Celtics (4-6) at Wolves (6-4) Game 11 11/16

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Boston Celtics (4-6) at Minnesota Timberwolves (6-4)
Saturday, November 16, 2013
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #11, Road Game #6
TV: CSN-NE, FS North, NBA-LP 762(DTV)/755(Xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, WCCO-AM, WBZ
Target Center



Probable Starters
PG SG SF PF C
Jordan Crawford...Avery Bradley...Jeff Green...Brandon Bass...Kelly Olynyk

Celtics Reserves
MarShon Brooks
Jordan Crawford
Kris Humphries
Vitor Faverani
Phil Pressey
Courtney Lee
Keith Bogans
Gerald Wallace

Injuries
Rajon Rondo (ACL)out




Probable Starters
PG SG SF PF C
Ricky Rubio...Kevin Martin...Corey Brewer...Kevin Love...Nikola Pekovic

Timberwolves Reserves
JJ Barea
Dante Cunningham
Robbie Hummel
Gorgui Dieng
AJ Price
Alexey Shved
Derrick Williams

Injuries
Shabazz Muhammad (ankle) questionable
Chase Budinger (knee)  out
Ronny Turiaf  (head)  out

Game Notes
The Celtics begin a tough stretch of games with a stop in Minnesota.  These two teams faced each other in the preseason, ending with a 104-89 loss for the Celtics. 

Both teams are playing in the second half of back to back games and both had to travel overnight, so there is no advantage for either team in that sense.  The Wolves lost in Denver while the Celtics lost to the Blazers at home. 

The Celtics are 29-17 all time vs the Wolves and are 14-9 in Minnesota.  A victory in April of last year stopped an 11 game Celtics win streak against the Wolves.  The Celtics are 2-3 on the road while the Wolves are 4-1 at home. 

Key Matchups
  vs 
Kevin Love is a tough cover for anyone and is a 20-20 threat on any given night.  Brandon Bass has been praised for his defense this season and he will have a challenge in this one to defend Love. 

  vs
Pekovic is a strong and athletic big man and Kelly is going to need to defend as well as to make him work on the defensive end.  Faverani might be the better match up here. 

Honorable Mention
Jordan Crawford vs Ricky Rubio
Rubio is a very good point guard and Jordan will need to stick with him on defense.  Rubio has also been known to slack off on defense and so Crawford may be able to get his shot a bit easier against him. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - The Celtics must defend. The offense feeds off of the defense and if the Celtics can't get stops they struggle on the other end as well.  In their last two losses, they have allowed way too many easy baskets.  They have to make defense their priority.

Rebound - The Celtics must get rebounds to prevent second chance points and fast breaks. Rebounding takes effort and desire and the Celtics have got to show both and crash the boards as a team. Pekovic is a beast around the basket and the Celtics must box him out.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics have to be aggressive in going after loose balls and rebounds and in taking the ball to the basket. They also have to be aggressive on defense. When they are aggressive in going to the hoop good things happen. They must be the more aggressive team and they have to stop depending on jumpers, especially when the jumpers aren't falling.  The Celtics have to play like they want it more.

Set the Pace- The Celtics must run from the beginning of the game until the final buzzer.  Running will allow them to get easy baskets as they get down the court before the defenses set up.   

X-Factors
Road Game and Back to Back
Once again the Celtics are on the road and playing back to back games.  Since Minnesota is also playing in back to back games, whichever team is better conditioned and can keep the pressure on till the end will get the win.  Also, the Celtics have to keep their focus playing in front of a hostile crowd. 

[thirstyboots18]

Join CLNSRadio chat host, Matt Rury, in the CelticsBlog chat room after the game for more analysis  and interaction with the CLNS Post Game Podcast.  The on air hosts tonight will be Brian Langford and Sean Bakke.  You can also call in at (347) 215-7771 to listen or to add your voice on air. 

Hope to see you there.

[FLCeltsFan]

Join CLNSRadio chat host, Matt Rury, in the CelticsBlog chat room after the game for more analysis  and interaction with the CLNS Post Game Podcast.  The on air hosts tonight will be Brian Langford and Sean Bakke.  You can also call in at (347) 215-7771 to listen or to add your voice on air. 

Hope to see you there.

Thanks TB  I always post that on the Game threads on the front page.  Maybe I should include it in the forum game threads, but the specific info isn't usually up when I do the game threads.  Maybe just a reminder about the show.

What do you think?

[thirstyboots18]

Join CLNSRadio chat host, Matt Rury, in the CelticsBlog chat room after the game for more analysis  and interaction with the CLNS Post Game Podcast.  The on air hosts tonight will be Brian Langford and Sean Bakke.  You can also call in at (347) 215-7771 to listen or to add your voice on air. 

Hope to see you there.

Thanks TB  I always post that on the Game threads on the front page.  Maybe I should include it in the forum game threads, but the specific info isn't usually up when I do the game threads.  Maybe just a reminder about the show.

What do you think?

I also put it in my game chat reminders.  The game threads have a much larger audience, and a lot of members go directly to forums, not seeing the Home Page.  If you can add the podcast notice, that would be great.  If not, I can add into the thread.  Thanks! 

[Who]

I really want Sully out there against K-Love and Faverani against Pekovic.

Sticking with Bass and Olynyk is going to cause problems.

[BleedGreen1989]

I really want Sully out there against K-Love and Faverani against Pekovic.

Sticking with Bass and Olynyk is going to cause problems.

Agreed.

I think Pek will abuse Olynyk as he just doesn't have the beef yet to defend big physical centers.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Bold Predictions: Sully looks like more Kevin Love than Kevin Love. Cs get more turnovers than they concede offensive rebounds. You know what Kris Humphries get big minutes in the low post. 

[timobusa]

Bold Predictions

Jeff Green scores 24
Crawfman gets 10 assists
Bass finds his rhythm back, scores 17
Sully and Kelly will both score double digits each.

We win by 10

[D.o.s.]

Bold Predictions:

Ricky Rubio undertakes a one man "hearts and minds" campaign with his passing, and there are 75 posts in this thread about how we need Rondo and his assists back ASAP

Kevin Love finishes with 25-9-4 (two of those being outlet passes), but will continue to make the game of basketball look kind of gross.

Jared Sullinger drops a 15-15 and uses his Moses Malone style rear end to forcefully excommunicate K-Love from the Garden.

Avery Bradley quietly releases a Madlib-inspired hip hop record under the name Bravery Addley.

[Q_FBE]

I am wondering when Faveroni and Sullenger will be our starters over Olynyk and Bass. In reading over the game tapes last night against Portland, our best big man combo was Faveroni and Sullenger where they played Portland even while we lost ground with Olynyk and Bass.

Jeff Green and Avery Bradley need to make a better account of themselves, also. Or else I am gonna call for Gerald Wallace and Courtney Lee to get their minutes.

This team does have more long term capability than last years team but it might not translate to a winning record this year because other teams passed us in talent and have been doing so in the past two years.

[fitzhickey]

Bold Predictions:

Ricky Rubio undertakes a one man "hearts and minds" campaign with his passing, and there are 75 posts in this thread about how we need Rondo and his assists back ASAP

Kevin Love finishes with 25-9-4 (two of those being outlet passes), but will continue to make the game of basketball look kind of gross.

Jared Sullinger drops a 15-15 and uses his Moses Malone style rear end to forcefully excommunicate K-Love from the Garden.

Avery Bradley quietly releases a Madlib-inspired hip hop record under the name Bravery Addley.

that last one had me laughing

[SCeltic34]

I really want Sully out there against K-Love and Faverani against Pekovic.

Sticking with Bass and Olynyk is going to cause problems.

Agreed.

I think Pek will abuse Olynyk as he just doesn't have the beef yet to defend big physical centers.

Thirded.  Make Love play D.  Get the ball to Sully in the post and have him attack with extreme physicality.

[The_Truth]

I expect a 20+ game from Green tonight  (27)

[Shamrocker]

I am wondering when Faveroni and Sullenger will be our starters over Olynyk and Bass. In reading over the game tapes last night against Portland, our best big man combo was Faveroni and Sullenger where they played Portland even while we lost ground with Olynyk and Bass.

Jeff Green and Avery Bradley need to make a better account of themselves, also. Or else I am gonna call for Gerald Wallace and Courtney Lee to get their minutes.

This team does have more long term capability than last years team but it might not translate to a winning record this year because other teams passed us in talent and have been doing so in the past two years.

Vitor gets the start tonight.

Vitor starting tonight for celtics because of stout Minnesota frontline.

https://twitter.com/BaxterHolmes/status/401856690401705984

[mgent]

Minnesota might have their first good team since KG.  A win here would be big.