Celtics (8-2) at Pacers (3-3)

[FLCeltsFan]

   at   
Boston Celtics (8-2) at Indiana Pacers (3-3) 
Saturday, November 14
7:00 PM ET
Game #11, Road Game #5
TV:  FSI, CSN HD,  NBA LP 752, 753
Conseco Fieldhouse


Probable Starting Matchups
PointGuard
  vs 
Rajon Rondo  vs  TJ Ford 

Shooting Guard
  vs 
Ray Allen   vs  Brandon Rush 

Small Forward
  vs 
Paul Pierce  vs  Danny Granger   

Power Forward
  vs 
Kevin Garnett  vs  Dahntay Jones   

Center
  vs 
Kendrick Perkins  vs  Roy Hibbert   




Off the Bench
Reserves
Eddie House
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Shelden Williams
Brian Scalabrine
Lester Hudson
Bill Walker
JR Giddens

Injuries:
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Big Baby Davis (thumb) out
Paul Pierce (knee) questionable


Off the Bench
Earl Watson
Solomon Jones
Luther Head
Tyler Hansbrough
AJ Price
Josh McRoberts

Injuries
Travis Diener (toe) Questionable
Mike Dunleavy (knee)  out
Jeff Foster (ankle)  out
Troy Murphy (back)  questionable 

Team Connections
Danny Granger and J.R. Giddens are both former New Mexico Lobo
Jim O’Brien coached the Celtics from 2001-04
(censored) Harter, Lester Conner and Frank Vogel were all assistant coached under O’Brien with the Celtics from 2001-04
Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird won three championships with the Celtics and had his #33 retired on 02/04/93…
Marquis Daniels played for the Pacers from 2006-09
A.J. Price and Ray Allen are former UConn Huskies…Dahntay
Jones, Mike Dunleavy, Josh McRoberts and Shelden Williams are former Duke Blue Devils and McRoberts and Williams were teammates at Duke
Brandon Rush and Paul Pierce are former Kansas Jayhawks…
Solomon Jones and Shelden Williams were teammates in Atlanta from 2006-08
Tyler Hansbrough and Rasheed Wallace are former North Carolina Tar Heels

Matchups to Watch
  vs 
Paul Pierce  vs  Danny Granger
This is a great matchup of two exciting wing players.  I am sure Granger  remembers losing his teeth in a game vs the Celtics last season.  Granger is a key offensive player for Indiana and Pierce's  defense on Granger may be more important than the offensive numbers he puts up. 

  vs 
Rajon Rondo  vs  TJ Ford   
TJ Ford is one of the very few point guards who may be even faster than Rajon Rondo.  They have played each other fairly even in the past with Rondo coming out ahead in some games and TJ coming out ahead in some games. Rondo had improved considerably since these two last met and should be up for this game. 

Game Notes
• Celtics won the season series 3-1 against Indiana in 2008-09
• Ray Allen led the Celtics with 25.6 points per game last season
• Danny Granger averaged 20.0 points per game against the C’s last year
• The C’s are 11-7 against the Pacers since the 2004-05 season
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 77-64 with the Celtics 50-21 at home

The Pacers have been off since Wednesday and the Celtics are playing in the second of back to back games.   It isn't quite as brutal as the 8 games in 12 nights, but they have played 3 games in 4 nights. 

Last night, Shelden Williams faced his old team and tonight Marquis Daniels is facing his former team.   In the last meeting between these two teams in Indiana last season, Marquis Daniels led the Pacers with 26 points and seven boards.   After the Pacers failed to pick up his option this season, he took a big pay cut to come to Boston and you have to believe that he would love to beat his former team. 

Keys to the Game
Defense - first, foremost and always
Fatigue  - The Celtics must learn to overcome fatigue in back to back games and come out strong.  They looked tired against the Hawks, and that was on a day of rest. 
Don't Die by the 3 -  When legs get tired, 3's don't fall and the Celtics have to recognize this and take the ball inside.  They were 1-14 against the Hawks.  When they don't fall, take it to the hoop. 
Rebound  The Celtics allowed the Hawks to out-rebound them 47-29.  Rebounding is all about effort and desire and when a team is beat that badly on the boards, you know the effort just isn't there. 

[kozlodoev]

I don't think they can possibly have Jones cover Garnett. A more likely matchup is Garnett vs. Granger and Pierce vs. Jones.

[jdpapa3]

That is funny. 11th game for us and 7th for them.

[twinbree]

I'm expecting an ugly game tomorrow but I'd love to be pleasantly surprised. Marquis is with us and Jack left so that's 2 less people who gave us trouble last year.
TP FL. Go Celtics! (and Nets! 0-10 is just too brutal to contemplate)

[Bahku]

I think the boyz will shoot lights out and attack the hoop ... worried about the Truth's inuury, though ... that's the worst part about last night. TP, Florida ... nice set-up as usual! (You've got to have the best post/TP ratio on the blog ... wow!)

[Atzar]

This was the game I picked to be our first loss this season in a thread a few weeks ago.  Hopefully, though, the loss against the Hawks will light a fire under their behinds and they'll come out with a purpose.  Indiana is really a one-man team, but they've given us problems in the past for a variety of reasons.

[Bahku]

This was the game I picked to be our first loss this season in a thread a few weeks ago.  Hopefully, though, the loss against the Hawks will light a fire under their behinds and they'll come out with a purpose.  Indiana is really a one-man team, but they've given us problems in the past for a variety of reasons.

Haven't seen the 2nd half yet, but the first half was really not bad, except for rebounding. I'm surprised, by the first half play, that they even lost this one ... 2nd half should be interesting. But I think they'll respond as they usually do in tonight's upcoming game with Indiana, by going on a tear at the basket and playing D like they should ... they rarely have two bad games in-a-row.

[Atzar]

This was the game I picked to be our first loss this season in a thread a few weeks ago.  Hopefully, though, the loss against the Hawks will light a fire under their behinds and they'll come out with a purpose.  Indiana is really a one-man team, but they've given us problems in the past for a variety of reasons.

Haven't seen the 2nd half yet, but the first half was really not bad, except for rebounding. I'm surprised, by the first half play, that they even lost this one ... 2nd half should be interesting. But I think they'll respond as they usually do in tonight's upcoming game with Indiana, by going on a tear at the basket and playing D like they should ... they rarely have two bad games in-a-row.

The lack of rebounding is a trend that lasts for the entire game, and in the end it's why we lost.  I think you're right, though - I don't expect this team to come out flat two games in a row.

[GreenFaith1819]

This was the game I picked to be our first loss this season in a thread a few weeks ago.  Hopefully, though, the loss against the Hawks will light a fire under their behinds and they'll come out with a purpose.  Indiana is really a one-man team, but they've given us problems in the past for a variety of reasons.

Haven't seen the 2nd half yet, but the first half was really not bad, except for rebounding. I'm surprised, by the first half play, that they even lost this one ... 2nd half should be interesting. But I think they'll respond as they usually do in tonight's upcoming game with Indiana, by going on a tear at the basket and playing D like they should ... they rarely have two bad games in-a-row.

The lack of rebounding is a trend that lasts for the entire game, and in the end it's why we lost.  I think you're right, though - I don't expect this team to come out flat two games in a row.

Well, I believe we'll be fine tonight. I think the Hawks loss will finally bring attention to the most glaring issue over the last few games - rebounds.

Perk must keep Hibbert under control, too..Hib has been playing well this season and he is has shot-blocking ability.

Indy has some key injuries as well, but I hope the C's don't take them lightly. We cannot allow Tyler Hansborough to have a career game, either.

[ACF]

I TP'd FL. You should too.

Go Celtics!

[makaveli]

Okay, I'm saying that Paul Pierce is the best player, best defender and best offensive player on this team period. KG is playing bad defense right now, Ray is starting to really really concern me, his game is just lost. The only player being so consistent over the last 3 years was Paul. And if Paul went down and not KG last year, our best scorer would avg. around 15 a game.

[Kwhit10]

We need to stop getting out rebounded!  It may be a results of taking all those threes and having guys out of position.

[Drucci]

I'm really worried about this game. Don't like this scenario : back to back after a hard game, playing a poor but usually tough against us team, and a team that rebounds well and can be dangerous from three point land.

It will be tough but I hope the Celtics wont't show a lack of effort like they did last night. They must get in the game early and put their opponents in a tough situation.

Should be an interesting game, and we will see how Marquis is greeted in his former arena. TP FL!

[PosImpos]

What the?  Dahntay Jones is not a PF.

They'll play Granger at PF and Jones at SF probably.  What about Hansbrough?  Isn't he playing for them yet?

We better hope Pierce is playing tonight, Granger could go off for 45 points (I'm not kidding) if we don't have somebody of decent size guarding him.  Though if they do play Granger at PF, Garnett could perhaps do a decent job on him.

[indeedproceed]

What the?  Dahntay Jones is not a PF.

They'll play Granger at PF and Jones at SF probably.  What about Hansbrough?  Isn't he playing for them yet?

We better hope Pierce is playing tonight, Granger could go off for 45 points (I'm not kidding) if we don't have somebody of decent size guarding him.  Though if they do play Granger at PF, Garnett could perhaps do a decent job on him.

Yeah Dahntay plays the 3, but they're really running a lineup without a 4 if anything, so it's all the same.

Look at Granger's stats this year so far. He could get it going tonight, but if we play him tough this will be a laugher.