Cavs (15-7) at Celtics (14-10) Game #25 12/15/15

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 
Cleveland Cavaliers (15-7) at Boston Celtics (14-10)
Monday, December 15, 2015
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #25, Home Game #13
TV: NBA-TV,  CSN-NE, FSOhio
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, WTAM 1100
TD Garden



Probable Starters

PG: Isaiah Thomas................... SG: Avery Bradley

SF: Jae Crowder........... PF:  Amir Johnson......... C:  Jared Sullinger 

Celtics Reserves
Evan Turner
Jonas Jerebko
Terry Rozier
James Young
Kelly Olynyk
Jordan Mickey
Tyler Zeller
David Lee

Injuries
Marcus Smart (leg) out
RJ Hunter (hip) day to day

Head Coach
Brad Stevens




Possible Starters

PG:  Matthew Dellavedova................ SG:  Jared Cunningham

SF: LeBron James................. PF: Kevin Love ............... C:  Timofey Mozgov

Cavs Reserves
Iman Shumpert
Tristan Thompson
Richard Jefferson
Mo Williams
James Jones
Anderson Varejao
Sasha Kaun

Injuries
JR Smith (illness) probable
Matthew Dellavedova  (back) probable
Kyrie Irving (knee) out

Head Coach
David Blatt

Game Notes
The Celtics return home from their victory over the Hornets to face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time since they were eliminated in the first round of last year's playoffs.  The Cavs are tough at home (10-1) but just 5-6 on the road.  However, they are coming off one of their biggest road wins of the season, a 111-76 drubbing of the Magic in Orlando

This is the first of 3 games this season with two more games coming in February and March, both in Cleveland.  They split the series last season 2-2 with each team winning once at home and once on the road.  The Cavs are 4-11 at the Garden since April of 2007. 

There is plenty of bad blood between these two teams.  After Kelly Olynyk accidentally dislocated Kevin Love's shoulder to end his playoff run last season,   Kelly called to apologize several times.  Love was saying that he felt that Kelly did it on purpose.  He finally said that they were ok but somehow it didn't seem that way. 

And after JR Smith ended Jae Crowder's season by cold cocking him in the head causing him to seriously injure his knee, apparently JR never reached out or apologized and Jae has made it known that he'd like to get an apology from him.   

Iman Shumpert made his season debut on Friday against the Magic with 14 points and his trademark defense.  Kyrie Irving is getting closer to a return, but is still out for this game.  Matthew Dellavedova missed Sunday's practice with a sore back but is expected to play in this one.  JR Smith missed the Orlando game with an illness but joined the team in Orlando and is also expected to play. 

Marcus Smart is expected to miss yet another game for the Celtics.  He will be reevaluated later in the week to see how much progress he has made.  RJ Hunter practiced on Sunday and may be able to play in this game.  Also, Jordan Mickey has been recalled once again from the Maine Red Claws.

Key Matchups
vs
Jae Crowder vs LeBron James
Jae did a pretty good job of guarding James in the playoffs.  So good in fact, that they send Kendrick Perkins to take him out and when that failed they sent JR Smith to finish the job.  Jae will have his hands full in defending James who is averaging 26.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 6.4 assists.   

vs
Amir Johnson vs Kevin Love
Love will be looking for some revenge against the team that ended his playoff run last season.   He is averaging 17.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists but he will be looking to have a big game in this one. 

Honorable Mention
Evan Turner vs JR Smith
Two key reserve players who will need to produce for their teams.  Smith can put up some big numbers and the Celtics will need a boost off the bench from Turner.

Keys to the Game
Defense Defense Defense!! Defense is key to winning every game.  The Celtics need to continue to play tough defense. The Cavs are averaging 102 points per game and are holding opponents to 96.7 points.  The Celtics are averaging 103.7 points and holding opponents to 98.8 points.  They struggle at times to score against tough defenses and so they need to play equally tough defense in order to have a chance to get the win.

Rebound - The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball. They must crash the boards as a team to prevent the Cavs from getting second chance and fast break points. They also need to rebound to give themselves extra possessions and to fuel their running game.

Run, Run, Run - The Celtics need to run on every possession in order to get some easy points before the Cavs defense sets up.  When the Celtics walk the ball up and slow the game down they struggle.  They have to run and they have to move the ball.  Over the last 3 games the Cavs have allowed a total of only 10 fast break points.  The Celtics will need to make a concerted effort to run. 

Be Aggressive  -  The Celtics must be the more aggressive team.  They have to beat the Cavs to every loose ball and win the 50/50 balls.  They have to be aggressive on the boards and in driving into the paint and to the basket.  They have to be the team that works harder.   

Play 48 Minutes - The Celtics have to play hard from the opening tip to the final buzzer.   They can't afford to let the Cavs get a big lead because the Cavs are a very good defensive team and it won't be easy to dig out of a hole against them.  They also can't let the Cavs back in it if they can manage to build a lead.

X-Factors
Revenge Factors - The Celtics have the revenge factor to get back at the team that ended their playoff run and for Jae, the team that ended his season.  The Cavs will have the revenge factor to get back at the Celtics for ending Kevin Love's season and many think that cost them the championship last season. 

Officiating - As always, the officiating is an x-factor. Every crew officiates differently and teams never know what to expect. Sometimes they let them play and other times they call a foul on every possession. Some games they call evenly and others they favor one team or the other. It's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolate... you never know what you are going to get.

[i believe in brad]

Cannot wait for this one!  Great job getting it up super early.  I've never given a TP before but I'll try to give my first right now!

[max215]

Best team in the East. Playoff rematch. Jae's angry. I'm excited. And a TP to FLCelts!!!

[tarheelsxxiii]

Third!!!!!!!!!!

[hwangjini_1]

waaaaaaaa!! i am getting later and later with my posts on game threads! 

but in any case, a sincere thank you to flc along with a sincere tp for the game thread.

celtics will beat the cavs like a rented mule...and then some. 

gooooo celtics!!

[SHAQATTACK]

Four technicals

Two ejections

[tarheelsxxiii]

Been a great month. But imagine taking down CLE to top it off? Can't imagine anything sweeter. Hope they're at full health (or w/e that means when it comes to Shump and, gulp, Kyrie). Jae will be playing with a chip on his shoulder, foshio.

[jpotter33]

I expect this one to be a little chippy! Did anyone see Crowder's comments about JR? Lol

[tarheelsxxiii]

I expect this one to be a little chippy! Did anyone see Crowder's comments about JR? Lol

Lol. I love Jae. I'd prefer to start him over someone like Batum, just because I like the guy so much. He's so gritty... it's what we're all about.

"I hope he apologizes tomorrow," Crowder said. "But if he doesn't, we'll play ball."

Then a reported kinda goaded him (about it being chippy, and maybe intentional) and he responds:

"I'm ready to play [Tuesday] night is all I can say. We'll see."


Contrast that with Kelly (whom I love lately) on the Love beatdown:

"I apologized to [Love]," Olynyk said. "He texted me back. So I think we're all right right now."

Love this [dang] team. Every last one of them.

[FLCeltsFan]

Thank you i believe in brad And your first TP for being the first to post in the game thread! 

Go Celtics!!!!!!

[SHAQATTACK]

BAR FIGHT !

[Celtics18]

Another exciting game!!

I think it's winnable, but it won't be easy.  Amir and Jae, specifically, need to be up to the challenge, but it will take an overall team effort to pull this one out. 

[celticsclay]

I think winning this team would go a long way to silencing the doubters among the fan base that this team is legitmate and not just an analytics darling. We are 2 point dogs in this game, so it is pretty much a game that could go either way in the view of the professionals. Cleveland is also mostly healthy only missing Kyrie right now.

[SHAQATTACK]

Well we know the score when it comes to the NBA 's .own Diva " great money cow"   LeBron

Nothing is more important than seeing that he remains great ....

He brings three extra players with him to,every game .

As usual .......Celtics vs LeBron and his refs .....Celtics are handicapped right off the batt.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I have to admit, I was totally wrong about wanting to tank last year.  I think it was much better to develop our guys who are all young for the most part, even Sully is only 23.  Starting off this year strong has been wildly entertaining and we still are adding pieces to our team that can make us closer and closer to contention.  This game has me pumped.