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Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« on: February 09, 2016, 10:50:49 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Los Angeles Clippers (34-17) at Boston Celtics (31-23)
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #55, Home Game #27
TV: CSNNE, PrimeTicket, NBA-LP 757(DTV), 754(xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, The Beast 980 KWKW, Sirius 215
TD Garden



Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard

vs
Isaiah Thomas vs Chris Paul

Shooting Guard
vs
Avery Bradley vs JJ Redick

Small Forward
vs
Jae Crowder vs Luc Mbah a Moute

Power Forward
vs
Amir Johnson vs Paul Pierce

Center
vs
Jared Sullinger vs DeAndre Jordan


Celtics Reserves
Evan Turner
RJ Hunter
Jonas Jerebko
David Lee
Terry Rozier
James Young
Kelly Olynyk
Tyler Zeller
Marcus Smart

Head Coach

Brad Stevens

Injuries

Jordan Mickey (ankle) out
Jae Crowder (high ankle sprain) probable





Clippers Reserves
Cole Aldrich
Jeff Ayres
Jamal Crawford
Brandon Dawson
Wesley Johnson
Pablo Prigioni
Lance Stephenson
CJ Wilcox

Injuries
Blake Griffin (hand/quad)  out
Austin Rivers (hand)  out

Head Coach

Doc Rivers

Game Notes
Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce and the LA Clippers visit the Celtics for the first of 2 games between these two teams this season.  They will meet again on March 28th in Los Angeles to complete the season series.  The Clippers swept the Celtics in the last two seasons. 

The Clippers come into this game as the final game on a 4 game road trip.  They are 3-0 so far, beating Philadelphia, Miami and Orlando.  This is the final game before the All Star break for both teams.  The Celtics are playing in the second of back to back games, having lost to the Bucks on the road on Tuesday.  The final game on a road trip is usually the most difficult for teams to get up for, but I have a feeling that Doc and Pierce have their team up for this one. 

The Celtics are 9-3 in games on the back end of back to back games.  They are 4-1 in games when the games are road/home.  The Celtics are 8-2 in their last 10 games while the Clippers are 7-3 in their last 10.  The Celtics are 16-10 at home while the Clippers are 17-9 on the road.

In spite of the loss, the Celtics remain in 3rd place, 1 game ahead of both Miami (4) and Atlanta (5) and 2 games ahead of Indiana, who are in the 6th spot.  They are also 5.5 games behind the Raptors for the 2nd spot.  The Clippers are in the 4th spot in the West. 

The Clippers will be without their usual starting All Star power forward, Blake Griffin, who is out with a broken hand that he suffered when he punched a Clippers' equipment guy. Paul Pierce will probably replace him in the starting lineup.   Also out is Austin Rivers, who was a Celtic for about a minute or two in between trades.  He is also out with a broken hand.   

For the Celtics, Jordan Mickey is still out with the high ankle sprain that he suffered on January 16.  Jae Crowder is also dealing with a high ankle sprain that happened with 4:04 left in Wednesday's win over the Detroit Pistons.  He finished the game and played with the injury against the Cavaliers and is expected to play in this game as well. 


Key Matchups

vs
Isaiah Thomas vs Chris Paul
Paul is considered to be one of the top PG's in the NBA and will be a tough cover for Isaiah on defense.  If Paul starts to have a big game, expect to see Jae or Marcus Smart on Paul, who is averaging 19 points, 9.3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. 

vs
Avery Bradley vs JJ Redick   
Redick is shooting the ball very well and is averaging 16.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.5 assists.  He is shooting 48% from beyond the arc and 47% from the field.  Avery will need to play tough defense on him to keep him from having a big game. 

Honorable Mention
Jared Sullinger vs DeAndre Jordan
Jordan is tough inside on the boards and on defense.  He is averaging 12.0 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game.  He is also shooting 72% from the field.   Jared has done well against opposing big men in recent games and he needs to continue to play hard and defend them well in this game. 

Brad Stevens vs Doc Rivers
The new coach vs the previous coach. Doc won the first four meetings with his former team.  Can Brad get the upper hand in this one?

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense wins games and the Celtics need to continue to play tough team defense.  The Clippers average 104.3 points per game and so the Celtics will need to slow them down and not get into a shoot out with them. 

Rebound - The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball. Much of rebounding is effort and desire and so the Celtics must put out the extra effort on the boards to give themselves extra possessions as well as to limit the Clippers fast break opportunities and second chance points. The Clippers will easily turn rebounds into points.  The Celtics are 6th in the league with 45.2 rebounds per game while the Clippers are 24th at 42.1 rebounds per game.  Doc never did put a priority on rebounding. 

Energy and Effort - The Celtics have to come out with energy and have to play harder than the Clippers.  Anything less than 100% effort from every Celtic will be needed to get a win in this one.  They are capable of playing well enough to beat the Clippers,  but they can't come out with less than their best.  They have to be the more aggressive team and be the team that wants it more.  The Celtics looked like they were running in sand during much of the game vs the Bucks.  If they play like that against the Clippers, they will lose by double digits. 

Take Care of the Ball
- The Celtics need to move the ball to find the open man but they need to make careful passes and not turn the ball over.  They had 18 turnovers in against the Bucks and that was a big reason they had to fight back from a 19 point deficit in the 4th quarter.  They can't turn the ball over that many times and hope to win against the Clippers.

Play 48 Minutes - The Celtics seem to play very well at times, sometimes starting off strong and sometimes finishing strong. But then at other times, they seem to fade away and can't seem to do anything right.  They have to make an effort to play hard and keep their focus from the starting tip until the final buzzer.  They lost their focus in the 3rd quarter vs the Bucks and that cost them the game.  They have to keep their focus and make their shots and keep the ball moving. 

X-Factors
Home and Fatigue - The Celtics are at home and should get a boost from the home crowd.  However, the Celtics played a tough game in Milwaukee on Tuesday night and then had to travel after the game.  They usually are tough in back to back games but fatigue could slow them down.  In the meantime, the Clippers were in Boston resting on Tuesday night and should be ready to go for this one. 

Officiating - The officiating is an x factor for every game.  Every officiating crew calls games differently.  Some call every little foul making it difficult to get any rhythm and some let the teams play.  Some refs have an agenda and call the game for or against a particular team or player.  And there are always star calls no matter who the referees are.  Regardless of how the game is called, the Celtics need to play through it and keep their focus.   

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2016, 10:52:06 PM »

Offline max215

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FLCELTS with the quick turnaround!
Isaiah, you were lightning in a bottle.

DKC Clippers

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2016, 10:52:26 PM »

Offline csfansince60s

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Go Cs .... Best these Clips!

TP FLCeltsFan.....have a nice All-Star break and well- deserved rest.

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2016, 10:52:59 PM »

Offline KeepRondo

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Congrats to the first replyers

TP to FLCelts and both you guys.

Need to spread the TPs after tonight.

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2016, 10:53:56 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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TP to both max215 and csfansince60s and KeepRondo  for being first in the game thread - just seconds apart. 

Go Celtics!!!!!   I REALLY want to beat the Clippers!!! 

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2016, 10:54:29 PM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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great flc! another game thread to distract us from tonight's game. you are a very smart person.  ;D

celtics will return to their winning ways once more.

gooooo celtics...and a tp for flc.  ;D
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: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2016, 10:55:21 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

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Nice way to forget the last game...

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2016, 10:55:43 PM »

Offline KeepRondo

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great flc! another game thread to distract us from tonight's game. you are a very smart person.  ;D

celtics will return to their winning ways once more.

gooooo celtics...and a tp for flc.  ;D
TP to you also and to bud wise

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2016, 10:56:16 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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When was the last time the Celtics won a game against the Clippers ?  Seems like years and years and years. .....or Am I mistaken ?

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2016, 11:52:10 PM »

Offline csfansince60s

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Congrats to the first replyers

TP to FLCelts and both you guys.

Need to spread the TPs after tonight.

Back atcha and all our fellow posters on this thread  so far for same reason! Tough night for all of us?

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2016, 12:55:25 AM »

Offline trickybilly

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Win this game.
"Gimme the ball, gimme the ball". Freddy Quimby, 1994.

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2016, 09:10:52 AM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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When was the last time the Celtics won a game against the Clippers ?  Seems like years and years and years. .....or Am I mistaken ?

They've won the last 4 so that would be 3 years ago was the last time the Celtics beat them

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2016, 02:43:35 PM »

Offline apc

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Amir and Jared vs Pierce and DeAndre looks like a very bad match-up for us.
I will not be surprised to see a change in line up or a sub coming in very early.

Either way i am hoping for a fun close game.


Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2016, 07:17:48 PM »

Offline Rosco917

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DeAndre is not the scoring threat Monroe was, lucky for Sully, Kelly, and Amir, but his defense is very strong. IT will have his hands full with Chris Paul. PP is not playing anywhere near what he was when we had him.
Should be a good game.

Win it!

Re: Clippers (34-17) at Celtics (31-23) Game #55 2/10/16
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2016, 07:34:36 PM »

Offline positivitize

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Lets go C's!
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Smart, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, Kemba, Grant Williams, Sleepy Williams, Edwards!

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Kanter, Semi, Theis, Poierier