense gives up 98.7 PPG. Simple math at work here. They have a weak offense and a porous defense.

The lineups

Brad Miller (7.8 ppg and 4.7 rebounds) has been starting for the Bulls because Tyrus Thomas is out with an arm injury. The Bulls clearly miss Thomas and they do not have the horses to beat other teams up and down the court. It is quite possible that the Bulls may put Noah on KG and leave Miller to bang with Perk because Miller cannot check KG out on the perimeter.

Salmons is less than a fill in for the departed Gordon. Salmons is averaging 14.2 ppg and shooting a terrible .387 percentage from the field. Ray just need to chase him off the arc. The Bulls only take 11.9 three point attempts per game which pretty much tells you something about the depth of their outside shooting.

Luol Deng is healthy this year and playing very well at the small forward spot. He’s averaging 17.5 PPG and grabs 8 boards as well. He is a long armed tenacious defender and has given Paul Pierce fits in some games. Look for Pierce to let the game come to him by not forcing anything. Pierce has really been playing very well all around basketball. His level of maturity in knowing what the team needs from him reflects a deep understanding of his team.

Some of us had our eye on Noah before the draft and as we can see he is the type of player that brings tremendous energy to the court. Joakim is already a double double player scoring 10.6 PPG with 11.7 rebounds. He had 18 pts last night although his scoring has dropped off a bit over the last 6 games (8.3 ppg) Perkins needs to block Noah off the glass and force him to play defense. Perkins has also been playing very well at both ends so I think this will be a fun battle.

Rajon Rondo will get another go at Rose. Rose is averaging 16 ppg with 5.6 assists but he is also turning the ball over 3 times per game resulting in a very unimpressive 1.87 assists to turnover ratio. Rajon thrives in these head to head matchups. And it could not have come at a better time because Rajon is also playing great basketball for the Celtics at both ends and has also picked up his offensive aggressiveness. Rose is quick and loves to run pick and roles and will not hesitate to shoot jumpers off the screens that will be set for him. Rajon primary task is to stay in front of Rose, fight over the picks and basically keep Rose out of the lane. Our bigs have all been doing a great job in coming hard off the picks to slow the PG’s down thus giving Rondo time to recover his on the ball position.

The benches

Chicago does not have enough bigs coming off the bench with Thomas out. Hinrich leads the charge with 8.3 ppg and 4.3 asts and Taj Gibson the 6’ 9” forward bring some energy and scoring off the bench while averaging 8.2 ppg and 5.9 rebs. The bulls 3rd and 4th pg’s on the team are Pargo and Lindsey Hunter.

The Celtics have a big edge here because no one can match up with Rasheed Wallace and also Williams should be able to keep a body on someone around the basket.

Keys to the game

Boston should pound the snot out of the Bulls no matter who is in the game

And on offense they should pick the pace up because Miller cannot keep up with either Perkins or KG.

On defense they must limit the drives to the basket by Rose and also help Paul out in keeping Deng away from the glass.

dboss

[Sam]

Dboss,

Sometimes I wish Tommy would pick up some of your terminology in his keys to the game. Like "pound the snot out of the Bulls." Has a nice technical ring to it. I'm still laughing.

If the two are matched up, Noah's energy and speed down the floor will provide a different challenge for KG, and it will be interesting to see how Kevin meets that challenge. And, if Noah winds up on Perk (less likely I agree), it's always a pleasure to watch contrasting styles collide.

This could be one game in which individual matchups (Noah and whoever, Rose-Rondo, Deng-Pierce, etc.) are particularly interesting.

Nice job.

Sam

[1986]

Thanks Sam for the welcome in the other post.

I hope you don't mind, inasmuch as I do not want to bring up something here from the Globe, you will be twice loughing out loud how Martini got offended by CVD and they are like crazies bashing each others.

Anyway, I'm very happy to join you.

Cheers.

86

[1986]

dboss,

I miss your company. It's always a delight to read your posts.

Cheers.

86

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