The Cleveland Cavaliers (30-21) come to town tonight, as the Celtics (21-30) try to finish there perfect home stand. The Celtics are winners of two straight, and are starting to pick up some nice momentum going into the All Star break. With the losses of Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins, the entire team has stepped up in there absence. Some of the more noticable players that have stepped up are Ryan Gomes who is averaging thirteen points and nine rebounds in the last two, as well as Paul Pierce who has scored thirty or more points in his last four games. If the Celtics want to win this one, we are going to need to step it up on the defensive end, and contain Lebron and the Cavs' highly powered offense. It's not going to be easy, but if we can just play hard and smart, we should be able to get our third straight against the Cavs tonight.
Key Match-up: Paul Pierce vs. LeBron James. It'll be close to impossible to stop LeBron, so Paul will just have to out do the best wing player in the game. Easy, huh? Cleveland Scouting Report:- They are a very versatile team with many scoring options, but of course it all starts with LeBron. They run the pick-and-pop very effectively, as Z has one of the better 18-footers for posts in the league. Nonetheless, we will still have to double LeBron on these, bc if he finds a seem, he's headed towards the basket for a layup. Seeing how pick-and-roll type plays are the Celtics worst aspect of defense, this calls for trouble. It helps having Larry Hughes sidelined, but Pavlovic has filled in nicely. They have shooters that we need to rotate on, but I'm still concerned w/ Bron first off. If we can get him frustrated, we have a chance.How to play them:- We will have to get the ball out of LeBron's hands as much as possible. This, however, is much harder than it sounds. He has PG skills, so Mike Brown isn't uncomfortable letting him take the ball up. He's also a good passer w/ vision, so double-teaming could come back to bite us. But i think this is worth the risk. We need to apply lots of pressure to make Cleveland lose their composure. We will have to crash the boards, so we don't give them any second chances. Every posession counts if we want to win this game.-Offensively, we can't make much mistakes. Like I said, every posession counts, and I'm pretty confident we don't have the personnel to even slow down LeBron, so we will have to execute VERY well on the other end. We need as many chances to score as possible, so we need to be extra careful with the ball tonight. Wally may be out tonight w/ a sore kneeFinal Prediction:CLV-109 BOS-99 sorry guys, i can't see us winning this one.But who knows?
I don't know, I like Boston in this one. We have alot of momentum coming into this game, and the team is rolling on all cylinders. Alot of the guys are stepping up, and Paul has been virtually unstoppable. We are not going to be able to stop Lebron, so we just have to make sure that we do a good job on everyone else. I think we will get a win by about ten points, and we will see big nights out of Pierce, Raef, and Delonte.
yeah, but you're forgetting, we also played two HORRIBLE teams. Cleveland's not just going to roll over and die like Portland and Orlando. Trust me, I want them to win, but i'm not as... optomistic about it as you are.
wally will probaly play but under what condition and i dont know if the celts are ready for lebron and company
Paul and LeBron have had a couple of good "showdowns" I always like watching these two teams play each other.
Man I missed most of the game, but boy has it been a good one. The Cavs played some nice defense on that last posesion, we had no open looks. I hope the Cavs miss there free throws here.As I look at the box score, there are a few things I saw that impressed me. First off was Kandi Man's two blocks in six minutes. We always needed a tough low post defender, could he be it? Also Delonte came real close to a triple double, he has really came on strong lately.Edit: YES! Missed them both!Edit Again: Pierce hits the first, Celtics down one.Edit Again: HE HITS THE SECOND! TIE GAME! OT BABY!
:no3: man, i'm pissed. I'm not gonna take that moral victory bullshit. we should've won this game. I can't believe they leave LeBron in, and he doesn't foul for the last 12 minutes, but Paul gets 3 fouls in 6 minutes. It's ridiculous how much calls LeBron gets/got. Great game by Paul. What a horrible decision by Wally! Last shot of the game, and he hoists up a 28 footer. That one made me mad.
Yea I agree, the "moral victory" stuff is nothing. A loss is a loss. What a game by Pierce though, he is one heck of a player. Wally played well on the injury.
I'm really liking Wally so far. He's another guy that goes out and plays hard, and fits in well with the Celtics. He's very talented on the offensive end, and creates matchups problems against opposing teams two guard.
yeah, i like him alot. I'm glad he'll get to rest his knee now. But really, by replacing Ricky with Wally, we're desparate for a playmaker. We now have no one really quick on the wings (Well, we do have Tony Allen, but i'm mainly referring this to towards the ends of games), so it makes a tougher match-up for us on the defensive end.EDIT: I just want to say: MAN, i really wanted this one. Not only for the momentum factor, but a bunch of Spurs fans at school were telling me the Cs had no chance bc the Spurs lost to them. I wanted to rub it in their faces. Man, that would've felt good.
Tough loss for the C's, but I was thinking that it'd be crazy to ship Pierce to another team. Realistically, what player would we get that's capable of dropping 50 here and there? We'd only get 40 cents on the dollar for Pierce, if we're lucky.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DRob-50-Forever @ Feb 15 2006, 04:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Paul and LeBron have had a couple of good "showdowns" I always like watching these two teams play each other.</div>I called it. These two teams had another battle with Pierce and LeBron facing off. Great game. :winkglasses:
