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Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« on: March 05, 2013, 11:22:51 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Boston Celtics (32-27) at Indiana Pacers (38-22)
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
7:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #60, Road Game #30
TV: CSNNE, FSI, NBA-LP
Radio: WEEI, 1070 The Fan
Bankers Life Fieldhouse


Probable Starting Matchups
PointGuard
  vs 
Avery Bradley  vs  George Hill   

Shooting Guard
  vs
Courtney Lee   vs  Lance Stephenson 

Small Forward
  vs 
Paul Pierce  vs  Paul George   

Power Forward
  vs 
Brandon Bass  vs  David West

Center
  vs 
Kevin Garnett  vs  Roy Hibbert   





Celtics Reserves
Jeff Green
Jason Terry
Chris Wilcox
Jordan Crawford
Shavlik Randolph
DJ White
Terrence Williams

Injuries
Jared Sullinger (back) out
Rajon Rondo (knee) out

D-League
Fab Melo



Pacers Reserves
Tyler Hansbrough
Danny Granger
DJ Augustin
Ian Mahinmi
Orlando Johnson
Sam Young
Gerald Green
Jeff Pendergraph
Ben Hansbrough
Miles Plumlee

Injured
None

Game Notes
The Celtics visit the Pacers for the second of 3 games this season.  Boston beat Indiana 94-75 at the Garden back in January.  The Celtics will face the Pacers one more time on April 16, one day before their regular season ends.  This could be a playoff preview as if the playoffs began today, these two teams would square off in the first round.

The Pacers are playing very well and are in second place behind the Heat in the East.  They are 7 games behind Miami for the top spot so there is probably little chance they will move up with the way Miami is playing.  The Celtics are in 7th, 5.5 games behind the Pacers.  Every game is important for the Celtics as they have a chance to move up to at least 4th.  The Celtics are 1.5 games ahead of Milwaukee, who are in 8th and 1 game behind the Hawks who are in 6th.  They are also 1.5 games behind Chicago in 4th and Brooklyn in 5th.   

The Celtics are 6-4 in their last 10 games while the Pacers are 7-3 in their last 10.   The Pacers have won 2 in a row while the Celtics have won 3 straight.  Both teams would like to continue their win streaks.  The Celtics road record is 11-18 while the Pacers have been tough to beat at home with a 25-6 record there.   

Key Matchups
  vs 
Brandon Bass  vs  David West
David West is playing very well for the Pacers, averaging 17.7 points and 7.6 rebounds.  He is capable of having a big game if he is given an opening. 

  vs 
Kevin Garnett  vs  Roy Hibbert   
The Pacers are very tough to beat when both West and Hibbert are playing well.  KG has to try to neutralize Hibbert and keep him from scoring and rebounding at the rim. 

Honorable Mention
Paul Pierce vs Paul George
George is averaging 17.6 points per game and Pierce is going to need to slow him down.  With Pierce putting in almost 30 minutes on Tuesday night vs the Sixers, we may see more Jeff Green on George if Pierce looks tired. 

Keys to the Game
Defense -  Defense is always a priority.   The Pacers are a tough defensive team, ranking 5th in FG% allowed (43.5%) and 6th in points allowed (94).  The Celtics will not get easy scores against them and must match the Pacers' defense with tough defense of their own. 

Rebound -  Winning the rebounding battle prevents second chance points  and tip ins for the Pacers as well as limits fast break opportunities.  The Pacers are the best rebounding team in the league, averaging 45.7 per game so the Celtics must work hard if they are going to get boards in this game.   So much of rebounding is effort and desire.  The Celtics must play like they want it more and put out the effort to go get the rebounds.   When the Celtics put out the effort on the boards, it often translates to other areas of the game as well.   They can get rebounds when they really put out the effort but it takes every player crashing the boards after every shot.   

Ball Movement -  There have been times when the Celtics' ball movement is a joy to behold and others when they make sloppy passes and just can't seem to get anything going.  They have to continue to move the ball and find the open man.   But they also have to be careful with their passes.  The Celtics beat the Sixers with 22 turnovers, but they can't turn it over that many times against the Pacers and expect to win. 

Be Aggressive
-  When the Celtics are aggressive in going to the basket, going after loose balls, pushing the ball up the court quickly, and going after rebounds, they are really tough.   But when they are passive and settle for jumpers, let the other team beat them to loose balls, and rebounds, they are very beatable.    They have to be aggressive for 48 minutes to beat the Pacers. 

X-Factors
Back to Back on the Road
The Celtics have yet again another back to back game against a top rival.   They had just 1 game in the previous 7 games so they should have been rested going into Tuesday's game vs Philly.  They have proved that they can win back to back on the road and so hopefully they come into this game with the focus and energy it will take to pull out a win.

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2013, 11:36:05 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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wow...this gonna be a tuff one.   Pacers have so many weapons ,  seems unfair, 

a win would be awesome ,

but not holding my breath.  , as its a back to back road trip.


Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2013, 11:38:25 PM »

Offline CelticConcourse

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Good thing vets  didnt have to play too much tonight. We could get a win, if one of our guys steps up like Bradley did tonight. And I really hope he doesn't shoot if he's not hot, I don't want a 4-20 stat line.

Crawford anyone?
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Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2013, 11:40:26 PM »

Offline Lightskinsmurf

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Would proabaly be the most impressive win of the year if we pull it off.

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 11:42:19 PM »

Offline syfy9

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Granger is day-to-day right now, but he's been very poor as of late. Very very poor. Not sure if I actually want him to play or not.
I like Marcus Smart

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2013, 11:42:49 PM »

Offline CelticConcourse

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Would proabaly be the most impressive win of the year if we pull it off.

Where are you getting that from.....
Jeff Green - Top 5 SF

[Kevin Garnett]
"I've always said J. Green is going to be one of the best players to ever play this game"

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2013, 11:44:27 PM »

Offline CelticG1

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I think depends on how Roy Hibbert does against KG. I think if he plays well it gives them a lot better chance to win the game.

Other than that I think it's kind of a 50/50 game

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2013, 11:46:48 PM »

Offline Lightskinsmurf

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Would proabaly be the most impressive win of the year if we pull it off.

Where are you getting that from.....

Second of a back to back on the road against probably the second best team in the east.

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2013, 12:01:51 AM »

Offline letsgoblue86

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I truly hate the Pacers, so I'm hoping for the W tomorrow.

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2013, 12:26:11 AM »

fitzhickey

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I think that we will need to Green to play more and Pierce to have more rest. i think green would be able to cover george more effectively than pierce

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2013, 12:36:14 AM »

Offline jdz101

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Brandon Bass vs. David West....

oh god


how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck was chris bosh?

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2013, 11:41:39 AM »

Offline WeMadeIt17

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I think we are going to see Avery go on a run similar to last year when he was put in the starting lineup. Celtics get a win tonight with solid games from

AB
Green
Crawford
Bass

Celtics WIN!

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2013, 02:16:29 PM »

Offline Q_FBE

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wow...this gonna be a tuff one.   Pacers have so many weapons ,  seems unfair, 

a win would be awesome ,

but not holding my breath.  , as its a back to back road trip.

After winning in Utah in OT coming off a loss in Portland, the Celtics have confidence and I plan on watching this game with a great deal of interest. I want to see if Doc will use DJ White, Terrence Williams, and Jordan Crawford more and try to out depth them. Indiana is tough and well coached too. I was hoping we were closer than 5.5 games behind. We probably won't catch them for a higher seed (perhaps a two seed). They blasted the Knicks by 32 points coming out of AS weekend. A win here legitimizes our candidacy well a loss won't set the program back.
The beatings will continue until morale improves

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2013, 02:27:33 PM »

Offline bdm860

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Really surprised this game isn’t on ESPN, they usually have a double header on Wednesday’s, but tonight they only have one game, Spurs/Bulls, not that that one’s a bad choice, but I don’t get League Pass, and live slightly out of market, so all I get is national tv games.  Celtics/Pacers is clearly one of the top 2 match ups of the 14 games that will be played tonight.

Stupid college conference tournament games  >:(

After 18 months with their Bigs, the Littles were: 46% less likely to use illegal drugs, 27% less likely to use alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class

Re: Celtics (32-27) at Pacers (38-22) 3/6
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2013, 02:28:32 PM »

Offline CelticConcourse

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Really surprised this game isn’t on ESPN, they usually have a double header on Wednesday’s, but tonight they only have one game, Spurs/Bulls, not that that one’s a bad choice, but I don’t get League Pass, and live slightly out of market, so all I get is national tv games.  Celtics/Pacers is clearly one of the top 2 match ups of the 14 games that will be played tonight.

Stupid college conference tournament games  >:(

Watch it online? Find a friend with LP? :)
Jeff Green - Top 5 SF

[Kevin Garnett]
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