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Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« on: November 02, 2009, 04:18:50 PM »

Online FLCeltsFan

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Boston Celtics (4-0) at Philadelphia 76ers (2-1)
Tuesday, November 3
7:00 PM ET
Game #5 Road Game #2
TV:  CSN, CSN HD, LP 755
Wachovia Center




Coach: Doc Rivers
Average Age: 27.8
Average Height: 6-6
Average Weight: 224


Probable Starters

Rajon Rondo  PPG  6.5 RPG 5.00  APG  11.8  EFF  + 21.00


Ray Allen   PPG 17.8  RPG 1.8  APG 2.3 EFF + 13.25


Paul Pierce  PPG 21.8  RPG 6.5  APG 2.8  EFF +25.25


Kevin Garnett   PPG 13.3  RPG 7.0  APG 2.3  EFF +17.00


Kendrick Perkins  PPG 9.8  RPG 4.8  BPG 2.2  EFF + 11.5

Reserves
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Eddie House
Shelden Williams
Lester Hudson
JR Giddens

Injuries
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Bill Walker (knee) out
Brian Scalabrine (ankle) day to day
Big Baby Davis (thumb) out
Rajon Rondo (ankle) probable




Coach: Eddie JordanAverage Age: 25.3
Average Height: 6-7
Average Weight: 220


Probable Starters

Lou Williams     PPG 20.3  RPG 5.3  APG 5.0  EFF + 26.67
 

Andre Iguodala    PPG 19.7  RPG 8.3  APG 6.7  EFF + 24.33

 
Thaddeus Young     PPG 15.3  RPG 3.7  APG 3.0  EFF + 16.00

 
Elton Brand    PPG 13.7  RPG 6.30  APG 1.3  EFF + 16.00

 
Samuel Dalembert   PPG 8.0  RPG 6.0  APG 0.0  EFF +9.33

Reserves 
Royal Ivey
Marreese Speights
Jason Kapono
Rodney Carney
Willie Green
Jrue Holliday
Jason Smith
Primoz Brezec

Injuries
None     

Team Connections
Tom Thibodeau was an assistant coach in Philadelphia from 1994-96
Eddie House and Elton Brand were teammate on the L.A.
Clippers during the 2003-04 season
Elton Brand and Shelden Williams are former Duke Blue Devils
Royal Ivey and Shelden Williams were teammates in Atlanta during the 2006-07 season
Shelden Williams and Rodney Carney were teammates in Minnesota during the 2008-09 season.
Primoz Brezec and Rasheed Wallace were teammates during the 2007-08 season

Key Matchups
  vs 
 Rajon Rondo vs Lou Williams
Lou Williams is a young point guard getting is first chance at starting and is making the most of it.  He is averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the first three games.   Rondo is coming into this contest with his new 5 year contract in hand.  In the past, he has gotten up for games with the premiere point guards like Chris Paul and then had let down games against the other PGs.  It's time for Rondo to show he deserves that contract and play consistently against every PG in the league.  Williams will make Rondo pay if he underestimates him. 

vs
Kevin Garnett vs Elton Brand 
This is a matchup that has taken a year to materialize.  Brand was out all last season for the Sixers and KG missed the last two games vs Philly with the flu and then the knee injury.  KG has a height advantage but Brand has a power advantage.   KG and Perk will have to work together to guard the interior against a strong Philly front line. 

Honorable Mention
Ray Allen vs Andre Iguodala
Iguodala is a handful to try to guard.  He has a strength advantage over Ray and Ray is going to have to keep Iguodala busy running off screens and chasing him on defense so that he wears out on offense by the end of the game.  This will be a battle of scorers.  Ray is the better perimeter scorer, but Iguodala is better getting to the basket. 

Game Notes
• Celtics swept the season series 4-0 against Philadelphia in 2008-09
• Ray Allen led the Celtics with 20.7 points per game last season
• Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with 17.5 points per game against the Celtics last season
• It marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Celtics swept the season series with the 76ers
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 234-175 with the Celtics 137-48 at home

Keys to the Game
Defense
As I have said before, defense is going to be the key to every game this season and to winning the championship.   The Celtics have committed to becoming the best defensive teams ever.  So far, they are making good on their promise.  They need to continue to commit to playing lock down defense every game including this one. 

Rebound
The Sixers have a good rebounding team and the Celtics have to crash the boards to prevent the Sixers from getting second chance baskets and they also need to crash the offensive boards to keep the Sixers from running the break, which they do well. 

Limit Turnovers
The Celtics got sloppy against the Hornets and allowed the Hornets to hang around and tighten up a game that otherwise wouldn't have been near as close. 

Keep Composure
The Celtics have several combustible players on the team in KG, Perk, Sheed and now Rondo.  They need to keep their composure as when they lose their cool and are T'd up, it gives the advantage to the other team. 


« Last Edit: November 02, 2009, 10:55:25 PM by FLCeltsFan »

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2009, 12:36:14 PM »

Offline lostjumper

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The matchup of the starting 5 is actually fairly close. The sixers have some good players to throw out their at the beginning of the game, especially if Williams can keep his hot streak going. Where the 2 teams deviate drastically is the benches. I think Speights is a pretty decent 6th man, but it falls off drastically after him. meanwhile, the C's can bring in their loaded bench. I would look for the starters to play fairly evenly, but for the C's to pull away whenever their 2nd unit is on the floor.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2009, 12:42:54 PM »

Offline Kwhit10

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The matchup of the starting 5 is actually fairly close. The sixers have some good players to throw out their at the beginning of the game, especially if Williams can keep his hot streak going. Where the 2 teams deviate drastically is the benches. I think Speights is a pretty decent 6th man, but it falls off drastically after him. meanwhile, the C's can bring in their loaded bench. I would look for the starters to play fairly evenly, but for the C's to pull away whenever their 2nd unit is on the floor.

Yea that's a good point.  The 76ers do have a talented starting 5, however, like you said our bench will dominate theirs.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2009, 12:45:12 PM »

Offline RAcker

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I'm anxious to see this Sixers team because of how much they've been scoring in the early going this season.  I'm also looking forward to watching us hold them to under 90 points.   ;)

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2009, 12:56:10 PM »

Offline liam

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This is the " The Trap" game. If we take these guys lightly we could lose. It should be a beat down with lots of time for the bench.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2009, 01:09:51 PM »

Offline QuinielaBox

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The Sixers are coming off 2 straight wins - Home against Milw and a high scoring OT win in New York.

I agree that the PG matchup is very important tonight.

Not mentioned above was the bench play which could be a problem when Marreese Spieghts enters the game. The Sixers will get a rebounding advantage when Marreese Spieghts and Elton Brand are used together against KG and Rasheed Wallace. To counter that Perkins will have to carry more of the load along with Sheldon Williams.

Philly wants to run and score a lot. Boston wants to maintain a half court pace and keep the game in double digits. Both teams are rested so energy should not be a problem. Conventional wisdom says the team that controls the boards controls the pace so rebounding is in my opinion the key to the game.

Boston will want to take control of the game early and make Philly play up hill in the 2nd half. Philly's worst qtrs are the 2nd and 3rd so a balanced C's effort should get the job done here.

Take Boston to cover and play the under line.
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Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2009, 01:14:34 PM »

Offline Jon

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The Sixers are coming off 2 straight wins - Home against Milw and a high scoring OT win in New York.

I agree that the PG matchup is very important tonight.

Not mentioned above was the bench play which could be a problem when Marreese Spieghts enters the game. The Sixers will get a rebounding advantage when Marreese Spieghts and Elton Brand are used together against KG and Rasheed Wallace. To counter that Perkins will have to carry more of the load along with Sheldon Williams.

Philly wants to run and score a lot. Boston wants to maintain a half court pace and keep the game in double digits. Both teams are rested so energy should not be a problem. Conventional wisdom says the team that controls the boards controls the pace so rebounding is in my opinion the key to the game.

Boston will want to take control of the game early and make Philly play up hill in the 2nd half. Philly's worst qtrs are the 2nd and 3rd so a balanced C's effort should get the job done here.

Take Boston to cover and play the under line.

I just hope the C's don't get too interested in matchups.  The C's are the best team in the league and teams should be concerned about adapting to matchup with them, not the other way around.  If the Sixers wants to go with Brand and Speights upfront to get rebounds, the C's should still play lineups of KG and Wallace out there.  The Sixers might get a couple extra boards, but the C's will destroy them on the perimeter and ultimately open up driving lanes for Pierce and Rondo. 

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2009, 01:18:38 PM »

Offline Drucci

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This is the " The Trap" game. If we take these guys lightly we could lose. It should be a beat down with lots of time for the bench.

Yeah, definitely a trap game but I feel confident, I think the C's will take care of business like professionnals to rest before tomorrow's game in Minny.

TP FL for the game thread! I won't have the opportunity to watch the game live but I sure hope I'll be able to find a replay tomorrow (I'm trying not too miss a single Celtics game this season).

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2009, 01:21:31 PM »

Offline Cman

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I'm anxious to see this Sixers team because of how much they've been scoring in the early going this season.  I'm also looking forward to watching us hold them to under 90 points.   ;)

Me too.  Plus I am looking forward to being 5-0 tomorrow.
Celtics fan for life.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2009, 01:27:15 PM »

Offline lon3lytoaster

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Sixers score under 90, Celtics defense is going to be too much for them and thus we win by like 13145

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2009, 02:15:38 PM »

Offline MattG12

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Sixers score under 90, Celtics defense is going to be too much for them and thus we win by like 13145

Would that be a record point differential? That is what I call going out on a limb!

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2009, 02:19:27 PM »

Offline GreenFaith1819

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As long as we can play better defense on the perimeter we'll win soundly.

The Hornets game scared me a little. I did not see the game, but any time Peja scores 26 points it's a cause for concern.

Our interior defense has been Great...slowed down Shaq, Tyson Chandler, Gerald Wallace, David West, Emeka Okafor, Joakim Noah, and Tyrus Thomas so far. All pretty solid Centers and PF's.

I see no reason why Philly should do any better.

Maybe I'm just nitpicking...the Hornets only got hot for one quarter against us (3rd), and we shut them down for most part the other three qtrs.


Get a big lead early and rest the starters. Boston plays in Minny on Wednesday.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #12 on: November 03, 2009, 02:27:45 PM »

Offline Harris34

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Wow, the Philly bench is baaaaaad! Talk about no depth. Lou Williams isn't a point guard, he's a mini-SG. Nobody on that team can shoot three balls any good. I think they're going to miss Reggie Evans honestly. He was a heck of a rebounder, and got the ball out quick for the fast break.

Best strategy against Phila is to pack the paint and let Lou, Thaddeus, and Iggy shoot themselves out of the game.

Go C's!

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #13 on: November 03, 2009, 02:44:18 PM »

Offline Kwhit10

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Wow, the Philly bench is baaaaaad! Talk about no depth. Lou Williams isn't a point guard, he's a mini-SG. Nobody on that team can shoot three balls any good. I think they're going to miss Reggie Evans honestly. He was a heck of a rebounder, and got the ball out quick for the fast break.

Best strategy against Phila is to pack the paint and let Lou, Thaddeus, and Iggy shoot themselves out of the game.

Go C's!

Yes it is, and what a surprise the C's have been defending the paint superbly so far.  The Hornets were hitting a lot of outside shots to stay in the game.  The 76ers haven't been a very good outside shooting team for a while, so I think our strength will be that much better with their weakness.

Re: Celtics (4-0) at Sixers (2-1) 11/3
« Reply #14 on: November 03, 2009, 02:46:23 PM »

Offline RAcker

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I'm anxious to see this Sixers team because of how much they've been scoring in the early going this season.  I'm also looking forward to watching us hold them to under 90 points.   ;)

Me too.  Plus I am looking forward to being 5-0 tomorrow.
Ditto that, Cman.