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Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« on: October 28, 2012, 10:18:13 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Boston Celtics (0-0) at Miami Heat (0-0)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #1,  Road Game #1
TV:  TNT, SNET1
Radio:  WEEI, WAXY, ESPNR
American Airlines Arena 



Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Mario Chalmers

Shooting Guard
  vs 
Courtney Lee vs Dwyane Wade

Small Forward

vs
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James

Power Forward

vs
Brandon Bass vs Shane Battier

Center

vs
Kevin Garnett vs Chris Bosh 




Boston's Reserves
Jared Sullinger
Jason Collins
Jason Terry
Jeff Green
Kris Joseph
Fab Melo
Darko Milicic
Leandro Barbosa
Chris Wilcox

Injuries
Avery Bradley (shoulders) out





Miami's Reserves
Rashard Lewis
Ray Allen
Udonis Haslem
Norris Cole
Mike Miller
Joel Anthony
Josh Harrellson
Terrel Harris
James Jones
Dexter Pittman

Injuries
None

Game Notes
The Heat and Celtics face off for the first of four meetings between these teams on opening night of the 2012-13 NBA campaign. The Heat and Celtics met four times during the 2011-12 regular season with Boston winning the season series, 3-1. They also faced off
in the Eastern Conference Finals, marking the third straight post-season that the two teams were matched against each other in the playoffs.  The Heat won the series, 4-3. Overall during the regular season the Celtics are 61-38 all-time against the Heat, and are 28-23 in games played in Miami.

Doc Rivers has made the Heat the #1 enemy of the Celtics by playing the Eastern Conference Finals games on a continuous loop in the locker room all during training camp.  Even the new players now hate the Heat.  There is now added intrigue to the rivalry with Ray Allen turning his back on the Celtics to join the enemy.  There have been many words back and forth this preseason and now it comes down to putting it all on the court. 

We know that Jason Terry badly wants to out play Ray.   Ray wants to stick it to the Celtics more than he already has.  The Celtics need to look past their desire to beat their old teammate for his defection and his jabs at the team in recent interviews, however and play team ball, concentrating on stopping the Heat as a team.  Like Doc said, if all they focus on is Ray, they will lose by 40.

Another side note is that the Heat will be receiving their Championship rings in a ceremony before tip off.  Back in 2008 when the Celtics received their rings on opening night against the Cavs, LeBron chose to remain in the locker room rather than watching the proceedings.  Will the Celtics watch them get their rings as yet another motivation for this season or will they stay in the locker room as LeBron did in 2008?   I say they watch -  they can't get much better motivation than that.   

Key Matchups
  vs 
Rajon Rondo vs Mario Chalmers
Rondo has taken the mantle of leader this season, off the court as well as on the court.  I expect him to be very aggressive both on offense and on defense and will take advantage of all the new offensive weapons that the Celtics have this season. 

  vs 
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James
This is always a tough matchup for any team.  Expect Jeff Green to get the call to cover LeBron some of the time in this game.  Green has been effective in the past guarding him and so should take some of the pressure off of Pierce by doing so.  Green will also be a tough cover for LeBron with his strength and quickness. 

  vs 
Jason Terry vs Ray Allen 
Ever since the Celtics signed Jason Terry and Ray Allen bolted for South Beach, this matchup has been much anticipated.   Hopefully Jet  just plays his game and doesn't get too caught up in trying to outgun Ray.  Ray has been a liability on defense in recent years and Jet needs to go at him to exploit that.

Honorable Mention
Courtney Lee vs Dwyane Wade
Avery Bradley proved to be a Wade stopper but until Avery comes back, Courtney Lee will get the call to guard him.  CLee is a good defender and has the size to cover Wade.   He will also make Wade have to work on defense. 

Keys to the Game
Defense
 Both teams pride themselves on their defense.   In the preseason, the Celtics struggled with pick and roll defense but hopefully they have had a chance to work out the kinks during their practices between their last preseason game and this one.  Defense is always a key to winning. 

Rebound
Last season, the Celtics ranked last in rebounding most of the season.    They have to work on improving their rebounding  this season.  It won't matter that we have more scorers on the team if they can't get the ball.   Much of rebounding is desire and effort and they have to work on the boards.  Jared Sullinger's knack for getting rebounds should help, but it has to be a team effort. 

Limit Turnovers

One of the Celtics biggest problems in the preseason was that they turned the ball over way too much.  They have to be careful with their passes and take care of the ball.  As Doc said in the preseason, it doesn't matter if you have 15 talented players, if you turn the ball over too many times, you won't win many games. 

Bench Play 
One of the Celtics weaknesses last season was not having enough firepower off the bench.  With the addition of Jason Terry, Leandro Barbosa, Jeff Green,  and Jared Sullinger,  the Celtics should have scoring and rebounding off the bench.  Their depth should be one of their strengths this season.  The Heat have also added to their bench including former Celtic Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, along with having a healthy Mike Miller. 

X-Factors
Rust vs Rest & Officials
The Celtics haven't played in 8 days.  The Heat finished their preseason  on Friday.    Hopefully the Celtics will be ready and won't have any rust from the long layoff while the Heat have been playing all along.   

Anyone who watched the games last season knows that the Heat got special treatment from the refs.  It will be interesting to see whether that special treatment continues now that LeBron has his title.   It will also be interesting to see if the league calls him on his flops or as with everything else, let him get away with them. 

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2012, 10:24:17 PM »

Offline KGs Knee

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TP!

1st game thread, and it's up early.  Well done.

Lets get motherlovin' Judas and the King of Hades!

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2012, 10:29:38 PM »

Offline BASS_THUMPER

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we got this

i expect "Bass to be Thumpin"

gonna be fun gettin back in the game threads with you guys and girls

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2012, 10:33:11 PM »

Offline arambone

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Sullinger is going to be shuffled in an out and make an impact in decent minutes.

Chris Lee has a chance to win 200 NBA2k13 Career mode points by showing that he can be a Wade stopper or something close to it.

Can't wait to see Green guard Lebron.

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2012, 10:36:13 PM »

Offline BASS_THUMPER

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FLCeltsFan....thanks





Gerald Green

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2012, 10:45:29 PM »

Offline arambone

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I'd trade Collins for Gerald in a heartbeat right now.

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2012, 11:54:47 PM »

Online letsgoblue86

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Is Wilcox definitely a go?

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2012, 01:57:24 AM »

Offline lightspeed5

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I can see Sullinger starting considering he started all the preseason games.

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2012, 03:06:20 AM »

Offline ACF

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Yes, yes, YES! TP, FL and Go Celtics!

#rainontheirparade



Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2012, 06:11:59 AM »

Offline biggbird

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TP for you sir, will be skipping class for this one, so here's hoping for a good game and Celtics win!

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2012, 08:42:57 AM »

Offline moiso

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My worst nightmare is not having power on tuesday night from the storm.  That would be pretty bad.

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2012, 08:51:01 AM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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Sullinger ..Freshman power bro...  see his game actually play n for sumpin. Hope he go off , knock sum heads.

Look for Green and Darko to make an impact.

LBJ better eat his Wheaties

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Celtics!!!!


Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2012, 10:10:41 AM »

Online celticinorlando

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always tough for the defending champ on their ring night....i expect a p---ed off celtics team vs a very tight and caught in the moment heat team...


really think boston wins going away

Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2012, 03:24:05 PM »

Offline j804

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I cant wait to see.....


Rondo knife the Heat apart and drain jumper after jumper for sagging off him

Jeff put one down on somebody's head

Sully abuse Battier or whoever they throw at him

The Truth take it right to LeBron James

Courtney Lee break #20's ankles

The Jet take flight in AAA
"7ft PG. Rondo leaves and GUESS WHAT? We got a BIGGER point guard!"-Tommy on Olynyk


Re: Celtics (0-0) at Heat (0-0) 10/30
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2012, 08:24:46 AM »

Offline celticslove

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alright Let's Go Celtics!!!