<div align="center"> <span style="font-size:24pt;line-height:100%">@</span> February 24, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET</div> <span style="color:#009900">Boston Celtics</span> <span style="color:#000000">(13-41)</span> <span style="color:#000000">PG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Delonte West</span> <span style="color:#000000">SG</span> <span style="color:#009900">Paul Pierce</span> <span style="color:#000000">SF</span> <span style="color:#009900">Ryan Gomes</span> <span style="color:#000000">PF</span> <span style="color:#009900">Brian Scalabrine</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">Rajon Rondo, Gerald Green, Kendrick Perkins, Sebastian Telfair</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Utah Jazz</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">(36-18)</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">PG</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Deron Williams</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">SG</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Derek Fisher</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">SF</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Andrei Kirilenko</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">PF</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Carlos Boozer</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">C</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Jarron Collins</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">Key Bench Players:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Matt Harpring, Paul Millsap, Gordan Giricek, Rafael Araujo, Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Miles</span> Injury Report <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Wally Szczerbiak will not play (sprained left ankle)</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Tony Allen is out for season (torn ACL/MCL)</span> <span style="color:#000000">BOS:</span> <span style="color:#009900">Theo Ratliff is out for season (back surgery).</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">UTA:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Mehmet Okur is unlikely (back spasms)</span> Who To Watch Out For <span style="color:#009900">Paul Pierce</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 25.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.2 apg</span> <span style="color:#009900">Al Jefferson</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 14.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 1.5 bpg</span> <span style="color:#000000">As A Starter: 15.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 1.6 bpg</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Carlos Boozer</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">Season Stats: 21.8 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 3.0 apg</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Deron Williams</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">Season Stats: 17.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 9.3 apg</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Andrei Kirilenko</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">Season Stats: 8.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.0 bpg</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">5.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.4 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">2.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.5 bpg</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">UTA:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Ronnie Brewer</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: 14</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">4.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.7 spg</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">UTA:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Paul Millsap</span> <span style="color:#000000">Overall Selection: 47</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats:</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">7.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg</span> <span style="color:#009900">Boston's X-Factor</span> <span style="color:#009900">Al Jefferson</span> <span style="color:#000000">Season Stats: 14.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 1.5 bpg</span> <span style="color:#000000">As A Starter: 15.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 1.6 bpg</span> <span style="color:#009900">Carlos Boozer down low is obviously a HUGE load to handle. Big Al needs to have himself a good night, and he can't get into foul trouble.</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Utah's X-Factor</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Andrei Kirilenko</span> <span style="color:#3366FF">Season Stats: 8.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.0 bpg</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">He's got to come in and defend Paul Pierce the best he can. Pierce is coming off a pretty bad game last night, so he'll probably want to come out strong.</span> <div align="center">Key Matchup vs. <span style="color:#009900">Paul Pierce</span> <span style="color:#000000">vs.</span> <span style="color:#6666CC">Andrei Kirilenko</span></div> <span style="color:#000000">If I remember correctly, and this is no joke, AK CRIED after a Celtics/Jazz game last year because of his inability to stop Paul Pierce that game. Paul - make him cry again!</span> CelticBalla's Extra Thoughts/Notes We have an outside chance at taking this one. It's unlikely, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if we did. CelticBalla's Prediction Another game, another loss.
I hope Pierce makes AK47 cry again Kirilenko's eyes started to tear in the locker room as he talked in a shaky voice about his frustrations and inability to stop Pierce. He played just four minutes in the final quarter because of his inept defense, but his small consolation was that none of his teammates could do any better. but in all seriousness..we will lose this...Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are both back
whoa. Fisher on Pierce? Pierce will score 40+ tonight. Wasn't AK47 injured? I heard he saw that he messed up his knee against the Nuggets, so maybe he will be out of groove tonight. I'm just scared of Boozer. But I think we will.. lose.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AiRuPtHeRe? @ Feb 24 2007, 04:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>whoa. Fisher on Pierce? Pierce will score 40+ tonight. Wasn't AK47 injured? I heard he saw that he messed up his knee against the Nuggets, so maybe he will be out of groove tonight. I'm just scared of Boozer. But I think we will.. lose.</div> I'm not sure if Utah will start Fisher tonight or not, but that's who they generally go with. I don't know if they will start Fisher, we have a pretty big starting lineup (at the 1, 2, and 3 positions anyway). We'll see. Either way, AK47 will be on Pierce more often than not.
Well, Al needs 20 rebounds to get too 11 per game tonight..it's gonna be tough on Boozer..but maybe Al can take advantage of Boozer because he's rusty comin off injury
I dont expect Ak to play tonight, which might be for the best since he has just sucked all season long. CJ Miles or Ronnie Brewer should start at the three tonight. and yes Fisher will be on the court to foul Pierce. I hate having him as the two, he gets blown up nightly. and if Pierce only scores 40 I'll concider that a success, the other good twos have all dropped 50 on the Jazz(Redd, Kobe, Allen, Arenas).
This is a very tough matchup for the celtics. They are going against one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA, and they have so many offenisve weapons that its ridiculous. Also, the Jazz are very physical on both ends of the floor. This team is good, and the C's arent going to beat them right now.
Kirilenko isn't playing? Is that cos he's scared of Pierce again? HAHA we're still losing anyway and wtf is with starting Powe and Scal together, Dammit put Gomes in one of those places.
Well, tonight was terrible. Terrible. Like Doc said, it wasn't even little mental mistakes tonight - we just gave away the ball. It was very frustrating. We turned the ball over 20+ times and Utah really took advantage of that. They were VERY beatable tonight, and we were right there. Then that stretch where we turned the ball over 5 straight times (no joke, guys. 5 straight possessions ended in turnovers, and Utah converted off all of them). It was terrible, I was very frustrated tonight. I was happy that Leon Powe got the start, though. I'm so happy. The Powe Show, as I like to call him, is such a hard worker and he really played well tonight. He did exactly what he was supposed to do: play physical, help on the glass, muscle and grind with Utah's bigs. Hopefully Powe will continue to get minutes like this. Paul Pierce... wow. He is VERY frustrated, more than I have ever seen him (including in 2005 when trade rumors were coming out of every writer's asses). He's forcing it, taking it himself, never smiles anymore (something Pierce usually does ALL the time, on or off the court), he's not attacking. I just don't think he really trusts his teammates, and I really can't blame him, to be honest with you. But on tonight's game, Paul put up another stinker as well. Scal played a solid game. I wish he could have done more defensively, but he really knocked down his open shots and he was a big part of that run in the 3rd. Delonte, like last night, was up and down. He made a couple mistakes due to plainly not being a natural point guard, but some of them were just careless. He shot the ball pretty well though. Big Al was working hard. He was all over the boards as usual and he had a nice start offensively, but then he started turning the ball over. After 2 or 3 turnovers (travel, poked away from him, etc), he just wasn't the same for the rest of the night. I liked the effort though, he was one of the only guys who didn't give up tonight. But 8 turnovers... unbelievable. Travels, getting stripped. Ugh. Gomes had his second straight extremely quiet game. He usually is quiet, but he's usually a bit more effective. Gomes had a good first half, he was aggressive, but in the second half he just kind of died down with the rest of them. Gerald shot the ball well, but the youth showed. A couple bad turnovers, he was burnt on defense a couple times (but in Gerald's defense, he was stuck with Derek Fisher for a little bit). He was hustling, though. He made a few nice efforts defensively. But man, Gerald's handle needs a lot of work. Rajon has so much work to do offensively. His shot isn't there, but he's too passive. He's never going to improve if he's afraid to take the open shots in games. Come on young fella, let it fly sometimes. Player Stat Lines <span style="color:#009900">Al Jefferson: 12 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, 8 turnovers on 5-9 shooting Paul Pierce: 19 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists on 5-18 shooting, 1-5 from 3, 8-9 FT Leon Powe: 10 points, 9 rebounds on 3-3 shooting, 4-4 FT Delonte West: 15 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers on 7-13 shooting, 0-2 from 3 Brian Scalabrine: 9 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block on 3-6 shooting, 3-5 from 3 Ryan Gomes: 9 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist on 4-9 shooting Gerald Green: 10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal on 3-6 shooting, 2-4 from 3 Rajon Rondo: 2 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal on 1-6 shooting Kendrick Perkins: 2 rebounds, 1 block, 0-1 shooting Sebastian Telfair: 0-2 shooting, 0-1 from 3, 6 minutes</span> Next Game: Monday (2/26/07) @ Houston at 8:30 pm ET. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (envygreen @ Feb 24 2007, 10:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Kirilenko isn't playing? Is that cos he's scared of Pierce again? HAHA we're still losing anyway and wtf is with starting Powe and Scal together, Dammit put Gomes in one of those places.</div> Actually, with C.J. Miles starting at the 3 for Utah, I would have liked Gerald Green starting for us in that situation.
