Celtics (3-3) at Nets (3-0) Preseason Game #7 10/19/14

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Images courtesy of Football Fanatics
Boston Celtics (3-3) at Brooklyn Nets (3-0)
Sunday, October 19,2014
3:00 PM ET
Preseason Game #7, Road Game #3
TV:  NBA-TV, CSNNE, Yes HD
Radio:  98.5 Sports Hub
Barclays Center


Probable Starting Matchups

Point Guard
vs
Evan Turner vs Deron Williams

Shooting Guard
vs
Avery Bradley vs Bojan Bogdanovic

Small Forward
vs
Jeff Green vs Joe Johnson

Power Forward
vs
Jared Sullinger vs Mirza Teletovic

Center
vs
Kelly Olynyk vs Kevin Garnett




Off the Bench
Phil Pressey
Marcus Smart
Avery Bradley
Marcus Thornton
Rodney McGruder
Tim Frazier
Brandon Bass
Erik Murphy
Dwight Powell
Christian Watford
Tyler Zeller
Gerald Wallace
Will Bynum 

Injuries
Rajon Rondo (hand) out
James Young (hamstring) questionable
Vitor Faverani (knee) out
Will Bynum (hamstring) out

Team Connections:
Joe Johnson was originally drafted by the Celtics with the 10th pick in the 2001 draft
Gerald Wallace played for the Nets during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons
Kevin Garnett was a member of the Celtics 2008 NBA Championship team and played for the Celtics from 2007-13
Gerald Wallace and Alan Anderson were teammates in Charlotte during the 2006-07 season
Markel Brown and Marcus Smart were teammates at Oklahoma State
Sergey Karasev, Jarrett Jack and Tyler Zeller were teammates in Cleveland during the 2013-14 season
Marquis Teague, Rajon Rondo and James Young all attended the University of Kentucky
Nets Assistant Coaches Paul Westphal, Jay Humphries and Joe Wolf all played for the Celtics during their careers
Nets Assistant Coach Tony Brown was an Assistant Coach for the Celtics from 2004-07


Off the Bench
Jarrett Jack
Andrei Kirilenko
Alan Anderson
Mason Plumlee
Sergey Karasev
Marquis Teague
Cory Jefferson
Jerome Jordan
Jorge Gutierrez
Willie Reed
Markel Brown

Injuries
Brook Lopez (foot) out
Kevin Garnett (stomach)  questionable

Game Notes
The Celtics travel to Brooklyn for the first of two preseason meetings with Kevin Garnett and the Brooklyn Nets.  These two teams will meet again in Boston on Wednesday and again in Boston on October 29 to open the season.  The Celtics are playing in their 7th preseason game while the Nets are only in their 4th due to a trip to China for their first 3 games.

The Nets last played on Wednesday in Beijing, China when they won their second game against  the Kings.  They also beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in Beijing to give them a perfect 3-0 record for the preseason so far.  They will only play 6 preseason games instead of the 8 games that the Celtics will play because of the trip to China. 

Last season, the Nets won the season series 3-1, including both games at the Barclays center.  The Nets begin this season with a new coach.  The newbie, Jason Kidd is out and veteran coach Lionel Hollins is in.   

The Celtics will be without Rajon Rondo and Vitor Faverani.  James Young is questionable, so we may or may not see him in this game.  Gerald Wallace is expected to be able to play after missing 2 games with a bone bruise in his knee.  Will Bynum won't play in the Celtics' last two preseason games against the Nets, but he won't necessarily be waived.  If the Celtics can make another move before the season, they may keep him on the roster,  otherwise, they will probably waive him.

For the Nets, Brook Lopez is out with a right midfoot sprain,  which will move former Celtic, Kevin Garnett back to the center spot.   Garnett, himself is questionable with a stomach virus but they are hoping he can play. 

Most of the talk about this game has been about the fact that it will be shortened to 44 minutes.   Each quarter will be 11 minutes long instead of the traditional 12 minutes.  Also, there will be 2 mandatory time outs in each of the 4 quarters.  Normally there are 3 mandatory time outs in quarters 2 and 4.  I'm not a big fan of the shortened game.  It will be interesting to see how it works out. 

Key Matchups
vs
Evan Turner vs Deron Williams
This will be a big test at the point for Evan Turner.   Starting ET at the point will give the Celtics a height advantage, but Brad Stevens could choose to start Marcus Smart at the point against Williams because of his defense.  Williams is averaging 14 points, 1.3 rebounds and 7 assists per game and whichever player is matched up against him will need to defend him well. 
vs
This could be billed as the Old Master vs the Pup.  Kevin Garnett knows every wily veteran trick in the book and won't hesitate to use them.  Even though his defense isn't what it once was, it is still good enough to make Olynyk work for anything he gets. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always the key to every game.  The Celtics are trying to make themselves into a defensive team and that, more than anything, will help them to get more wins this season.   They have got to concentrate on individual as well as team defense. 

Set the Pace -  With the Celtics being a young team and the Nets being a more veteran team, it will benefit the Celtics to run at every opportunity and set the pace from beginning to end.  They also need to move the ball and keep the pace of the game moving with their ball movement. 

Rebound -  The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball so they have to crash the boards to give themselves extra possessions and to keep the Nets from getting fast breaks and second chance points. 

X-Factor
Rust vs Rest
The Nets have been off since Wednesday and so may be well rested or they may be rusty.   The Celtics have to hope it's the latter. 

[SHAQATTACK]

TP ..Florida Fan 

KO gets schooled hard by KG

Lopez ... ....



Go C's

[FLCeltsFan]

Thank you SHAQATTACK!   A TP back at you for being the first to post in the thread!! 

[BudweiserCeltic]

Worth noting that this will be the 44-minute test game.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

I will be attending the game tomrrow

[SHAQATTACK]

Worth noting that this will be the 44-minute test game.

Less game = more commercial time = more money for NBA   

[Eddie20]

Worth noting that this will be the 44-minute test game.

Less game = more commercial time = more money for NBA   

This is isn't accurate. The point of the 11 minutes is to shorten the end time, not prolong timeouts, halftimes, or other stoppages of play. Which is practically the only way the 44 minutes would generate more commercials.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I hate fans who want the game length lessened, watch something that isn't a sport! Dumb idea! I want more basketball not less! The product is just fine!

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Test match basketball!

[hwangjini_1]

thanks again FLC and a tp for your great work.

my bold prediction? olly goes nuts for 40 points against KG. KG goes nuts in frustration and bites olly's ear off. 

gooooooo celtics!!!!

[JumpingJudkins]

Just a stupid idea. I don't know anyone who thinks games are too long (too many timeouts at the end, maybe). This isn't baseball.

Plus the fact that 44-minute games would screw with all the individual NBA records.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Brooke Lopez out with sprained foot??? Is he ever healthy?


Good news, GWall may be available tonight. I know that seems like a joke to most but I like him a lot  and he's good for the youngins to be around.

[bello_man09]

Brooke Lopez out with sprained foot??? Is he ever healthy?


Good news, GWall may be available tonight. I know that seems like a joke to most but I like him a lot  and he's good for the youngins to be around.

its like if u are over 7 foot...having foot issues is always a problem, i remember yao ming, he was 7-5 though...Lopez is a giant like that...

[Csfan1984]

Shortening probably has to due with networks wanting to slot in games better to fit with TV shows. Maybe they feel if games* end in a better time frame it won't screw up the shows airing right after, that they pumped 5 consecutive commercials at you to watch.

Edit*

[SHAQATTACK]

Worth noting that this will be the 44-minute test game.

Less game = more commercial time = more money for NBA   

This is isn't accurate. The point of the 11 minutes is to shorten the end time, not prolong timeouts, halftimes, or other stoppages of play. Which is practically the only way the 44 minutes would generate more commercials.

No.....the programming with remain the same ...just longer commercials

If they want to to reduce wear and tear ....four minutes is stupid ......the game is not to long at all.....reduce the number of games ......more time to recover between games ......no back to,backs which. suck anyway......a blow away win for,the non back to,back team.

It's about revenue not making players healthy .....the four minutes is just stupid.  Reduce it by FOuR ....games a season.