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Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« on: January 22, 2011, 12:44:57 AM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Boston Celtics (33-9) at Washington Wizards (12-29)
Saturday, January 22
7:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #43, Road Game #19
TV:  CSN-NE, Comcast Sportsnet, NBA-LP 754/755
Radio:  WEEI, WJFK
Verizon Center






Probable Starters
PG SG SF PF C
Rajon Rondo...Ray Allen...Paul Pierce...Kevin Garnett... Semih Erden

Boston Bench Mob
Glen Davis
Luke Harangody
Nate Robinson
Von Wafer
Marquis Daniels

Injured
Kendrick Perkins (knee) out
Jermaine O'Neal (knee) out
Delonte West (wrist)  out  
Shaquille O'Neal (leg) out  

D-League
Avery Bradley



Probable Starters
PG SG SF PF C
John Wall...Nick Young...Rashard Lewis...Andre Blatche...JaVale McGee


Wizards Bench

Hilton Armstrong
Al Thornton
Trevor Booker
Cartier Martin
Kevin Seraphin
Yi Jianlian
Hamady Ndiaye

Injured
Josh Howard  (knee)  out  
Kirk Hinrich (arm) doubtful  




Team Connections

Wizards Assistant Coach Sam Cassell played for the Celtics during the 2007-08 season
Kevin Garnett played for Wizards Head Coach Flip Saunders in Minnesota from 1995-2005
KG also played for Wizards Assistant Coach Randy Wittman in Minnesota in 2007
Garnett and Cassell were teammates in Minnesota from 2003-05
John Wall and Rajon Rondo both attended the University of Kentucky
Hilton Armstrong and Ray Allen both attended UConn
Paul Pierce and Kirk Hinrich both attended the University of Kansas
Von Wafer and Al Thornton both attended Florida State University
Wafer and Cassell were teammates on the Clippers during the 2006-07 season

Game Notes
This is the second meeting between these two teams.  In their first meeting, the Celtics came away with a 109-91 win.  But, this game will be much different.  The Wizards did not have Wall in the last game and Gilbert Arenas, who is no longer with the team, started at point guard.  Wall will be a much tougher cover for Rondo than Arenas was.  

Also, in that first game, the Celtics had Delonte West in his first game back as a Celtic and that gave them a boost off the bench.  Finally, the Wizards now have Rashard Lewis at small forward.  He always gave the Celtics problems in Orlando when Garnett had to cover him.  Now he is Pierce's problem and hopefully he will be up to the task.  

The last difference between the first meeting between these two teams is that this game is on the Wizards home court and the last game was in the Garden.  The Wizards are a pretty good home team with a 12-6 record, in spite of their overall 12-29 record.  And, yes, that means that they are 0-20 on the road. They aren't quite as easy to beat at home as they are on the road.  

Both teams are playing in the second of back to back games.  The Celtics are coming off of a big win over the Jazz while the Wizards are coming off a loss to the Suns.  The Celtics starters were able to rest through the 4th quarter with Pierce and KG playing just 25 minutes with Ray and Rondo around 30.  Wall, Young and Lewis all played close to 40 minutes in their loss.  

This should be a game that the Celtics win easily but we all know that when they play a team that they should beat easily they tend to relax and sometimes they make it a lot harder on themselves that it should be.
The Celtics will be going for their 6th straight game while the Wizards are trying to avoid a 3 game losing streak.  

Hopefully the Celtics will come out as focused in this game as they did against the Jazz and can put this team away early.  There won't be any Gino, but there will be rest for the weary.  

Key Matchups
vs
Rajon Rondo vs John Wall
In the first meeting between these two teams, Wall was out and so this is the first meeting between Rondo and the Rookie of the Year candidate.  Rondo always gets up for matchups with the top PG's and hopefully he will be ready to prove to Wall that he has not arrived yet.  Both are playing in back to backs.  Rondo played 31 minutes and Wall played 40 minutes the night before, but both are young and should be up for this matchup.  This should be fun to watch.  

vs
Paul Pierce vs Rashard Lewis  
This will be the first time the Celtics face Lewis as a Wizard.  In Orlando, Lewis played power forward and was always KG's problem and KG said that he was one of his toughest matchups.  After moving to Washington, Lewis also moved to the small forward spot and now it falls on Paul Pierce to match up with him.  Lewis has a slight height advantage, but I have a feeling that he will have more trouble containing Pierce than PP will have covering him.  

Honorable Mention
Semih Erden vs JaVale McGee
With Shaq not expected to make the trip,  Doc will more than likely start Semih at center.  Semih is coming off one of his best games as a Celtic with 14 points and 7 rebounds against the Jazz.  The Celtics will need him to continue to be aggressive on both ends of the court.  

Keys to the Game
Focus  Focus seems to be the biggest problem for this team when they play sub-.500 teams.  They lose focus and allow teams that they should beat easily to stay in the game and gain confidence and that will sometimes come back to bite them.  They must come out focused and stay focused until the final buzzer.  

Rebound  The Celtics must crash the boards and keep the Wizards from getting second chance points, fast break opportunities and extra possessions.  As I have said before, when the Celtics put out the effort necessary to win the battle of the boards, that effort seems to pick up every area of their game as well.  

Defense
   Defense always wins games and it will win the championship as well.  The Celtics have to make defense their priority and shut down the paint as well as staying on their outside shooters.  

Be Aggressive  The Celtics need to continue to play aggressively.  They need to take the ball to the hoop and try to get to the line early and often.   They also have to go for every loose ball and battle for all the rebounds.  

Move the Ball  When the Celtics move the ball and rack up assists they are very hard to beat.  When the ball sticks and they try to do too much individually and forget the team game, that's when they are vulnerable.  They have to stick with what works and that is making the extra pass, finding the open man and not playing hero ball which sometimes happens in games on the road and against weaker teams.  

X-Factors
The Road and Trap Game
The Celtics have played their last 6 games at home and being on the road again may have an effect on the team.  Hopefully they can shake off the road blues and play their game regardless of the venue.  The Wizards would be easy to take for granted because they have only 12 wins and they haven't had any wins over any of the top teams.  But all of those 12 wins are at home and they do have some talented players who can put up points in a hurry if the Celtics take them too lightly.  

« Last Edit: January 22, 2011, 06:39:27 PM by FLCeltsFan »

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2011, 05:20:07 PM »

Offline Celtics18

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Nice game thread. As usual, your game thread is the best place to check for the details for the upcoming game.

One question:  Are Crosby, Stills, and Nash not available for tonight's contest?  I see that Neil Young will be getting another start at shooting guard.
DKC Seventy-Sixers:

PG: G. Hill/D. Schroder
SG: C. Lee/B. Hield/T. Luwawu
SF:  Giannis/J. Lamb/M. Kuzminskas
PF:  E. Ilyasova/J. Jerebko/R. Christmas
C:    N. Vucevic/K. Olynyk/E. Davis/C. Jefferson

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2011, 05:47:34 PM »

Offline ACF

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Booooooooooooom, 600.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2011, 06:35:09 PM »

Offline Fafnir

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Wizards are a pretty good team at home, 12-9 at home 0-20 on the road. Hopefully the C's come out strong again.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2011, 07:12:29 PM »

Offline KobeShesNotConsenting!

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I'm hopin for that monster slam from KG that tells us he's really back

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2011, 07:28:41 PM »

Offline CelticSooner

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C's lookin' good right now. Tight defense and the offense is flowing nicely.  :)

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2011, 07:29:23 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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loved the crowd chanting at the beginning  "Let's Go Celtics!" 

first time I've heard them get that good a response on the road

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2011, 07:37:51 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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jeez Nate.  how about bringing the ball within 30 feet before shooting it   ::)

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2011, 07:38:43 PM »

Offline MaxAMillion

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That was an awful play by Robinson. He is just not that smart or that good.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2011, 07:39:31 PM »

Offline Megatron

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Wizards are so bad.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2011, 07:39:52 PM »

Offline Change

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jeez Nate.  how about bringing the ball within 30 feet before shooting it   ::)

They wanted two possessions at the end of the quarter. It was a bad shot but the right mindset.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2011, 07:40:36 PM »

Kiorrik

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jeez Nate.  how about bringing the ball within 30 feet before shooting it   ::)
Took it fast so they could get another possession. I believe Doc was screaming for him to take a fast shot.

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2011, 07:41:35 PM »

Kiorrik

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I'm hopin for that monster slam from KG that tells us he's really back
Me too m8. To me he's still AWOL until that happens.

Q at the qtr
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2011, 07:43:04 PM »

Offline Q_FBE

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Celtics get off quickly behind Ray Ray and the Beast of Erden. Rebounding and 68% FG shooting caused Boston to surge ahead. They look focused.
The beatings will continue until morale improves

Re: Celtics (33-9) at Wizards (12-29) 1/22
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2011, 07:44:53 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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jeez Nate.  how about bringing the ball within 30 feet before shooting it   ::)

They wanted two possessions at the end of the quarter. It was a bad shot but the right mindset.
I could see it was a 2-for-1 situation but that was a horrible shot.  could have used another couple of seconds to get a lot closer for a better shot.