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Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« on: March 26, 2013, 10:30:37 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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  at 
Boston Celtics (36-34) at Cleveland Cavaliers (22-47)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
7:00 PM ET
Game #71,   Road Game #36
TV:  CSNNE,  FSO, SNET1,  LP 755(BOS)/756(CLE)
Radio:  WTAM, WEEI
Quicken Loans Arena





Probable Starters

Avery Bradley......Courtney Lee.......Paul Pierce...... Jeff Green ........Brandon Bass

Celtics Reserves

Jason Terry
Jordan Crawford
DJ White
Shavlik Randolph
Terrence Williams
Chris Wilcox

Injuries
Courtney Lee (ankle) game time decision
Rajon Rondo (knee) out
Jared Sullinger (back) out
Kevin Garnett (foot)  out

D-League

Fab Melo





Probable Starters

Shaun Livingston.....Wayne Ellington ....Alonzo Gee....Tristan Thompson.....Tyler Zeller

Cleveland Bench
Luke Walton
Omri Caspi
Kevin Jones
Daniel Gibson
CJ Miles
Chris Quinn
Marreese Speights

Injuries
Anderson Varejao (knee) out
Kyrie Irving (shoulder) out
Dion Waiters (knee)  out 
 
Key Matchups
  vs 
Avery Bradley  vs Shaun Livingston
Livingston has a height advantage but Bradley has a speed advantage.   It can't be much harder for Avery than having to guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 40 the last time they met. 

  vs 
Jeff Green vs Tristan Thompson
Tristan Thompson had a big game in the Cavs win over the Celtics, scoring 21 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.   Green needs to limit Thompson in this one as well as getting his own offense going.   

Honorable Mention
Brandon Bass vs Alonzo Gee
Gee is averaging just over 10 points a game, but he went off for 20 in the first meeting between these two teams.  This may be one of the few times that Bass will have a height advantage on his opponent. 

Game Notes
The Celtics travel to Cleveland for the third of 4 meetings with the Cavaliers.    In spite of having just 22 wins, the Cavs are perfectly capable of playing spoiler and would love to hand the Celtics another loss.  The Celtics won the first meeting in Boston 103-91 while the Cavs took the second meeting in Cleveland 95-90.   They will meet one more time in April. 

The Celtics are now 3-7 in their last 10 while the Cavs are 2-8.  The Celtics have been terrible on the road this season with a 12-23 record away from the Garden.  The Cavs aren't much better at home, however, with just a 13-21 record at home.  The Celtics are fighting for playoff seeding while the Cavs are vying for lottery seeding. 

The Celtics are still in the 7th spot but just 1.5 games ahead of the Bucks, who are in 8th.  There's no way that either slips out of the playoffs, but if the Celtics can't right the ship, they may drop back into the 8th spot.   The loss to the Knicks put them back into the 2nd spot and if both can hang onto those spots would face each other in the first round.  The Celtics are now 2.5 games behind both Chicago (5th) and Atlanta (6th). 

The Celtics have now dropped their last 5 games and very much need a win in this one, not just for standings, but also for team morale building toward the playoffs.   The Cavs have also lost 5 in a row, so one of the teams will have their losing streak snapped.  Hopefully it will be the Celtics.

Keys to the Game
Mental Toughness - Call it mental toughness or focus, the Celtics need to have it to win on the road.   The Celtics must keep their heads in the game.  They have to come out strong and play until the final buzzer.  They have to concentrate on making crisp passes instead of sloppy ones that turn the ball over.  They need to be aggressive on both ends of the court and keep their focus,  whether on defense, free throws, shot selection, effort, or just playing team ball. 

Rebound -  Rebounding is key to getting a win.   When the Celtics put the effort in to crashing the boards and battling for rebounds, that effort also tends to show in other areas of the game as well.  Even though they are at the bottom of the league in rebounding, they have shown that when they make the the effort to hustle for every rebound, things usually go well.   

Defense -  Defense is the key to every game.   There have been times when the Celtics can lock down a team and keep them from getting any easy scores.  There are also times when they allow tip ins and layups and second chance points over and over again. With KG out, it becomes even more important for every player to commit to tough defense.   It goes back to that mental toughness thing.  The Celtics can't lose their defensive mindset.  They must lock in on defense from beginning to end. 

Be Aggressive -  They need to be more aggressive going to the hoop, especially if the shots  aren't falling.  They also have to be aggressive on defense,  fighting for loose balls, rebounding,  and bringing the ball up the floor.  The team that is more aggressive usually wants the game more and will usually be the team that comes out on top. 

Take Care of the Ball -  The Celtics once again were too sloppy with the ball against the Knicks.  That has been a problem for them during this losing streak.  They turned the ball over 20 times vs the Knicks for 17 points in a 15 point loss.  Pierce and Crawford each had 6 turnovers.  Pierce has been turning the ball over quite a lot lately and it might be time for Doc to take the ballhandling duties from him.   They simply must focus more on taking care of the ball as it's tough to win when you give the other team 20 extra possessions.   

X-Factors
On the Road
The Celtics have been terrible on the road this season, losing to teams they should easily beat.  They have won just 12 games on the road this season and much of that is focus and effort and that old mental toughness thing.  The Celtics have got to figure out winning on the road since they aren't likely to have home court in any of their playoff series and this would be a good time to do it.   


Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2013, 11:33:52 PM »

Offline kozlodoev

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Time to play Randolph. And bench Bradley if Lee is ready to come back.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2013, 11:47:23 PM »

Offline bfrombleacher

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Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2013, 12:00:42 AM »

Offline CelticConcourse

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I won't be upset if we lose.
Jeff Green - Top 5 SF

[Kevin Garnett]
"I've always said J. Green is going to be one of the best players to ever play this game"

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2013, 12:06:46 AM »

Online SparzWizard

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On the road? Back2back against the depleted and .300 Cavs?

I think I'll easily label this one as an "L" to match our largest losing streak of the season.


#JTJB (Just Trade Jaylen Brown)
#JFJM (Just Fire Joe Mazzulla)

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2013, 06:23:23 PM »

Offline aporel#18

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TP for FL, thank you for the preview.

Doc should pull a Popovich and rest PP and the Jet also. Play the Chinese Three and increase Wilcox minutes. It can't get much uglier than in the Knicks game.

Healthy and fresh veterans to start the playoffs makes a bigger difference than #7 over #8.

Go Celtics!

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2013, 06:29:15 PM »

Offline GreenFaith1819

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I think BOS takes this one...by now, they should be under the realization that KG isn't with us, but they can't just give up.

Would not be surprised if we win by a comfortable margin, too.

Thanks for post, FL (TP).

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2013, 06:35:48 PM »

Offline KGs Knee

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Pierce appears to be starting at SG tonight (along with Bradley/Green/Bass/Wilcox).

Bout [dang] time!

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2013, 06:45:04 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Per Mark Murphy/Herald:     Celtics going big tonight with Wilcox in first start of season at 5, Pierce at the 2, Green at 3, Bass at 4, and Bradley at 1.

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2013, 07:03:47 PM »

Offline The Rondo Show

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Per Mark Murphy/Herald:     Celtics going big tonight with Wilcox in first start of season at 5, Pierce at the 2, Green at 3, Bass at 4, and Bradley at 1.

This is an ideal lineup given our injuries IMO
DKC Suns

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2013, 07:04:27 PM »

Offline aporel#18

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This past week, after every lost game, I've said to myself I'm not staying up late/getting up early to watch next game, but here we are again... we need to play D and look like the Celtics, come on guys!

Go Celtics!

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2013, 07:07:52 PM »

Offline timobusa

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Looks like Doc is switching the starting line up tonight. What did he eat today? Whaaaa?

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2013, 07:10:41 PM »

Offline timobusa

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AB PP JG BB CW

nice.

Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2013, 07:10:51 PM »

Offline Chief

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Going big. I like it.
Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around.
 
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Re: Celtics (36-34) at Cavs (22-47) 3/27
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2013, 07:12:51 PM »

Offline NocturnalRebel

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Doc made a smart move
Loyalty Is Royalty