Keys to the game:
Contrary to popular opinion, the best way to defeat the Magic is not to let Dwight get his own. When Dwight is scoring 20 or more points, he usually is also playing excellent defense and rebounding. I think the Celtics should make Dwight fight hard for post position, and then double team hard immediately when he receives the ball. If you force him to pass out to the open shooter sure you might give up a three point shot, but if the shots aren't falling and Dwight is not scoring or even getting shot attempts, he often gets frustrated and loses his focus. Then you have a chance of him picking up offensive fouls, or dribbling too much trying to create his own shots. Further, when Dwight gets double teamed a lot the Magic sometimes forget to feed him the ball and shot early jump shots. If you leave Dwight single covered and he gets going he might enter 'beast' mode and go for a 20-20 -5 block. 3 turnover night.. If you double team him relentlessly and limit his touches you can probably create a 15-14-2 block, 6 turnover game, which gives the Celtics a much better chance to win.
Officiating. Simply put, Perkins fouls Dwight on almost every play in the low post (if you go by the NBA definition) and sometimes they call it, sometimes they do not. If they let Perkins get away with his various chest pushes, arm extensions, and two hands in the back, Dwight will lose his cool and play stupid. Conversely, Dwight is going to go for a lot of blocks, sometimes they call the slightest bump a foul, sometimes not (for example the Paul Pierce play in the last game against the two teams). Whoever gets the most 'benefit of the doubt' calls will have a huge advantage. Whenever Mikki is matched up with Dwight I expect several flops. Nothing gets Dwight more flustered than floppers and it's a quick and easy way to get Dwight on the bench.
Believe it or not, Redick is probably the Magic's best defender of players that come off screens. I wouldn't believe it either, but Lee, as a rookie, too often takes the wrong angle and lets the screener alter his approach, and Pietrus, while much longer than Redick and Lee, isn't as quick. I suppose running through thousands of screens to get his own shots has helped Redick ascertain which angle is the best. In fact, in a game against the Pistons earlier this season, the Magic had Redick in the entire 4th quarter guarding Rip because he was doing the best job. So, Redick will do a better job at stopping Allen's shot than you might expect on the catch (not that anyone can really stop it), however, once Allen gets the ball, Redick has no chance. A few dribbles past the three point line and Allen should get almost any shot he wants, and put a reaching Redick in early foul trouble. Allen is adept at the pull up game where he also avoids getting too close to Dwight.
No Powe is a huge problem. In one way, a missing Powe is larger than a missing Garnett, specifically in guarding Lewis. Lewis succeeds by using his size against smaller players or his quickness against larger ones. In their confrontations the last two seasons, Garnett was no longer quick enough, or two concerned with help defense to do an effective job guarding Lewis (Lewis of course couldn't guard him either), but Powe filled the void and make Lewis's life extremely difficult. He was extremely physical with Lewis, to the point Lewis picked up a technical (anytime Lewis shows emotion you know something happened) and he even blocked one of Lewis's jumpers (hardly ever happens). The numbers back up his effectiveness. The last time Magic played the Celtics when they had Powe, Lewis needed 12 shots to get 15 points. In the last meeting without Powe, Lewis needed only 10 shots to get 21 points. He is a far less efficient player when Powe is on the court.
Against Rondo, the Magic are better with Alston than with Nelson. Nelson is a far superior player than Alston, however, with Rondo's quickness and length he bothered Nelson's go to move (his pull up jumper). Alston is only shooting when he has to and he showed in the last meeting he can get into the lane against Rondo. Alston is a better passer than Rose, and on his drives he will be looking to dish instead of score, which puts more pressure on the other Boston defenders.
Pietrus and Battie against vs. Scalabrine and House and . Neither team has a ton of firepower coming off it's bench, but in these four players each has two guys that can play hot and cold. Sometimes Pietrus looks like Tayshaun Prince (Pietrus has a 7-foot wingspan and amazing leaping ability), but all too often he looks like the artist formerly known as an unpronounceable symbol. Sometimes Battie hits every 18 foot jumper and is aggressive on the board and other times he looks like my mother playing basketball at the family picnic.
Topic: Magic (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game 1 5/4 (Read 135592 times)