<div align="center"> <span style="font-size:24pt;line-height:100%">@</span> December 31, 2006 - 10:00 pm ET</div> <span style="color:#009900">Boston Celtics</span> <span style="color:#000000">(10-18)</span> <span style="color:#000000">PG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Delonte West</span> <span style="color:#000000">SG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Tony Allen</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">Al Jefferson</span> <span style="color:#000000">Key Bench Players:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Kendrick Perkins, Brian Scalabrine</span> <span style="color:#006600">Seattle Sonics</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">(12-19)</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">PG</span> <span style="color:#006600">Luke Ridnour</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SG</span> <span style="color:#006600">Ray Allen</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SF</span> <span style="color:#006600">Damien Wilkins</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">PF</span> <span style="color:#006600">Chris Wilcox</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">C</span> <span style="color:#006600">Danny Fortson</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Key Bench Players:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Earl Watson, Nick Collison, Johan Petro, Mouhamed Sene</span> Injury Report <span style="color:#FFCC00">SEA:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Rashard Lewis will not play (torn tendon in right hand)</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SEA:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Robert Swift is out for season (torn ACL)</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Paul Pierce will not play (stress reaction in left foot)</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Theo Ratliff will not play (lower back)</span> Who To Watch Out For <span style="color:#009900">Wally Szczerbiak</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 17.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg</span> <span style="color:#009900">Al Jefferson</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 13.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.5 bpg As A Starter: 15.9 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 1.8 bpg</span> <span style="color:#006600">Ray Allen</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats: 24.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.5 spg</span> <span style="color:#006600">Luke Ridnour</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats: 15.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 6.3 apg</span> Rookie Watch <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Rajon Rondo</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: 21</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#009900">3.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.0 spg</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Leon Powe</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: 49</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#009900">3.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.6 bpg</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Allan Ray</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: Undrafted</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#009900">2.4 ppg, 0.6 rpg</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SEA:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Mouhamed Sene</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: 10</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#006600">1.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SEA:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Mickael Gelabale</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: Undrafted</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#006600">3.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.5 apg</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">SEA:</span> <span style="color:#006600">Andreas Glyniadakis</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: Undrafted</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#006600">1.4 ppg, 0.7 rpg</span> <span style="color:#009900">Boston's X-Factor</span> <span style="color:#009900">Tony Allen</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 9.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.0 spg As A Starter: 14.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.7 spg</span> <span style="color:#009900">TA's role tonight is to defend Ray Allen, and defend him well. The offense and attacking from TA has been consistantly excellent lately, but I don't care if he scores 20 points or 6 points, as long as he does a good job on Ray.</span> <span style="color:#006600">Seattle's X-Factor</span> <span style="color:#006600">Damien Wilkins</span> <span style="color:#FFCC00">Season Stats: 6.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.7 bpg</span> <span style="color:#006600">Petro is an athletic 7 footer who happens to be active around the basket on the defensive end. He needs to do his best job with containing Al Jefferson, and that won't be an easy task. Like Tony Allen's role is to play good defense on Ray Allen, Petro's concern should be containing Al Jefferson tonight.</span> <div align="center">Key Matchup vs. <span style="color:#009900">Tony Allen</span> <span style="color:#000000">vs.</span> <span style="color:#006600">Ray Allen</span></div> <span style="color:#000000">One of the top wings in the league vs. a young energetic defender. TA's defense is good, but tonight it needs to be excellent. He can't give Ray Allen 1 inch of space, or he'll kill us. Also, this should be better for TA tonight because this is the only elite wing that is actually about his height. Most of them are 2-3 inches taller, but Ray is 1 inch taller at best. We'll see.</span> CelticBalla's Extra Thoughts/Notes No Pierce for us, no Lewis for them. We are on a 5 game losing streak and Seattle has dropped their last two as well, so both teams need a win big time (especially Boston, considering we are 0-3 on this road trip so far). CelticBalla's Prediction If we are going to win a game on this road trip, tonight is a good chance. Portland (Monday) is winnable too, but Seattle is shorthanded and they can't play a lick of defense. We have a shot. I don't know what to think about the winner of this game. My gut tells me Seattle takes it and they shoot the lights out. Happy New Year's Eve! And this game will be over after the ball drops, so HAPPY NEW YEAR as well!!! 2 Double O 7
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Dec 31 2006, 01:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wally starting..disgraceful is that official or just your prediction?</div> Just my prediction based on what Doc said about Green the other night, and how little minutes he played him... and didn't start him in the second half.
SEATTLE ? Gerald Green has made 12 of 22 treys in the last four games. Wally Szczerbiak has shot 5 for 25 from the floor overall in his two games back from a sprained right ankle. But the latter will start in the former?s place tonight when the Celtics take on the Sonics.Doc Rivers has said he wants Szczerbiak to be coming off the bench, but the coach noted two days ago that he?d probably have to start him at some point on this trip. That point is tonight. ?Sebastian Telfair is suffering from a cold and missed the morning shootaround to rest. He?s expected to play tonight. ?Source: Boston HeraldOh god.............
Rajon, Tony and Al played well... Wilkins and Wilcox killed us though. They were 17-24 from the field with 13 rebounds 7 assists 2 steals and 2 blocks for 44 points. wow....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Jan 1 2007, 12:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>whatever</div> Oh well, right? What can you do... Our biggest problems tonight were defense and shot selection, IMO. Some of the shots taken were not good, and we shot a low percentage. I have to give credit to the Sonics, and the way they played. A lot of guys played well for them tonight. Ridnour was awesome, he ran the offense well and got good spots. Ray Ray didn't do well for the most part, but he hit some real big shots. Wilkins was excellent. He hit all his open shots and brought a ton of energy. Petro had a great first half. Wilcox was jumping over the entire arena. Earl Watson did pretty solid as well off the bench. Doc: why would you put Delonte back on the floor? Jesus christ... Al Jefferson <u>21 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block on 8-15 shooting (5-7 FT)</u> Big Al did a pretty solid job. He didn't get double-teamed like a lot of people anticipated, but he played well. He was excellent in the 4th quarter, and he was the biggest reason (along with Rondo) why we got back in the game. Another excellent game from Big Al. Tony Allen <u>23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers on 8-15 shooting (6-7 FT)</u> TA, ONCE AGAIN, was outstanding. I'm extremely happy with TA's performance over the past few weeks. He brought energy on both ends, he really hurt Seattle in the first half by attacking the basket at will. He did have 5 turnovers, and he definitely made some very boneheaded plays, but overall he did a very good job. TA was also the only one who didn't get lost on defense when chasing Ray Allen. Rajon Rondo <u>12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, 1 block on 6-9 shooting in 28 minutes</u> I... LOVE... RONDO! I absolutely love this kid. He did EVERYTHING tonight on both ends. He got to the basket well and produced in the paint with his runners and floaters, he played excellent defense and picked up every lose ball, he snatched balls away from the Sonics ballhandlers, he was awesome on the glass (3 offensive rebounds as well), he was diving on the ground, he moved the ball extremely well, he ran the offense well. He did everything well, in my opinion. I firmly believe that with Delonte hurting and Bassy struggling, Rondo should start in Portland tonight. Gerald Green <u>18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block on 6-13 shooting (3-9 from 3) in 22 minutes</u> Well, Gerald struggled a bit tonight. He was having trouble knocking down the open 3's and he got lost while chasing Ray Allen all over the place. I applaud him for playing hard all night though, I'll never question Gerald's heart. He made a couple nice moves to the bucket and converted a couple 3-point plays. I'm not surprised that he had a tough time chasing a guy like Ray Allen, but I'm not going to excuse it. Ray didn't knock those shots down, but he was just having an off night. I'm glad Doc kept him out on the floor though. Wally Szczerbiak <u>13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal on 5-12 shooting</u> Eh. Wally had another off shooting night, and he DEFINITELY had an even tougher time on defense than Green. He had trouble with both Allen and Wilkins, he couldn't stick with either one of them. He got some good looks though. He threw up a couple questionable shots, but overall he got clean looks. Kendrick Perkins <u>4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal on 2-3 shooting in 15 minutes</u> Perk played well tonight. He got into some foul trouble, but he played well. He was very active, he pulled down boards, and fought tough on the glass. We are just weening him back into the rotation, which is smart, but I'm happy Perk is playing well in his little minutes. Ryan Gomes <u>2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists on 1-6 shooting in 15 minutes</u> First of all, I don't think Gomes is 100% yet at all. Second of all, he missed his open jumpers all night long. He didn't play much tonight at all. Part of the reason was because the small lineup (with Rondo and Bassy in the back court) was working well, but he just wasn't playing well. Something is a little funky about Gomes, and I'm definitely willing to bet that he is still not close to being fully healthy. Sebastian Telfair <u>2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block on 1-7 shooting</u> Bassy had another bad night. He had way too many problems defending Ridnour and Watson and I'm willing to bet that Telfair has missed more layups than any other NBA player this season. I like Bassy, I want him to succeed, but damn he needs to pick it up... and SOON. Brian Scalabrine <u>1 rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block on 0-5 shooting in 19 minutes</u> Scal couldn't find his shot, which really isn't anything new, but he did a pretty solid job. He made some nice passes to cutters and he, of course, hustled big time all night. He played smart ball. Delonte West <u>1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal on 0-3 shooting in 19 minutes</u> Delonte re-hurt his back, and he was having minor back spasms. We all know Delonte... he could come to the arena in a wheelchair and he'd ask Doc if he could play 25 minutes. Well, Doc was STUPID for letting Delonte play again tonight. I mean thank god nothing bad happened, but this is just absurd. Doc should have said "no" and I believe that Delonte should sit tonight in Portland, and maybe at home on Wednesday. Don't risk anything with Delonte, ESPECIALLY not with his back. Next Game Tonight (1/1/07) @ Portland at 10:00 pm ET.
jeez, hard road trip. not only are the celtics playing the blazers on new years day, they have to do it with a new ball. Only team w/o a day in between ball rotation. ouch.ill be at the game tomorrow, rooting for sebastian telfair, but against the celtics >go blazers
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (blazerspwnu @ Jan 1 2007, 02:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>jeez, hard road trip. not only are the celtics playing the blazers on new years day, they have to do it with a new ball. Only team w/o a day in between ball rotation. ouch. ill be at the game tomorrow, rooting for sebastian telfair, but against the celtics > go blazers</div> Yeah, Bassy has been struggling a bit here as of late. I still like the kid, and I have to respect his leadership and heart. Here's the link to the Celtics @ Blazers thread I made: http://www.bball-world.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=20406 Also, it's great to actually see a Blazers fan on BBW! Welcome, bro!
