Celtics (2-3) at Bucks (3-1) 11/10

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Boston Celtics (2-3) at Milwaukee Bucks (3-1)
Saturday, November 10, 2012
8:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #6, Road Game #3
TV:  CSN-NE,  FSNWI,  NBA-LP 756(C's)/757(MIL)
Radio:  WEEI, WTMJ
Bradley Center


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
  vs 
Rajon Rondo vs Brandon Jennings

Shooting Guard
  vs 
Courtney Lee vs Monta Ellis

Small Forward
  vs 
Paul Pierce vs Tobias Harris 

Power Forward
  vs 
Jared Sullinger vs Ersan Ilyasova

Center
  vs 
Kevin Garnett vs Samuel Dalembert





Celtics Reserves
Brandon Bass
Jason Collins
Jason Terry
Jeff Green
Kris Joseph
Fab Melo
Darko Milicic
Leandro Barbosa
Chris Wilcox

Injuries
Avery Bradley (shoulders) out



Bucks Bench
Marquis Daniels
Mike Dunleavy
Drew Gooden
Doron Lamb
Larry Sanders
Ekpe Udoh
Beno Udrih

Injuries
John Hanson (knee) questionable
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (knee) out
Joel Przybilla (ankle) probable

Team Connections:
Bucks Assistant Coach Joe Wolf played for the Celtics during the 1992-93 season…
 Bucks Trainer Marc Boff worked for the Celtics for eight seasons as an assistant trainer and physical therapist
Armond Hill played for the Bucks during the 1982-83 season
Brandon Jennings, Doron Lamb and Rajon Rondo attended Oak Hill Academy
Drew Gooden and Paul Pierce both attended the University of Kansas
Bucks Assistant Coach Jim Boylan and Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers both attended Marquette Universtiy
Courtney Lee and Samuel Dalembert were teammates in Houston during the 2011-12 season
Jason Terry was teammates with Joel Przybilla in Atlanta during the 2003-04 season
Jason Terry and Drew Gooden were teammates in Dallas during the 2009-10 season.
Marquis Daniels played for the Celtics from 2009-12

Game Notes
The Celtics will try to climb back to .500 once again as they visit the Bucks.  The Celtics lost to the Bucks in their home opener and now will seek to avenge that loss.  The Bucks have been surprising this season, getting off to a strong 3-1 start, including a win on the road against the Celtics to open the season.

Both teams are playing in the second of back to back games and both teams will be traveling.  The Celtics are coming off a 6 point loss to the Sixers at home.  The Bucks are coming off a 10 point win vs the Wizards in Washington.  Fatigue could be a factor for the Celtics veteran players. 

The Celtics defense is once again coming under fire as they allowed the Philly, who were the worst scoring team coming in,  to score 106 points.  The Bucks are averaging 98 points a game and so the Celtics need to clamp down on defense if they hope to get past the Bucks in this game. 

The Celtics have the pieces to be very good but they just can't seem to put it together.  A win in this game would go a long way toward respectability.  A loss on the other hand could lead to panic among Celtics fans.   

Key Matchups
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Brandon Jennings
Jennings won the matchup in the first meeting between these two teams.  He scored 21 points on 9-17 shooting to go with 13 assists while Rondo finished with 14 points and 11 assists.  Jennings seemed to get whatever he wanted in that game as the Celtics simply could not stop the pick and roll.   Rondo needs to step up a bit more in this game, especially on the defensive end.   

vs
Courtney Lee vs Monta Ellis 
Ellis is capable of putting a lot of points on the board and CLee needs to clamp down defensively to try to contain him.  Lee defended Ellis well in their first meeting, holding him to 14 points. Lee has been struggling on the offensive end, however and hopefully can find his stroke soon along with continuing to play tough defense on Ellis. 

Honorable Mention
Kevin Garnett vs Samuel Dalembert
Dalembert scored just 2 points in the first game between these two teams while KG scored 15.  Hopefully that pattern continues in this game.


Keys to the Game
DEFENSE! -   The Celtics must tighten up their defense, especially on the pick and roll.  They allowed way too many easy points against the Bucks in the home opener.  Hopefully we will see the tough defense that we have come to expect from them.  The Bucks can put up a lot of points and they also defend well so the Celtics must play tough defense if they want to get this win.   

Rebound - The Celtics must crash the boards to prevent the Bucks from getting second chance points.  Rebounding is all about effort and when the Celtics put out the effort on the boards that effort seems to carry over into all the other areas of their game.  Failure to rebound will result in a failure to win.  The Celtics were outrebounded 46 to 36 in their first meeting. 

Limit Turnovers- The Celtics turn the ball over way too much.  They make careless passes.  They lose track of their defender and lose the ball to them.  They dribble into traffic and lose the handle.  All of this could be fixed with more focus on the part of each player.  The Celtics need to turn it over fewer than the 18 times they did in the home opener against this team. 

Bench Play - The Celtics have a deep bench and they have some good players on the bench however, they are a work in progress as the try to develop chemistry.  Players have been up and down but we have seen some nice things from Jet and Chris Wilcox and Bass in the past couple of games.  Hopefully they have a strong outing in this one.   


X-Factors
Defense and Bench Play
The Celtics need to get back to their defensive priorities that they have become known for since KG joined the team.   They need to especially be more consistent on pick and roll defense.   Also, the second unit has to find their chemistry and be more consistent. 

[Kiorrik]

TP FL, and Let's go Celtics.

Better be a win, dagnabbit.

[Clench123]

Where is our sense of urgency?  These are the games we should be taking advantage of.  Not having a homecourt advantage has killed us off the past couple years in the playoffs.  We NEED a homecourt advantage.  We can't afford to keep playing like this, even if we did pick it up down the line. 

Jeff Green has been the biggest disappointment so far with Lee not far behind. 

Hopefully, we start winning some games starting tomorrow

[jdz101]

Ugh

[relja]

Rajon Rondo vs Wiz Khalifa lol

[Mazingerz]

i dont know whether we will win or lose this game. Now i dont know. its like this team has a negative vibe as of the moment

[RockinRyA]

you know in 2k13 im having a hard time slowing opponent's guards down and i cant believe its actually happening in real life.

Although at least in 2k13 my boston celtics doesnt play with the Bass/Sully combo upfront.

[SHAQATTACK]

Our team is getting destroyed by penetration in the paint, we saw it Turkey , it was exposed then , and the Celtics continue to get sliced up at will by other teams.  With only KG seeminly having any effect on "ANYBODY" who wants to score in the paint on the Celtics.

Jeff Green is an amazing looking human, body of a god , who doesn't appear to know the first thing about playing team basketball.

[hwangjini_1]

Our team is getting destroyed by penetration in the paint, we saw it Turkey , it was exposed then , and the Celtics continue to get sliced up at will by other teams.  With only KG seeminly having any effect on "ANYBODY" who wants to score in the paint on the Celtics.

Jeff Green is an amazing looking human, body of a god , who doesn't appear to know the first thing about playing team basketball.

good points above.

to me at least, on defense the celtics seems to lack commitment and passion. also, i have seen a number of poor switches by players on defense. the result has been wide open shots or drives to the basket for opponents at crucial times.

on offense, one thing i have seen is that the celtics seem to fall into the trap of being a jump shooting team. this is a low-percentage offense that usually gives them a single shot followed by the other team rebounding the ball. the team seems almost lazy and willing often to settle for the easy shot right now.

very inconsistent low post game by the team so far.

jeff green...i dont know what to say anymore. i have been a big supporter of him. he has all the talent to be a very very good player. but when he is on the court he seems to almost disappear for stretches. i hope he over comes this soon.

but, no matter what....

go celtics!!!! they will win tonight!!! 

[Yogi]

Instead of panicking let's focus on the positives.
1. KG is playing like KG.
2. Paul is healthy.
3. Rondo is CONSISTENTLY great so far.
4. Jet is finally comfortable on the offense.
5. Green and Wilcox are fully healthy. 
6. Sullinger is healthy and productive.

Give some time for:
1. Green to figure out his role.  He has the most difficult role to learn.  He's being asked to play 3 positions by Doc.
2. Lee to figure out his role.  He's currently playing a different role without Bradley.
3. Sullinger to learn NBA focus and personnel.
4. Team's communication on half court defense without KG.
5. Team's effort on transition defense

Doc is not "experimenting."  It is obvious our 4 bigs are KG, Bass, Sullinger and Wilcox.  Get used to the Bass/Sullinger front-line.  They will get better defensively with experience and effort. 

Darko and Collins are situational role players/ back ups/ practice bodies.  They would have to earn a spot by out working a rotation player. 

We are going to be a great team.  You can see that in how we start games.  We have to figure out how to not lose momentum when KG leaves in the first quarter.  Bass/Sullinger have to talk more and hustle on defense.  We will see how we do today.

[Adelaide Celt]

Just want to see some decent form for a sustained period or two. Not even thinking about the result.

[Celtics18]

Hoping for more Wilcox and less Sully and Bass together. 

Also, I'm not giving up on Green.  It's time to step it up, Jeff. 

[ACF]

TP. Go Celtics!

[mr. dee]

Play Green at 3! Don't force him against opposing bigs.

[Celtics18]

Play Green at 3! Don't force him against opposing bigs.

He's going to be playing minutes at the four all season.  I think we need to accept that fact, and just start to hope that he learns to play it better than he has been. 

He needs to be on the court for more than fifteen to twenty minutes a game, which is all that's available at small forward.