Author Topic: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16  (Read 59363 times)

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Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« on: October 24, 2016, 10:13:16 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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  vs 
Brooklyn Nets (0-0) at Boston Celtics (0-0)
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #1 Home Game #1
TV:  CSNNE,  NBA-LP (xfinity 754)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub
TD Garden




Probable Starters

PG:  Isaiah Thomas ........................................ SG:  Avery Bradley


C:  Amir Johnson


SF:  Jae Crowder  ............................................ PF:  Al Horford

Celtics Reserves
Jaylen Brown
Gerald Green 
Demetrius Jackson 
Jonas Jerebko 
Jordan Mickey 
Terry Rozier
James Young
Tyler Zeller

Injuries
Kelly Olynyk  (shoulder)  out
Marcus Smart (ankle) out

Head Coach

Brad Stevens 




Probable Starters
 
PG:  Jeremy Lin ...................................... SG:  Randy Foye


C:  Brook Lopez

 
SF:  Rondae Hollis-Jefferson .................................... PF:  Trevor Booker

Nets Reserves

Anthony Bennett
Bojan Bogdanovic 
Joe Harris
Justin Hamilton 
Sean Kilpatrick
Chris McCullough
Luuis Scola
Greivis Vasquez 
Isaiah Whitehead 

Injuries
Caris LeVert  (foot) game time decision

Head Coach
Kenny Atkinson

Game Notes
It's only fitting that the Celtics open the season against the Brooklyn Nets as these two teams are intertwined.  With every Nets loss this season, Celtics fans will cheer and with every Celtics win, the Nets fans will be cringing. 

In the trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the Nets surrendered their first-round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2018, and they gave Boston the right to swap first-round picks in 2017.  The Celtics have already cashed in the 2014 pick for James Young, who survived the roster cuts to remain with the Celtics for the start of the season.  They also cashed in the 2016 pick for Jaylen Brown. 

They will most certainly swap picks with the Nets this season as the Nets are predicted to be in competition for the worst record in the league once again.  The Nets do seem to be improved somewhat over last season's 21 win team.  They brought in Jeremy Lin, Trevor Booker, Randy Foye,  and Luis Scola, who are good veterans but not great.  They have Rondae Hollis-Jefferson who is a good young prospect and a new coach who has the team playing hard and with energy. 

Regardless of the changes and the newfound energy, the Celtics are the better team from top to bottom.  The Celtics won two games over the Nets in the preseason already.  They won in Brooklyn 100-97 and then, they won in Boston 120-99.  The Celtics played mostly their reserves in both games.  But the Celtics can't get too confident because as bad as the Nets were last season,  one of their 21 wins came against the Celtics. 

The Celtics will still be without Kelly Olynyk, who has begun full contact practices but isn't expected back until mid-November.   Marcus Smart left the Celtics' final preseason game with an ankle sprain and is a game time decision for this game.   For the Nets, their rookie, Caris LeVert, is also a game time decision with a foot injury. 

Key Matchups
vs
Isaiah Thomas vs Jeremy Lin
Linsanity is back in the Big Apple with Jeremy Lin joining the Nets this season.  He is averaging 17.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.  In their first meeting Lin was able to limit Isaiah's production but Smart and Rozier were able to limit Lin.  In the second meeting, Isaiah sat out and Lin was held to 13 points.  This should be a good matchup.

  vs 
Amir Johnson vs Brook Lopez
Lopez is averaging 8.0 points and 2.8 rebounds and seemed to be trying to find his way in the Nets new system.  He is capable of putting up big numbers and the Celtics need to work to keep him off the boards and to keep him from getting good looks on offense. 

Honorable Mention
Jonas Jerebko vs Luis Scola
Scola gave the Celtics all they could handle in the first meeting scoring 14 points to go with 11 rebounds and 5 assists.  The Celtics did better defending him in the second game, holding him to just 4 points 1 rebound and 3 assists.   Hopefully the Celtics can do the same in this one.

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense wins games.  The Celtics have the players to be a top defensive team and they need to work together to play tough team defense.  They especially need to play tough perimeter defense since the Nets shot at least 30 three pointers per game in the preseason and the Celtics need to keep them from hitting a high percentage of them.  The Celtics defense will take a hit if Marcus Smart can't play but the others have to play a bit harder on defense if he can't go.   

Rebound -  The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball.  They need to crash the boards to give themselves extra possessions and to keep the Nets from getting second chance points.   Rebounding takes extra effort and when the Celtics put out that extra effort on the boards, it usually carries over to other parts of their games.  In the first meeting between these two teams, the Celtics won the rebounding battle by just 1 and won the game by just 3 points.  In the 2nd meeting, the Celtics out-rebounded the Nets 55-34 and they won the game convincingly by 21 points.  As the rebounding battle goes, so goes the game.   

Smart Offense - The Celtics need to move the ball and find the open man in order to get easy shots.  They need to also take the shots when they are open and not be too unselfish and not pass up good shots.  They need to realize that if the 3's aren't falling they have to go to the hoop instead of continuing to shoot bricks from the perimeter. 

Teamwork - The Celtics need to continue to build chemistry and to play as a team.  They need to keep their motto of "We are One Superstar" and continue to play for each other and the team.  Hero ball rarely ends well. 

X-Factors
Home Opener
It's the Celtics home opener and the crowd is going to be loud and excited to see Celtics basketball again.  The team needs to feed off of their energy.   They also can't get too tightly wound and let jitters spoil what should be a big win over the Nets. 
 
« Last Edit: October 25, 2016, 04:32:57 PM by FLCeltsFan »

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2016, 10:18:17 PM »

Offline alldaboston

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HYPE!! Let's win this opener!!!
I could very well see the Hawks... starting Taurean Prince at the 3, who is already better than Crowder, imo.

you vs. the guy she tells you not to worry about

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2016, 10:27:46 PM »

Offline ayer

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First game of the season, first win!!!!!!!!!GO!! GO!! GO!! GO!!!

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2016, 10:37:21 PM »

Offline jpotter33

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Awwwww, I saw this and got excited thinking that tomorrow was the game, but sadly I was mistaken.  :(

BUT the first REAL game thread is cause for celebration! TP, FLCeltsFan! You just had to make it early because you couldn't hold your excitement in any longer, right?!  ;)

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2016, 11:06:05 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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TP for alldaboston for being the first to post in the game thread!!   Woohoo!!!   Goooooo Celtics!!!! 

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2016, 11:06:58 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Awwwww, I saw this and got excited thinking that tomorrow was the game, but sadly I was mistaken.  :(

BUT the first REAL game thread is cause for celebration! TP, FLCeltsFan! You just had to make it early because you couldn't hold your excitement in any longer, right?!  ;)
TP for figuring out my secret LOL!  I absolutely can't wait!!!   

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2016, 11:41:14 PM »

Offline Denis998

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LETS GET THIS SEASON STARTED!

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2016, 11:46:24 PM »

Offline danglertx

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I am SOOOOOOO excited about this team.  Unfortunately, my two favorite players are probably out, Olynyk and Smart.

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2016, 11:51:02 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

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I'm going to miss this game =(

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2016, 11:59:35 PM »

Offline trickybilly

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Regrettably, it is (only just) still more important that Brooklyn lose this game than us winning it.

Go Cs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Gimme the ball, gimme the ball". Freddy Quimby, 1994.

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2016, 12:13:19 AM »

Offline jpotter33

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I'm going to miss this game =(

Do you have League Pass, either through a cable/TV provider or broadband? Because you should be able to still watch it a couple of hours afterwards on the archives, unless the League Pass Nazis did away with that this year, too.

Still, it's not the same as watching it live, unfortunately.

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2016, 12:20:40 AM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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And another Celtic season begins! thanks for the thread flc. This time it is for a game that counts. This will be the first ofmany, many Celtic victories!!!

Goooooooooooooo Celtics! ;D

Stomp the nets,
Stomp the nets,
We are going to stomp the nets!

And a tp for flc with many thanks.
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: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2016, 12:27:15 AM »

Offline SCeltic34

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TP to FLC for another game thread, the 1st of the season no less.  Thanks for doing these.

CelticsBlog posters might disagree with one another when it comes to opinions on Ainge, our players, etc., but I think we can all agree that stomping the Nets by 20 points would be a great start to the 2016-2017 season.

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2016, 12:28:38 AM »

Offline SCeltic34

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I must say that I'm concerned about our ability to contain Lopez.  He gave us all sorts of problems last year since we don't have anyone who can match up with him in terms of raw physicality.  But the rest of their roster (Lin aside, I guess) is so dreadful that I think it would be disgraceful if we lost.

Re: Nets (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/26/16
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2016, 12:36:59 AM »

Offline jpotter33

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I must say that I'm concerned about our ability to contain Lopez.  He gave us all sorts of problems last year since we don't have anyone who can match up with him in terms of raw physicality.  But the rest of their roster (Lin aside, I guess) is so dreadful that I think it would be disgraceful if we lost.

I think we'll have Horford on him. I think he's got enough strength and low post defense to ultimately limit what he can do.

It's nice to have a defensive big that is capable enough to guard out on the perimeter, while still big and strong enough to adequately check some of the bigger centers in the league.