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Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« on: March 25, 2014, 10:14:06 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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at
Toronto Raptors (39-31) at Boston Celtics (23-47)
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #71, Home Game #37
TV: CSNNE, Sportsnet One, NBA-LP 755(DTV), 754(Xfinity)
Radio:  WBZ,  Fan 890
TD Garden




Probable Starters

Rajon Rondo...Avery Bradley...Jeff Green...Brandon Bass...Kris Humphries

Celtics Reserves

Joel Anthony
Chris Johnson
Phil Pressey
Chris Babb
Jared Sullinger
Kelly Olynyk
Jerryd Bayless

Injuries
Keith Bogans (personal) out
Vitor Faverani (knee) out
Gerald Wallace (knee) out




Probable Starters

Kyle Lowry...DeMar DeRozan...Terrence Ross...Amir Johnson...Jonas Valanciunas

Raptors Reserves
Tyler Hansbrough
John Salmons
Chuck Hayes
Greivis Vasquez
Landry Fields
Steve Novak
Austin Daye
Julyan Stone
Dwight Buycks

Injuries
Patrick Patterson  (Ulna) out

Game Notes

The Celtics host the division leading Raptors for the 3rd of 4 meetings this season.  The series is tied 1-1 coming into this with each team winning one on their home court so far.  They will meet for the 4th and final time on Friday in Toronto.   

The Raptors are playing in the second of back to back games on the road.  They played in Cleveland on Tuesday night and lost that game by 2 points.  They lead Brooklyn for the Atlantic Division by 1.5 games.  They are the 4th seed and are 1/2 game behind the Bulls for the 3rd seed. 

The Celtics are 5th from the bottom of the league for the lottery.  They are 1/2 game behind Utah for the 4th pick and 1/2 game ahead of the Lakers, who are in the 6th spot.  Both the Celtics and the Raptors lost their last game and are looking to get back into the winning column.

The Celtics have been off since playing the Nets on Friday.  They had a rare 2 days of rest and even rarer, they had 2 days of practice.  They should be rested and ready to play when this game tips off.   The Celtics are 3-7 in their last 10 games while the Nets are 5-5 in their last 10. 

Key Matchups

  vs
Avery Bradley vs DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan is a threat on the offensive end, averaging 22.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. Avery's defense will be needed to keep DeRozan from putting up big numbers in this one.

vs
Rajon Rondo vs Kyle Lowry
Lowry is playing very well for the Raptors and is averaging 17.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 1.6 steals  per game this season.   This is Rondo's first game vs the Raptors.  In their last meeting, Lowry scored 18 points with 12 assists matched up against Jordan Crawford. 

Keys to the Game
Consistent Effort- The Celtics must win by being the team that plays harder. They have been playing hard but have lapses during the game. They have to find a way to play hard for 4 quarters and not just 2 or 3.

Rebound - The Celtics must crash the boards to prevent the Raptors from getting extra chances and fast breaks. By crashing the boards, they also give themselves a chance for extra possessions.  In their win vs the Raptors in the last game, the Celtics out rebounded Toronto 58-44, including 19-13 on the offensive glass.  Their 19 offensive rebounds allowed them to score 25 second chance points.  The Celtics must crash the boards once again. 

Get Into the Paint - The Celtics can't depend on their jumpers alone. They have to take the ball to the hoop and win the war in the paint. 

Defense - The Raptors are a good shooting team and so the Celtics must play team defense to keep them from having a high scoring game.  The Celtics must commit to play tough defense if they want to win this game.

X-Factors

Pride vs Position, and Fatigue
The Celtics are playing for pride while the Raptors are playing for playoff position.  Which motivation will be stronger?
The Celtics have been off since Friday while the Raptors are playing in back to back games along with having to travel.  Will the Celtics be rusty or will the Raptors run out of gas? 

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2014, 07:03:21 AM »

Online hwangjini_1

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First of a home and away between these two.

This is the sort of game I hope the celtics play well, give time to the kids, and ultimately fall short. But in any case....

Goooooo celtics,,,,
I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred.
- Vandana Shiva

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2014, 01:33:27 PM »

Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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Oh dear, the season just won't end, so we can get our bad lottery luck no. 10 pick and call it a day. Almost makes me want to claim Danny Ainge forfeiting the rest of the season as a BOLD PREDICTION. Anyway, what I will go with is Celtics to collectively go for 3 assists to every turnover, Rajon Rondo to get more blocks than, Jonas Valanciunas, and Brandon Bass to hit a 3.
Banner 18 please 😍

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2014, 02:35:08 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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Come on Boston.  If we finish this season on a 12 game winning streak, we can finish with 35 wins and maybe sneak into the playoffs. 

The rest of the schedule is filled with winnable games.

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2014, 02:47:06 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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First of a home and away between these two.

This is the sort of game I hope the celtics play well, give time to the kids, and ultimately fall short. But in any case....

Goooooo celtics,,,,
C's will go for the win at home tonight but fall short because Toronto is just better than the Celtics. I think you will see more bench player minutes in the game at Toronto because then 2 days later they have back to backs with Chicago in a home and away. I could then see the C's trying to win the first Chicago game and sitting Rondo and Bradley in the 2nd Chicago game to rest them and giving youth and the bench another shot.

Pretty hard not to see 3-4 losses here.

Then we will all see if the tank is on for sure and has reached the level of Stevens throwing games for the greater good or whether he will coach to win and let the draft gods do what they must.

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2014, 03:00:14 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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Come on Boston.  If we finish this season on a 12 game winning streak, we can finish with 35 wins and maybe sneak into the playoffs. 

The rest of the schedule is filled with winnable games.
imposter!!  what have you done with LB33?  ;)

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2014, 06:34:46 PM »

Offline Boston Garden Leprechaun

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LET'S GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET'S GO CELTICS!

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2014, 06:35:05 PM »

Offline Boston Garden Leprechaun

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Come on Boston.  If we finish this season on a 12 game winning streak, we can finish with 35 wins and maybe sneak into the playoffs. 

The rest of the schedule is filled with winnable games.
imposter!!  what have you done with LB33?  ;)

LOL
LET'S GO CELTICS!

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2014, 07:00:17 PM »

Offline Boston Garden Leprechaun

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so we are the 5th worst team right now. After this major suckage all year and if we blow a top 5 pick none will be too pleased.
LET'S GO CELTICS!

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2014, 07:08:58 PM »

Offline Neurotic Guy

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Next 4 games are all double impact games as we want Toronto and Chicago to sustain their ever-shrinking lead over Brooklyn.   Difference between 18th and 20th pick (or worse if Nets stay hot and overtake Dallas).  Hope we see 4 straight losses.

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2014, 07:31:55 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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so we are the 5th worst team right now. After this major suckage all year and if we blow a top 5 pick none will be too pleased.


Make me the  "tANK ". GM for the next six weeks "..........I'm not scard or bashful about trying improve the team ......at this point wins are  BAD.....just BAD "........it's the NBA system .....it's like built in help .....to fix a bad team .....

I'm just mad ...... We should be playing the water boys and cheerleaders.


Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2014, 07:46:49 PM »

Offline Quetzalcoatl

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Something about these two teams this year just brings out the worst in both of them.  You would think the Raps were tanking when they play the C's for some reason.  They usually look a LOT better than this.

Next 4 games are all double impact games as we want Toronto and Chicago to sustain their ever-shrinking lead over Brooklyn.   Difference between 18th and 20th pick (or worse if Nets stay hot and overtake Dallas).  Hope we see 4 straight losses.

The fact that we are probably getting the 18th or 19th pick though is a victory in of itself.  I thought we'd be picking like 25th.  The Nets look really good now and if they played like this all season they might even be a 2 seed.

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2014, 07:50:21 PM »

Offline Surferdad

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so we are the 5th worst team right now. After this major suckage all year and if we blow a top 5 pick none will be too pleased.
See thread about top 10 picks. Most folks agree you have top-3 then there's a bit of a drop off.

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2014, 07:51:42 PM »

Offline Quetzalcoatl

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so we are the 5th worst team right now. After this major suckage all year and if we blow a top 5 pick none will be too pleased.
See thread about top 10 picks. Most folks agree you have top-3 then there's a bit of a drop off.

It's top 4.  Exum is legit

Re: Raptors (39-31) at Celtics (23-47) Game #71 3/26/14
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2014, 07:53:35 PM »

Offline Surferdad

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Sully out of position.