Game 2 keys to victory

The Celtics defensive strategy should not change as they are faced with the same set of challenges.

Limit the open three pointers and continue to make life difficult for superman.

The energy factor is always an unknown as we do not know how the Celtics will come out.

I would like to see a little less dribbling and more ball movement by the Celtics and they have to do a better job on their defensise glass to limit all those 2nd chance points. The Celtics need to be more careful with the ball expecially PP and Perkins who each had 5 turnovers.

Also when the Celtics are going through their options on offense giving the ball to Perkins is not a very good decision unless it is wide open for a dunk. Perk is hurting and looks unsure of himself. His hands at times are non existent. He lacks good hand/eye coordination and that is why he fumbles the ball so much.

Rajon should continue to set the pace on offense and distribute the basketball and look for his opportunities to score when they present themselves. The Celtics also need to get KG untracked and feed him and Wallace in the post.

Tony Allen is still not getting enough minutes. His defense is so good that he needs more than 17 MPG.

The Magic are a very good team and they will come back strong in game 2. They have been playing a certain way all year and it will be difficult for them to make adjustments. They now realize that they are in a physically taxing series. The fact that they were 5 for 22 from behind the arc did not stop them from taking those shots. That is who they are and that is how they are used to winning. I expect to see them attempt to probe the Celtics defense with more dibble penetration and then kicks outs to the shooters. They will also hit the glass real hard because rebounding is one of Boston's weakness.

This is a very important game for the Magic. If they lose it will be near impossible to win the series.

If the Celtics do what they are suppose to do they will win game two.

dboss

Dboss,
You stole my line about Perk
In game 1 after a couple of fumbles I said exactly the same: don't give him the ball unless it's open dunk. On the other hand, I think Celtics need to risk a couple of possessions and give him the ball to keep Orl being afraid of him.
Also, I'd add to your list: keep frustrating D12.

AK

dboss,

Good points; especially maintaining the strategy of frustrating Howard.

Even the AP reports have picked up the fact that only three teams, Celtics, Nuggets and Heat, have employed this defensive strategy against Orlando. Each of those three have the proven results of limiting Howard's offensive presence, and in turn Orlando's highest percentage for scoring. In essence we force their shooters into something with a far lower percentage than a Howard jam. When the AP finally picks up on something I am initially amazed (that they got it right at all) and then accept the fact it must now be common knowledge.

It helps that we can send Perk, Sheed and Davis up against Howard. If need be that's a whole lot of fouls to give.

Regards

The Celtics have wrested home court in taking Game 1, that's obvious. The Magic and Stan Van know they have to come out and try to hit the C's with a haymaker (one day after Ray Leonard's 54th birthday) and hope that takes our heart and they can roll towards the win that will even the series for them. Celts need to absorb that punch and stay as close as possible and hopefully tough defense, a disciplined offense that also picks its' spots to score in transition will allow the C's to be within striking distance in the 4th quarter. Maybe when the Magic come up for air to exhale, the C's can turn up the defensive intensity, force a few key turnovers and get at least a working margin of a lead for the last five minutes of the 4th quarter. Hopefully Pierce will get his points off distribution from Rajon, and not opt for constant ISOS that cause the offense to stagnate. If the Magic hit the Celts and the Celts don't wilt (we NEVER Wilted, we'd rather Russell with our opponents) this could take a large chunk of Orlando's heart!-Go Celts!-MD!

MD

thirty years ago today Mt St Hellens blew it's top. Perhaps we can cause Stan and a few Orlando players to lose their tops too!

As long as we keep ours that is!

beat

Beat: If the top rotates, Does that mean we can put a different spin on it? We do know Bill O'Reilly wouldn't be involved or it would be a No Spin Zone (not to be confused with Zone Defense,) of course!-MD

Or as Yogi might say

When you come to a fork in the road........take it?

beat

I am guessing they will go to Howard early and frequent to try and get the Celtic bigs in foul trouble. It would make more sense than to try and revise their whole game plan.

The best move would probably be to counteract that by being aggressive and driving to the basket/feeding whoever is inside with Howard to make sure Howard gets in foul trouble first/early.

Sheed/Perkins can play Howard, all our bigs can play Gortat (more or less).

Beat: Don't forget Yogi also said in the AFLAC commercial, "And they pay you money, which is just as good as cash."-(LOL)-last time I took the fork (in the road)-it forked up my directions!-MD.(LOL)

swedeinestonia wrote:I am guessing they will go to Howard early and frequent to try and get the Celtic bigs in foul trouble. It would make more sense than to try and revise their whole game plan.

The best move would probably be to counteract that by being aggressive and driving to the basket/feeding whoever is inside with Howard to make sure Howard gets in foul trouble first/early.

Sheed/Perkins can play Howard, all our bigs can play Gortat (more or less).

Swede,
I believe that frustrated and inefficient Howard much better for Celtics than full of energy Gortat. So, I'd say they should be flexible in that department.

AK

Yeah if you can get Howard frustrated and inefficient it might be beneficial to keep him on the floor compared to a more "stable" Gortat.

But I also do not really see any potential for Gortat to dominate a game in the way Howard might if Sheed/Perkins run out of fouls.

dboss,

We are already at Aces vs. Kings heads up. By winning the first game, there is an 80% chance we will win the series, history has shown. So even if ORL wins tonight, that stat doesn't change. This game tonight will answer the question "Boston, what have you learned so far?" I don't think there is a person on this site (or on the Boston team) who didn't think Boston should have been up 2-0 vs. CLE. Boston will show us tonight what they have learned. I don't think tonight's game will even be close. Tonight will be the complete dismantling and coming unglued at the hinges for ORL. If we don't win by at least 25 points tonight, I will be completely baffled.

Haha wow your expectations are not exactly low dbrown4

I like that you call it as you see it though

From the first pre game thread,

I wasn't too far off.


Re: The matchup - Celtics and Orlando
by beat on Sat May 15, 2010 4:12 pm

.bob

Great piece!!

We are having a bonfire tonight with "fireworks" up in the outback of tug hill. I'll dish up some of it for the masses.

I honestly think we win game 1 and role um up 4 straight! OK I jsut woke up from the dream, but really they are soft and NOT battle tested,our MASH unit last year took um to 7 and was up 3-2.

This isn't even going to be close.

As for the 29 treys per game, let um chuck all night. Only thing I don't like about it is the long rebounds but some of those will end up with easy hoops for us too.

We can harrass them enough so the trey% won't be great, I'm betting they go under 25% from out there maybe way less.

Biggest concern is the post D against Howard. He's still a little stiff with moves but has he gotten better?

Looks as if Orlando might be mouthing off and not taking us seriously or maybe it's a smoke screen. I'm betting they are friggin scared out of their gords. They were preparing for Cleveland as was the rest of the NBA but someone forgot to tell that to 12(15) guys in green i guess. We didn't get the right script. Funny how that works out.

beat.


beat

Swede, am I wrong? We're all watching the same game and team. The Celtics are great at improving round to round. I'd just simply be baffled if this doesn't happen tonight. I really don't think these expectations are too high. More like a given. The Celtics are expecting it. They may not say it, but they are expecting it.

I am not saying you are wrong and not really say that it is very unlikely to happen.

It is just a bold statement that is all

I say more of the same...get up in their space so much they are forced to drive. Defend Howard one on one as much as you can. No inside out uncontested threes...they have to adjust THEIR game. They dont like to drive.

I'm with you Swede. I'm just like you. Very passionate about the Celtics!

Dboss,

Good analysis, although I have to qualify one point. While it SOUNDS good to say they shouldn't give Perk the ball except when he's wide open, I'd have to disagree in a literal sense.

• First, there are some plays in which he's on the move and is not clearly open at the point when the ball must be delivered. One such play is when he goes toward the hoop from the left side, moves behind a back back, receives the ball, and goes under and up for the basket.

• Second, I will always subscribe to the Cousy theory that it's important to reward players who put in the effort. I've often mentioned his example of perioodically throwing long passes to Satch Sanders, who was filling a lane, in full knowledge that Satch had trouble clearly seeing more than 25 feet or so. In short, The Cooz risked a very likely turnover just so Satch would be motivated to keep filling that lane.

• Third, with Howard being such a tough defensive presence, it's important NOT to turn him into the equivalent of a free safety underneath. That's a major risk you run if you routinely exclude Perk from the offense except in wide-open situations and, in effect, play 4-on-5 a lot of the time. You want Howard to be hanging around Perk, if for no other reason that it's easier for Perk to lay a pick on him to open a lane for another Celtic.

I fully understand Perk's foibles, and I cringe like everyone else when he fumbles a potential bunny out of bounds. But the Celtics WILL commit turnovers one way or another (including Perk's moving picks). And I'm pretty sure you're not saying he should routinely be avoided unless he's wide open. It's more important to pick your spots in passing to him. For example, low percentage passes into traffic are always risky; but at least they'll work more often with any team member other than Perk. And I think Doc's already tuned into the option of using Sheed some of the time down the stretch for both his ballhandliing and free throw superiority.

Sam

I think some of Perkins problems are because of confidence when it comes to offense.

Early on in the season he was pulling all kinds of new moves.

Sorry, Swede, and everyone. I was off by 17 points. But a victory nonetheless!! Thank God I'm not a bookmaker by day!

Sam
Of course I did not mean literally thjat the Celtics should not give the ball to Perk. But I have seen KG and other pass up better shots to get him the ball and this seems to happen when they have run through some options and cannot come up with anything better to do.

Perk Plays hard and has been playing hurt but Perk needs to play smarter. We need him on the court and not on the bench due to foul trouble in the 4th qtr. He played well lst night and must continue to get his looks if for no other reason than it keeps howard honest.

dboss