Last preseason game baby! Woo hoo! :rock: :happy0144: :dribble: :winkglasses: :worthy: :yahoo: <div align="center"> <span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%">@</span> October 25, 2006 - 7:30 pm ET</div> <span style="color:#FF0000">Raptors Starters</span> <span style="color:#000000">PG</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Jose Calderon</span> <span style="color:#000000">SG</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Anthony Parker</span> <span style="color:#000000">SF</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Morris Peterson</span> <span style="color:#000000">PF</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Kris Humphries</span> <span style="color:#000000">C</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Rasho Nesterovic</span> <span style="color:#009900">Celtics Starters</span> <span style="color:#000000">PG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Sebastian Telfair</span> <span style="color:#000000">SG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Delonte West</span> <span style="color:#000000">SF</span> <span style="color:#009900">Wally Szczerbiak</span> <span style="color:#000000">PF</span> <span style="color:#009900">Ryan Gomes</span> <span style="color:#000000">C</span> <span style="color:#009900">Kendrick Perkins</span> Injury Report <span style="color:#009900">Paul Pierce will not play (rest) Theo Ratliff will not play (lower back) Brian Scalabrine will not play (left shoulder)</span> <span style="color:#FF0000">Chris Bosh will not play (resting his plantar fasciitis) TJ Ford will not play (hamstring) Andrea Bargnani is a gametime decision (ankle) Pape Sow is out for season (broken neck)</span> Raptors Scouting Report Toronto has a lot of guys that can shoot the ball, starting and off the bench. Chris Bosh may not be playing, but they can still light up the scoreboard. Another thing I like about the Raptors is that they have a lot of guys that are versatile and can handle 2-3 positions. Their frontcourt players may be soft (excluding Bosh, but he's out tonight anyway), but they bring energy. Keys to the Game - Take advantage of our bigs. We don't have great bigs either, but MUCH better than Toronto when Bosh is out. Big Al, Ryan, Perk, and Powe (Big Al especially) should really take advantage of Toronto's soft frontcourt. - Put a hand in their face. As I said in the scouting report, they have a lot of shooters. Don't let them get hot. - Run, run, run. Toronto can shoot, and their running game is ok I guess, but not like ours. We should be able to run them out of the gym. - This goes to Doc - NO MORE SUPER SMALL BALL!!! I'm talking Tony Allen, Delonte West, Allan Ray, Rajon Rondo, and Sebastian Telfair. Yeah, Doc used that lineup last night, and I was furious. Key Matchup vs. <span style="color:#FF0000">TJ Ford</span> vs. <span style="color:#009900">Sebastian Telfair</span> TJ Ford is a good playmaker, and he can run a team. Telfair can run a team as well (maybe not as good a playmaker as Ford, but still not too shabby), but he's a better scorer. The reason I really like this matchup is because both Ford and Telfair are lightning quick, so I think it will be interesting/fun to watch. X-Factor <span style="color:#009900">Al Jefferson</span> If Big Al plays his cards right, he can really rip apart the soft Toronto frontline players. Garbajosa, Humphries, Bargnani - Al can score on them all day long. Nesterovic is a solid defender, but Al is much quicker than him. If he takes advantage of his post game, Al should pick apart that Toronto frontcourt. CelticBalla's Extra Thoughts It's the last preseason game. In the second half, I would like to see very little of our starters. I want to see a lot of Powe, Olowokandi, Green, Ray, and Jackson. Keep Sebastian and Rajon getting solid minutes, but I really don't want to see them on the floor at the same time much tonight. I would like to see a lineup of Rondo, Ray, Jackson, Powe, and Olowokandi to end the game. CelticBalla's Prediction I think the Celtics take this one. Sure, we don't have Paul Pierce, but Toronto doesn't have Chris Bosh either. We are playing this one at home, Toronto is shorthanded and they have a soft front-line, and guys are really playing for spots (ala playing hard). We'll take this one and I'm predicting sort of a bounce-back game from Gerald Green. I don't think he'll score 20, but I think he will make up for his 1-7 shooting last night in New Jersey. Last one... phew! And to think, the regular season opener is in just one week from now! :yahoo:
I'm hoping for a win tonight. I know it's preseason, but I think we need to hit the ground running when the season starts. I think it's DEFINITELY time to start an actual rotation for these guys to get used to, but of course it'll be hard with Pierce sitting out.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nba dogmatist @ Oct 25 2006, 05:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm hoping for a win tonight. I know it's preseason, but I think we need to hit the ground running when the season starts. I think it's DEFINITELY time to start an actual rotation for these guys to get used to, but of course it'll be hard with Pierce sitting out.</div> I agree, and as much as I would love that, it's not going to happen. Doc is going to go small again, and in the 2nd half he's going to play with ridiculous lineups. Don't expect a rotation, ever. And especially not with Pierce out, in preseason.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Oct 25 2006, 07:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>CB4 and Bargnani out, I hope our bench gets up and going early, they need the extra minutes</div> I know Bosh is a definite no-go, but is Bargnani a sure thing not to play as well? Also, is TJ Ford going to rest his hammy?
pretty good first half, but I gotta say, these refs are NOT letting the Celtics play physical at all. the officiating in general favors the raptors style of play over ours. this raptors team is very soft, but they're getting away with it because of how the game is being called. ridiculous. that's why toronto is even in this thing. I don't know howmany touch fouls were called that shouldn't have been. it's pretty ridiculous.In the little time that Parker played, he repeatedly got burned by Wally and some by Delonte. He is by no means a lockdown defender.And Telfair is playing GREAT. He's going to be a good scorer for us this year. He's so quick, that crossover was amazing. he just froze calderon. I got it on tivo. :rock:Rondo hasn't done any highlight worthy plays, but he's still been solid. just good defense, he hasn't been handling alot with telfair playing so well.WallyWorld is abusing toronto tonight. making them pay every time they sag off, posting up a few times, even beating his man to the basket one-on-one. he's running the floor well, he even had a flush.
as for the 2nd half-goodjob from the raptors in lowering the points in the paint /f percentage, but for the celtics, there FG is way way too high, 56 percent is unacceptable- I like the way boston attacks the raptors, major conifdence shown by there rookies, rondo and telfair are 2 good guys for u-celtic fast break are better than ours...wasnt that our strength??-I would like to see the cletics scoring no more than 93-95 points, hopefulyl raptors will lower it down in the 4th-
the second half was pretty bad. we played catch-up from the start, and I'm sick and tired of that. We gave the raptors open looks, and you know they are going to take advantage og that. pathetic.Telfair, Delonte, Wally, and Perk were the only players I was actually impressed with tonight. Wally played very well in the beginning, but that shot in one of the last posessions was just unacceptable. you can't take that shot at the end of the game, or any time in the game for that matter. Telfair was amazing, his quickness really showed. Scoring almost at will, getting into the lane anytime he wanted. Perk was playing very well on the defensive end, especially in a small stretch of a few blocks and nice rebounds. Delonte played like Delonte. he hit open shots, made the right pass, hustled everywhere, got big rebounds. I would love to see him at full-time 2-guard this year.
This game had its ups and downs. Like dogma said, we played catch-up the whole 2nd half and I didn't like that. Wally Szczerbiak <u>27 points, 4 rebounds on 10-19 shooting</u> Wally played an excellent game. He was really hustling his tail off all night long, he hit his shots, and he was crashing the offensive glass pretty well. Excellent job overall from Wally tonight, and he is your Tommy Award winner. Sebastian Telfair <u>21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals on 8-16 shooting</u> Bassy, again, played excellent ball. He was scoring well from outside and taking it to the bucket, he ran real hard as usual, he came up with a couple real good defensive disruptions and steals, and he made some excellent passes (especially the one on the break to Delonte). Sebastian Telfair has been playing terrific basketball all preseason long. Delonte West <u>17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals on 7-11 shooting</u> Delonte was also great tonight. He did a little bit of everything and he was consistant the whole night. He hit all his shots, he had some excellent shots in the lane, he found the open man, and he brought his toughness. Delonte West is back, ladies and gentleman, and I think playing at the 2 is really going to open up his complete game. Kendrick Perkins <u>5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals</u> Perk was terrific in that 3rd quarter. He was blocking shots, he was alive and pumped up, he was moving well, and he didn't pick up stupid fouls like he did in the first half. We need this from Perk every night. Tony Allen <u>9 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 turnover</u> TA played a real good game. Somebody must have talked to him, because he really played well within the team tonight. He didn't force it offensively, he didn't dribble to much, he didn't look to shoot every time he got the ball, he got the ball to a PG quickly, and he hustled. We need this Tony Allen all year long, and he will be just fine. Lately he has been playing bad by dribbling, forcing it, turning the ball over, just basically trying to do way too much with the ball. He played within the team tonight and I thought he played very well. Ryan Gomes <u>8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists</u> He really didn't look to score much today, and defensively he didn't do anything bad or good. Just an overall pretty solid night for Ryan. Al Jefferson <u>6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks on 2-3 shooting</u> As you can see from the 2-3 shooting, he didn't get the ball much. Tonight was a lot of perimiter play, so he didn't get many oppertunities offensively. I thought he played pretty solid though. He was working on the glass as usual, he was moving pretty well. He made a couple bad little touch fouls. But what I liked the most was that he has really been impressing me with his shot blocking all preseason long. His timing going for blocks has improved by a big margin. But again, his offensive production really wasn't his fault, it was just a perimiter game all night. Rajon Rondo <u>3 assists, 1 rebound</u> Rajon just wasn't Rajon tonight. I mean he didn't make many mistakes, but he just didn't do anything great. He still ran and played ok defense, but nothing special tonight at all. This was easily his worst game. Nothing bad, nothing very good, he was just kind of... there. Gerald Green <u>4 points, 1 rebound on 2-4 shooting</u> Gerald took 4 shots tonight, and all of them were very good shots to take. He hit a couple, and he was running well. What I LOVED was that he was working his ass off while off the ball to get open. Great job by Gerald tonight by moving well without the ball. Defensively, eh. Leon Powe <u>4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block</u> Powe looked real sloppy tonight, IMO. He got a couple good offensive boards, but with the ball he looked very sloppy. A couple times they cleared out for him to work the block with the ball, and he didn't look to great. Of course I love the hustle and toughness he brings though. Michael Olowokandi <u>2 blocks, 1 rebound</u> I thought O played well tonight in the few minutes that he got. He was extremely active and he had 2 tremendous blocks. He really had 3, but there was a foul before the block. I love Kandi-Man's size and activity. I really hope he makes this team, and I think he will/should. Allan Ray He played 25 seconds and went 1-2 from the line. Nothing more to say, but I think he's going to make this team over Luke Jackson. Luke Jackson did not play, Pierce/Ratliff/Scal were nursing their injuries. Doc Rivers I just want to say this to Doc: THANK YOU!!! for not going super small tonight! That's all. Season opener is on Wednesday baby! We are playing the Hornets, at home, at 7:30 pm ET. I can't wait!!! <span style="color:#FF0000">Another note: The Celtics will finalize their roster by 5:00 pm tomorrow night.</span>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WELCOMEtotheJUNGLE @ Oct 25 2006, 10:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Good game again tonight except Kandi Man kinda blew it defensively at the end down the stretch.</div> 4 of my friends, everyone at celticsblog, Tommy Heihnson, Mike Gorman, Donny Marshall, and Doc Rivers would all agree with me that the late call on Kandi-Man was a bad call. That was not a foul, it was a clean block. EDIT: And that weird shot by Nesterovic wasn't O's fault. That was somewhat of a lucky little shot and O was right there with him.
that really was a bs call at the end. calderon clearly put his shoulder into O's chest, then kandi really did have a nice block, but they called it a foul. :thumbdn1:right now our weakest point in the game is the beginning of the fourth quarter, that's when the fatigue kicks in and we start missing shots and lagging on defense. we need to improve on that aspect.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Illosophee @ Oct 25 2006, 10:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-family:Book Antiqua">Well, Toronto Raptors won.</span></div>what was the point of that? I mean really, anyone in this thread already knew that. no purpose for saying that at all.
From my seat, I saw a great game played by Telfair and Wally. Rondo did basically nothing, mostly because 1) not many touches, and 2) that entire 2nd unit was basically horse crap tonight. He had no help, and neither did anyone else so no one was able to get going.
The foul was a bad call I'll give you guys that but c'mon you're gonna tell me olowkandi couldn't have gotten a hand in Rasho's face? It was lazy defense by Kandi man.
that was really only one play, he also had two blocks in like 5 minutes (should've been 3 blocks). he didn't cost us the game, our bench did. inexcusable.
