Celtics (20-5) at Warriors (12-14) Game #26 12/19/23

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Boston Celtics (20-5) at Golden State Warriors (12-14)
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
10:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #26  Road Game #12
TV:  TNT, NBCSB
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub,  95.7 The Game, Sirius XM
Chase Center



Probable Starters

PG: Jrue Holiday    ...................................... SG: Derrick White


C:  Kristaps Porzingis


SF:  Jaylen Brown   ............................................ PF: Jayson Tatum

Celtics Reserves
Delano Banton
Oshae Brissett
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Svi Mykhailiuk
Payton Pritchard
Lamar Stevens
Jordan Walsh

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Neemias Queta
Drew Peterson

Injuries/Out
Luke Kornet (thigh) out
Kristaps Porzingis (calf) questionable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla




Probable Starters


 
PG:  Stephen Curry
SG: Brandin Podziemski
SF: Klay Thompson
PF:  Jonathan Kuminga
C:  Kevon Looney

Warriors Reserves
Trayce Jackson-Davis
Cory Joseph
Moses Moody
Chris Paul
Gui Santos
Dario Saric
Andrew Wiggins

2 Way Players
Usman Garuba
Lester Quinones
Jerome Robinson

Injuries/Out
Draymond Green (suspended) out
Gary Payton II (calf)  out

Head Coach
Steve Kerr

Game Notes
The Celtics begin a 4 game Western road trip with a game in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors.  This is the first of 2 games between these two teams this season.  They will meet once again on March 3 in Boston.  The series between these two teams was tied 1-1 last season with each team winning on their home court.   The Celtics are 209-139 overall all time against the Warriors.  They are 94-99 in games played at Golden State. 

The Celtics will continue the road trip on Wednesday night when they take on the Sacramento Kings in back to back games.  The Celtics are 3-0 so far on the first night of back to back games.  They will then play the Los Angeles Clippers and finally the Los Angeles on Christmas Day.  After the road trip, they return home for back to back games against the Detroit Pistons and the Toronto Raptors.  The Warriors are coming off a win at Portland.  This is the first of  3 game home stand where they will face the Washington Wizards and the Portland Trailblazers.  They will then play one more game at Portland before a 7 game home stand.

The Celtics are 1st in the East,  1.5 games ahead of 2nd place Milwaukee and 2.5 games ahead of 3rd place Philadelphia, who lost to the Bulls on Monday after winning 6 straight.  They are 4 games ahead of the 4th place Orlando Magic after beating them twice in Boston this weekend.  They are 6-5 on the road and 8-2 in their last 10 games.  They are 1-1 against Western Conference opponents.  They have won their last 5 games. 

The Warriors are 11th in the West.  They are 3.5 games behind the 6th place Clippers and the final playoff spot, 2 games behind 10th place Phoenix and the final play in spot. They are 8 games behind first place Minnesota.  They are 6-6 at home and 5-5 in their last 10 games.  They are 2-2 against Eastern Conference opponents.  They have won their last 2 games, in spite of Draymond Green being out on suspension.   

Jaylen Brown and Delano Banton are no longer on the injury list.  Both have been questionable over the last 2 games.   Luke Kornet remains on the injury report with a thigh injury he suffered in warmups.  Kristaps Porzingis missed the first Orlando game but played in the second.  He is once again on the injury report with a tag of left calf strain injury management.  He is listed as questionable and will be a game time decision.  For the Warriors, Gary Payton II is out with a calf injury and Draymond Green is suspended indefinitely. 

Key Matchups
vs
Jrue Holiday vs Stephen Curry
Curry is averaging 28.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. He is shooting 46.1% from the field and 41.1% from beyond the arc.   The Celtics have to find some way to slow him down and keep him from willing the Warriors to a win.   Curry's 268 game 3 point streak was just broken in their last game and so he may look to go on a 3 point binge in this game and the Celtics need to stay with him, particularly on the perimeter.  He is a threat to pull up from anywhere on the court.

vs
Jaylen Brown vs Klay Thompson
Thompson is averaging 16.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.  He is shooting 41.8% from the field and 37.4% from beyond the arc.  He is also a good defender and will try to make it difficult on Jaylen Brown, who has been playing very well.   The Celtics will need a big game from Brown on both ends of the court if they are going to win this game. 

Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs Jonathan Kuminga
Kuminga is averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game.  He is shooting 48.5% from the field and 32.2% from beyond the arc.   Kuminga is filling in for Draymond Green, who is suspended for at least 3 weeks.    At least the Celtics won't have Green trying to injure them during this game. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always the key to winning.   The Celtics are 7th in the league, averaging 117.6 points per game.  They are 3rd in the league with a defensive rating of 109.2.     The Warriors are 12th in the league, averaging 115.9 points per game.   The Warriors are 16th with a defensive rating of 114.6. It is highly likely that the team that defends better in this game  will be the winner.
 
Rebound -  Rebounding is always a key to winning as you need the ball to score and a good way to get it is to grab rebounds. It takes effort to grab rebounds and the Celtics must make an extra effort to crash the boards and beat the Warriors to rebounds.  If they put out extra effort on the boards, that usually carries through to the rest of their game.  More rebounds gives them extra possessions and limits the possessions for the Warriors.  The Warriors are 4th with 16.5 second chance points per game and so the Celtics especially need to keep them from getting offensive rebounds.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics need to be the more aggressive team from start to finish.  They need to be aggressive in going to the hoop, in crashing the boards, in fighting for loose balls and in running the court.  They also have to be more aggressive on defense.  They have to be the team that wants it more.  When the Celtics have lost this season, it's because they allowed their opponents to be more aggressive and to play harder than them.   Effort and being more aggressive will likely be the difference in this game.

Move the Ball Carefully - The Celtics play the best when they move the ball and find the open man.  They struggle more when players try to do too much and when the ball sticks with one player too long and when they take quick shots without looking for the best shot.  The Celtics are 26th with 24.7 assists per game.  They need to look to share the ball and not over dribble or try to take over at the expense of open teammates. 

X-Factors
On the Road - The Celtics are on the road and have traveled across the country through 3 time zones to get there.  The Celtics need to shake off the distractions of travel, being away from home, and playing on the road in front of a hostile crowd, not to mention jet lag and getting used to a different time zone.  The Celtics have a 6-5 record on the road this season and they are looking to improve on that over the course of this trip.  They need to continue to focus on playing the right way and not on the distractions of playing on the road. 

Coaching -  Steve Kerr is experienced and has won Championships with this Warriors team.  He has been head coach of the Warriors since 2014 and has won 4 championships with them.  He was Coach of the Year in 2016 and is a top 15 coach in the NBA.  Steve Kerr also out coached Ime Udoka in the 2022 Finals.  Joe Mazzulla is a 2nd year head coach that is still finding his way.  He will have his work cut out for him in this game. 

Officiating - Officiating always has the potential to be a factor in every game. Every officiating team calls the game differently. Some call it tight and others let them play. Some favor the home team while some call it evenly.   However the game is called, the Celtics must adjust to it and not allow the officiating to take away their focus on playing the game. Complaining about calls rarely changes anything other than to take away from their focus on playing the game and sometimes irritate the officials. 

[Silas]

Let's go Cs and make it 6 in a row with some California Dreamin....

[FLCeltsFan]

TP to Silas    for being the first to post in the game thread!!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Celtics!!!!!

Beat the Warriors!!!!!!!!

[Silas]

Thanks FLCeltsFan for a great west coast game thread and the TP, and a TP back at you....

[Celtics2021]

This is such a weird road trip for the C’s.  They’ll get to LA Thursday morning after the Kings game, and not leave until Monday night or Tuesday morning after the Lakers game. Hopefully they don’t have too much fun in LA with all their free time there.

In the meantime, hopefully they start it off with a win in the Bay.

Also just realized it’s our first sub-.500 opponent in December.

[SparzWizard]

This is such a weird road trip for the C’s.  They’ll get to LA Thursday morning after the Kings game, and not leave until Monday night or Tuesday morning after the Lakers game. Hopefully they don’t have too much fun in LA with all their free time there.

In the meantime, hopefully they start it off with a win in the Bay.

Hunch tells me they'll explore Hollywood all weekend long. Hope LeBron doesn't brainwash Tatum into joining purple gold down the road. Guys gotta stay focused.

[SparzWizard]

NBA Finals rematch. Time for some revenge.

[trickybilly]

Curious to see how Looney play Zinger.

He always seems to play well against us but that is usually when Draymond is also playing, hope that we can shut him down.

[liam]

On my way to Costa Rica. I might miss this one!

[SHAQATTACK]

This is such a weird road trip for the C’s.  They’ll get to LA Thursday morning after the Kings game, and not leave until Monday night or Tuesday morning after the Lakers game. Hopefully they don’t have too much fun in LA with all their free time there.

In the meantime, hopefully they start it off with a win in the Bay.

Yup , Lakers guys will be like , why you want to freeze in Boston   Cold and damp …..play for lakers where it’s warm all year. 
Hunch tells me they'll explore Hollywood all weekend long. Hope LeBron doesn't brainwash Tatum into joining purple gold down the road. Guys gotta stay focused.

[Vermont Green]

Back on the road.  We have the 7th best road record (6-5) but we have played appreciably worse in most road games.  Currently, we are shooting 32.6% from 3 on the road (vs. 40.1% at home).  42.7 3PA on the road, 42.1 3PA at home, so we are actually taking slightly more 3s on the road.

My key to success is to rely less on the 3, take it to the hoop more, post up more.  Win this with say <35 3PA and >35% 3P%.  (I doubt very much they will take this few 3s, but I thought it was "catchy" to use 35 twice   ).

[Vermont Green]

Jay King: Kristaps Porzingis (left calf strain management) is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game at Golden State. Yesterday, Porzingis said he and the staff “just started talking about” whether he would play on both legs of the back-to-back. “We don’t have the answer yet. But they know my stance: I want to play in every game they allow me. But of course, they want to be smart with me and my health. Make sure I’m here for the long picture.” 14 hours ago – via Twitter ByJayKing

Rest him vs. GSW if there is any question.  Play him in SAC and then the two games in LA.  I wonder what the plan is for Horford?  Kornet is still listed as out but we should have Queta.  I wonder when Drew Peterson will make an appearance?

[Celtics2021]

Back on the road.  We have the 7th best road record (6-5) but we have played appreciably worse in most road games.  Currently, we are shooting 32.6% from 3 on the road (vs. 40.1% at home).  42.7 3PA on the road, 42.1 3PA at home, so we are actually taking slightly more 3s on the road.

My key to success is to rely less on the 3, take it to the hoop more, post up more.  Win this with say <35 3PA and >35% 3P%.  (I doubt very much they will take this few 3s, but I thought it was "catchy" to use 35 twice   ).

The key to road success is to have our best players available.  Our starting 5 is 14-1 when they play together, but the team is only 6-4 when down at least one starter.  Six of the ten games we’ve been down a starter have been on the road, and we’re 2-4 in such games.

If the starting 5 stays in tact for the trip, I think we go 3-1.

[Vermont Green]

Back on the road.  We have the 7th best road record (6-5) but we have played appreciably worse in most road games.  Currently, we are shooting 32.6% from 3 on the road (vs. 40.1% at home).  42.7 3PA on the road, 42.1 3PA at home, so we are actually taking slightly more 3s on the road.

My key to success is to rely less on the 3, take it to the hoop more, post up more.  Win this with say <35 3PA and >35% 3P%.  (I doubt very much they will take this few 3s, but I thought it was "catchy" to use 35 twice   ).

The key to road success is to have our best players available.  Our starting 5 is 14-1 when they play together, but the team is only 6-4 when down at least one starter.  Six of the ten games we’ve been down a starter have been on the road, and we’re 2-4 in such games.

If the starting 5 stays in tact for the trip, I think we go 3-1.

So 4-0 when down a starter at home and 2-4 when down a starter on the road.  What is the bigger factor?  Both matter of course, but we are clearly better at overcoming the loss of a starter when playing at home.  It also probably depends on what starter we are missing.

[Vermont Green]

GSW have been a struggling team this season.  The following players account for 5 of the 6 worst individual +/- on the team:

Wiggins
Green
Looney
Thompson
Curry

Basically their starters (although Wiggins has been benched for playing so poorly).  Collectively, this unit is -23 in 133 minutes.  Collectively, they make about $150M this season.  They are all coming back next season except Klay Thompson who is expiring.  Will be interesting to see what they do with him.

They really need to blow this up.  It really hurt them that they missed on Wiseman.  That was a real opportunity for them.