Celtics (20-6) at Kings (16-9) Game #27 12/20/23

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Boston Celtics (20-6) at Sacramento Kings (16-9)
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
10:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #27, Road Game #13
TV: NBA-TV, NBCSB, NBCSCA 
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 1140 AM, Sirius XM



Probable Celtics Starters
PG SG SFPF C
PG:  Jrue Holiday
SG:  Derrick White
SF:  Jaylen Brown
PF:  Jayson Tatum
C:   Kristaps Porzingis

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

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Nathan Knight
Neemias Queta

Injuries/Out
Luke Kornet  (thigh) out
Al Horford (rest) questionable
Kristaps Porzingis (injury management) questionable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla 


Probable Kings Starters
PG SG SF PF C
PG:  De'Aaron Fox
SG:  Kevin Huerter
SF:  Harrison Barnes
PF:  Keegan Murray
C :  Domantas Sabonis   

Kings Reserves
Chris Duarte
Kessler Edwards
Colby Jones
Trey Lyles
JaVale McGee
Davion Mitchell
Malik Monk
Juan Toscano-Anderson
Sasha Vezenkov

Two Way Players
Keon Ellis
Jordan Ford
Jalen Slawson

Injuries/Out
Alex Len (ankle) out

Head Coach
Mike Brown

Game Notes
The Celtics continue their road trip with a stop in Sacramento to take on the Kings.  This is the first of 2 games this season between these two teams.  The Celtics played the Warriors in San Francisco on Tuesday night.  This is the 3rd game in 4 days but they will have 2 days off before they play against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.  They will finish this road trip on Christmas Day with a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. 

The Celtics remain first in the East, half a game ahead of 2nd place Milwaukee, 2 games ahead of 3rd place Philadelphia and 3.5 games ahead of 4th place Orlando.  They are 6-6 on the road and 8-2 in their last 10 games.  They are 1-2 against Western Conference opponents.  They had won 5 games straight games before the loss to the Warriors.  The Kings are 4th in the West, 4 games behind 1st place Minnesota and 1 ahead of New Orleans for 7th.  They are 10-3 at home and 7-3 in their last 10 games.  They are 3-0 against Eastern teams and have won their last 3 games.

This is the first of 2 games between these teams.  They will play for the 2nd and final time in Boston on April 5.  The Celtics won the series 2-0 last season.   The Celtics are playing on the second night of back to back games, playing the Warriors on Tuesday.  The Celtics are 2-1 in back to back games and 1-1 when both games are on the road.  The Celtics are 190-119 against the Kings all time overall and 87-86 in games on the road. 

The Celtics are playing in the 2nd of a 4 game road trip.  They went to overtime against the Warriors on Tuesday and will play the Clippers on Saturday and the Lakers on Christmas Day.  They will then head home for a back to back set against Detroit and Toronto before a 2 game road trip against the Spurs and Thunder.  The Kings are playing in the 4th game of a 6 game home stand.  They are 3-0 so far and will play Phoenix and Minnesota to finish it out. 

Kristaps Porzingis was on the injury report on Tuesday for left calf strain injury management.  I'm guessing he will play in this one since he was out on Tuesday.   Al Horford is likely out for this one due to it being back to back.   Luke Kornet remains out with a thigh injury.   For the Kings, only Alex Len is on the injury report with a high ankle sprain and will miss this game. 

Key Matchups
vs
Jrue Holiday vs De'Aaron Fox
Fox is averaging 30.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  He is shooting 47.7% from the field and 38.2% from beyond the arc.  The Celtics will need to slow him down and also take care of the ball as he is always a threat to get a steal. 

vs
Kristaps Porzingis vs Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis is averaging 18.9 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game.  He is shooting 58% from the field and 40.6% from beyond the arc.  The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and off the boards. 

Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs Keegan Murray
Murray is averaging 16 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  He is shooting 44.7% from the field and 36.7% from beyond the arc.  Keegan is coming off a 47 point, 8 rebound game against the Wizards on Monday and so he is very capable of having a big game. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always the key to winning every game.   The Kings have a defensive rating of 114.9(17th).  The Celtics defensive rating is 109.2, 2nd in the league.  The Celtics need to defend the paint as the Kings average 48.4 points in the paint per game.   The Kings are 3rd in the league, right behind the Celtics with 41.8 three pointers attempted per game so the Celtics must also defend the perimeter.  The Celtics need to tighten up their defense as that is likely what will win this game. 

Rebound - Much of rebounding is effort and desire.  The Celtics have to put out extra effort  to grab the rebounds on both ends of the court.   By doing so, they limit the second chance points and fast breaks for the Kings and also give themselves extra possessions.   The Celtics are averaging 46.5 rebounds per game to 43.8 rebounds per game for the Kings.  The Kings average 14.8 second chance points per game and so they have to put out extra effort to beat the Kings to the boards and to limit their second chance points. 

Focus and Effort - The Celtics need to stay focused on playing the right way.  They have to focus on moving the ball carefully, on taking good shots, on going after loose balls and on playing the right way.  In the past, the Celtics would beat much better teams just because they played harder and put out more effort.  The Celtics must play with increased focus and effort if they expect to beat the Kings. 

Reserve Play - With the Celtics playing back to back,  the Celtics will need to get good minutes from their bench.  The Celtics will need to rest and when the subs come in, they have to produce in order for the Celtics to stay with the Kings.  The Celtics may be short handed with A Horford and Luke Kornet both out for this one.  Every player will need to play hard and stay focused. 

X-Factors
Fatigue on the Road - This is the second game of a 4 game road trip.  The Celtics have had to travel across the country and across 3 time zones.  They are also playing on the second night of back to back games after going to overtime in their loss to the Warriors.  Fatigue could come into play for them.  Also they need to ignore the distractions of travel, an unfamiliar arena and a hostile crowd and concentrate on playing together and playing the right way. 

Officiating -  Officiating can always be an x-factor.  Every crew will call the game differently.  Some will call every little thing and the game will have no flow.  Others will let a lot go and let them play.  Some crews favor the home team while others call it evenly or have a personal agenda.  The Celtics need to adjust to how the game is called and not let the officials take away their focus. 

     

[Goldstar88]

TP to FLCelts fan for the game thread. Let’s get back on track! Go C’s!!

[FLCeltsFan]

TP to  Goldstar88   for being the first to post in the game thread!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Celtics!!!!!

Beat the Kings!!!!!!!

[SparzWizard]

Thanks for staying up late posting this FL.

Sour taste from losing in the Bay Area in overtime. C's are fatigued, they're getting blown out in Sacramento who are well-rested. Take the money on Sactown -2.5.

[celticinorlando]

This will be an absolute bloodbath as the short handed Celtics get run out the building

[blink]

oh gawd, next up are those 'light the beam' fanatics in Sac Town.  I actually like the Kings and their fans are crazy in love with their team.   I want them to win except when they play us.  After tonight's game give-away with GS, I am pretty worried we are going to get our butts handed to us.   But lets go CELTICS.  See if they, or their coach, learned anything from the GS debacle.

thanks FL for posting this early and diverting the negativity to the next game.
TP!

[liam]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

[Who]

De'Aaron Fox will be a good test for our defense. He has had some really big games lately. Dominating folks.

The type of speedy PG that can cause our bigger guards some issues.

[Silas]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers. 

[jpotter33]

There any word on Tatum yet? Very likely that KP is in and Al is out, but am wondering about Tatum. Not expecting him to play and got us to play it safe, but winning tonight would go a long way in making up for last night’s fumble and putting us back on track for the road trip.

[Atzar]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers.

Queta didn't play as well as this board seems to think.  He hurt us pretty badly on defense.  Saric killed him from three in the first half, and CP3 played him off the court in the second half by involving him in the action every single trip down the court. 

He's what we have with KP and Al limited and Kornet out, and he's not useless.  I'm not upset with him.  But he's going to have to learn where to be and how to rotate in the team defense, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

[Silas]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers.

Queta didn't play as well as this board seems to think.  He hurt us pretty badly on defense.  Saric killed him from three in the first half, and CP3 played him off the court in the second half by involving him in the action every single trip down the court. 

He's what we have with KP and Al limited and Kornet out, and he's not useless.  I'm not upset with him.  But he's going to have to learn where to be and how to rotate in the team defense, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I just finished watching the 2nd half again. I thought maybe I slept through the 2nd half based on what you said about Q's game.  Q played about 10 min in the 1st half and about 7 min in the 3rd, when the  Cs had control of the game.  During the 3rd, only once did CP challenge Q directly for a successful short jumper.  During the 4th Q started but only played 5 min and did not have any action with CP.  The Cs still had control of the game when Al came in and played the rest of the game.  In my opinion, Q was not abused on the floor by CP and you could argue that he outplayed Al defensively for his 20 min.  For what it's worth, at the end of the game, Q's 20 min resulted in a +10 while Al was a -8.  By no means am I saying the Queta is Als equal however, last night Q played a good game and doesn't deserve your negativity. 

[Atzar]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers.

Queta didn't play as well as this board seems to think.  He hurt us pretty badly on defense.  Saric killed him from three in the first half, and CP3 played him off the court in the second half by involving him in the action every single trip down the court. 

He's what we have with KP and Al limited and Kornet out, and he's not useless.  I'm not upset with him.  But he's going to have to learn where to be and how to rotate in the team defense, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I just finished watching the 2nd half again. I thought maybe I slept through the 2nd half based on what you said about Q's game.  Q played about 10 min in the 1st half and about 7 min in the 3rd, when the  Cs had control of the game.  During the 3rd, only once did CP challenge Q directly for a successful short jumper.  During the 4th Q started but only played 5 min and did not have any action with CP.  The Cs still had control of the game when Al came in and played the rest of the game.  In my opinion, Q was not abused on the floor by CP and you could argue that he outplayed Al defensively for his 20 min.  For what it's worth, Q's 20 min resulted in a +10 while Al was a -8.  By no means am I saying the Queta is Als equal however, last night Q played a good game and doesn't deserve your negativity.

Did I hallucinate the multiple possessions where Queta just straight up left the ball and allowed CP3 open midrange jumpers?  I'm pretty sure that happened more than once. 

Either way, I really don't think I was terribly negative.  I just think his defense is a minus right now when the opposing offense forces him to make decisions and the double-double doesn't tell the whole story.  He needs to fit into the team defense more reliably.  But he has some ways to contribute behind KP and/or Al.  Again, I'm not upset with him. 

[Silas]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers.

Queta didn't play as well as this board seems to think.  He hurt us pretty badly on defense.  Saric killed him from three in the first half, and CP3 played him off the court in the second half by involving him in the action every single trip down the court. 

He's what we have with KP and Al limited and Kornet out, and he's not useless.  I'm not upset with him.  But he's going to have to learn where to be and how to rotate in the team defense, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I just finished watching the 2nd half again. I thought maybe I slept through the 2nd half based on what you said about Q's game.  Q played about 10 min in the 1st half and about 7 min in the 3rd, when the  Cs had control of the game.  During the 3rd, only once did CP challenge Q directly for a successful short jumper.  During the 4th Q started but only played 5 min and did not have any action with CP.  The Cs still had control of the game when Al came in and played the rest of the game.  In my opinion, Q was not abused on the floor by CP and you could argue that he outplayed Al defensively for his 20 min.  For what it's worth, Q's 20 min resulted in a +10 while Al was a -8.  By no means am I saying the Queta is Als equal however, last night Q played a good game and doesn't deserve your negativity.

Did I hallucinate the multiple possessions where Queta just straight up left the ball and allowed CP3 open midrange jumpers?  I'm pretty sure that happened more than once. 

Either way, I really don't think I was terribly negative.  I just think his defense is a minus right now when the opposing offense forces him to make decisions and the double-double doesn't tell the whole story.  He needs to fit into the team defense more reliably.  But he has some ways to contribute behind KP and/or Al.  Again, I'm not upset with him.

I only saw one CP3 midrange jumper in the 3rd and none in the 4th.  Anyways, I agree with you that he still needs some work.  More minutes should help.

[SCeltic34]

I'm hoping that this will be better than last night. I'll get to watch it tonight. Looks like it was a terrible shooting night last night except for Pritchard. I hope Zinger is playing tonight.

White had a decent game from 3 with 7/18.  He also scored 30pts, 7rebs, 3 assist, and 3blks.  To me the big surprise was Queta with 21min, 10 pts,10rebs(6oreb),1assist, 1stl, and 0 turnovers.

Queta didn't play as well as this board seems to think.  He hurt us pretty badly on defense.  Saric killed him from three in the first half, and CP3 played him off the court in the second half by involving him in the action every single trip down the court. 

He's what we have with KP and Al limited and Kornet out, and he's not useless.  I'm not upset with him.  But he's going to have to learn where to be and how to rotate in the team defense, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I just finished watching the 2nd half again. I thought maybe I slept through the 2nd half based on what you said about Q's game.  Q played about 10 min in the 1st half and about 7 min in the 3rd, when the  Cs had control of the game.  During the 3rd, only once did CP challenge Q directly for a successful short jumper.  During the 4th Q started but only played 5 min and did not have any action with CP.  The Cs still had control of the game when Al came in and played the rest of the game.  In my opinion, Q was not abused on the floor by CP and you could argue that he outplayed Al defensively for his 20 min.  For what it's worth, Q's 20 min resulted in a +10 while Al was a -8.  By no means am I saying the Queta is Als equal however, last night Q played a good game and doesn't deserve your negativity.

Did I hallucinate the multiple possessions where Queta just straight up left the ball and allowed CP3 open midrange jumpers?  I'm pretty sure that happened more than once. 

Either way, I really don't think I was terribly negative.  I just think his defense is a minus right now when the opposing offense forces him to make decisions and the double-double doesn't tell the whole story.  He needs to fit into the team defense more reliably.  But he has some ways to contribute behind KP and/or Al.  Again, I'm not upset with him.

You weren't hallucinating, I think that was actually the coaching strategy.  Let CP3 shoot because he's old and washed up.  CP3 midrange and 3 pointers were the shots they were willing to concede. 

Queta played great minutes, but like any other inexperienced big, was out of position multiple times.  Hopefully with more film sessions and in-game reps he can clean that up a bit.