Pregame Thread Celtics@ Rockets Sat 11/1/2014 8:00 PM

[dboss]

It has been a long time since I posted a pregame thread but with a few days between the Wednesday Home opener and our first road game against Houston I figured I had some time on my hands.

Houston Rockets

Houston is off to a quick start with wins over the Jazz and Lakers.  There have been a few noticeable changes since last year with the two biggest being losing Parsons to free agency and trading Asik to the Pelicans.  The Parsons loss has been filled by signing Trevor Ariza who is a pretty solid two way player but losing Asik is huge.

Their starting lineup features Howard at center, Terrence Jones at PF, Ariza at SF, Patrick Beverley at PG and the bearded one James Hardin at SG
Houston wants to play fast and are averaging 20 fast break points per game.  There half court game is a combination of feeding Howard in the post, running the pick and roll and  taking 3 point shots.  They average 28 3 point attempts and are making them at a rate of 46.4%.  The main culprits are Ariza, Harden, backup SF Papanikolaou ( Euros should be required to shorten their names as a prerequisite for playing in the NBA) and old friend Jason Terry.  They are also averaging 39 points in the paint.

Keys to the Game

What better time for the Celtics to work on their post defense by double teaming Mr.   Howard.  He is getting fouled in the post and is shooting below 50% from the line.    Houston will try to go over the top to Howard so the Celtics need to anticipate those moves and limit the space that Howard has to operate.

The main offensive player is Harden.  He is averaging 25 PPG but his shooting percentage is below 40%.  He is however making his 3 pointers and is quick to pull up on those shots.  Harden is not really fast but he uses his hesitation dribble to keep the defender off balance.  The Celtics can harass Harden by using different defenders.    Avery will start out on him and from there I expect to see Smart, Turner and Thornton all take a crack at slowing him down.

Beverley is quick so our PG's will need to also slow him down and keep him out of the painted area.

The Celtics will need to control the defensive glass as both Jones and Howard are quick to the ball.

On offense the Celtics need to do the same thing that they did against Brooklyn.  They need to play with pace throughout the game.   This could be a high scoring affair with plenty of end to end action.

Other than the obvious mismatch at center, the Celtics should match up well 1-4 and our bench appears to be better.  
I am hoping for a great game.

Go Celtics!

dboss